Robin Söderling

Robin Söderling
Country (sports)	Sweden
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Turned pro	2001
Plays	Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Prize money	$3,053,974
Singles
Career record	166–118
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 17 (3 November 2008)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2nd (2004)
French Open	3rd (2008)
Wimbledon	3rd (2003, 2007)
US Open	3rd (2005)
Doubles
Career record	27–33
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 133 (3 November 2008)
	Last updated on: 3 November 2008.

Robin Söderling (born 14 August 1984) is a professional tennis player from Sweden. He wears Adidas clothing and uses a Head Liquidmetal Radical MP racquet. At the moment, he's the only Swede on top 100 in the ATP Rankings.

Early career

Robin Söderling made his first steps in international tennis in November 1998 in Luxembourg, when at the age of 14 he played his first official junior tournament, losing the opening match to Fred Hemmes Jr. In his first full year in the junior tour (2000), he achieved four tournament victories and in 2001 attained three more titles in the juniors including the Orange Bowl. In the same year Söderling achieved fourth place in the year-end ranking and played in his very first ATP tournament in Stockholm, winning his first match against Ramón Delgado.

2002

Robin Söderling tried to break into the men's circuit, playing five more ATP tournaments and the second round of the US Open. In the Challenger circuit he achieved a 16–8 record, and he played in the US Open Junior tournament where he reached the final.

2003

The transition to the main tour was completed as he reached the third round at Wimbledon (coming from the qualifications) and got an ATP final in Stockholm (losing a decisive tie-break there), earning the year-end ranking of 86.

2004

Robin's very first ATP title - in Lyon with a final against Xavier Malisse. He played also another final - in Marseille. By the end of the year, he was a top 40 player.

2005

Robin had his first serious injury, eventually resulting in a knee operation in March. But even though not fit to play many tournaments, he managed to score another title - in Milan (b. Radek Štěpánek in final). After a mediocre and injury troubled season from there on, Robin reached just one good result (third round in the US Open), before going through another surgery in October.

2006

He bounced back from 100th place in the Indesit ATP rankings to top 50 within three months, even though knee and shoulder injuries still prevented him from playing at his best. Helped the Swedish team with two wins to keep its World Group Davis Cup spot in a play-off in Brazil. During the season he was healthy most of the time and managed a good climb, although he failed to impress at the Slams. But in the end of the year, he earned many points and finished at a career-high place of 25.

2007

Söderling made it to the round of 32 at Wimbledon, where he lost to Rafael Nadal in a five-set epic. He caused much controversy on the court when he exchanged mocking behaviour with Nadal, tugging on his shorts in the manner Nadal is known for.

Söderling did not make it to an ATP final for the first time in 5 years in 2007, however he turned out consistent results all through out the year. Yet he missed the last 3 months of the main tour due to a left wrist injury.

2008

Söderling missed the Australian Open due to injury. His first tournament he entered in 2008 was the Open 13 Marseille, He reached the Quarter finals. He then reached the final of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (Rotterdam), finishing runner-up to Michael Llodra in the final in 3 tight sets, 6-7,6-3,7-6. His success in Rotterdam carried over, as next week he reached another final at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, U.S. He beat top seed Andy Roddick in the tournament along the way to the final. However he lost another final in 2 weeks as he finished runner-up to unseeded Steve Darcis in straight sets, 6-3,7-6. In late May he reached the 3rd round in the French Open where he lost against home player Julien Bennetau. After the French Open Robin went on another hunt for his first Grand Slam title in Wimbledon but unfortunately he faced Roger Federer in the round of 64 and had to surrender in 3 straight sets. After disappointing results in both the Beijing Olympics and the US Open, Söderling decided to break up with his trainer Peter Carlsson. He is still looking for a new trainer and will announce a new one before the year end. Until then, former Swedish world number 2 Magnus Norman will be Söderling's support. With the help of Norman, Robin reached his third final of the year in his native Sweden at Stockholm. However, it was to be no third time lucky, as he lost to David Nalbandian in a tough three set match (2-6,7-5,3-6). Three weeks later Söderling finally clinched a final win for his first title in 3 years, and the second on the particular venue, at the Lyon tournament, defeating Julien Benneteau in three sets (6-3,6-7,6-1). On his way to the final he recorded wins over top seed Andy Roddick in the quarter, as well as the French number one Gilles Simon in the semi, both ranked in the top 10 ATP South African Airways ranking. With that, Söderling himself climbed as high as no. 18 in the rankings, a new career best. He finished the year with a career high ranking of no. 17. On 4 November he anounced that Magnus Norman will be his trainer starting right after his vacation.

Singles titles

Wins (6)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (3)
Challengers (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	21 July 2003	Tampere, Finland	Clay	Igor Andreev	6–4, 6–1
2.	2 September 2003	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Michel Kratochvil	7–6⁴, 6–2
3.	4 October 2004	Lyon, France	Carpet	Xavier Malisse	6–2, 3–6, 6–4
4.	31 January 2005	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Radek Štěpánek	6–3, ²6–7, 7–6⁵
5.	23 January 2006	Heilbronn, Germany	Carpet	Tomáš Zíb	6–1, 6–4
6.	26 October 2008	Lyon, France	Carpet	Julien Benneteau	6–3, ⁵6–7, 6–1

Runners-up (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	20 October 2003	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard	Mardy Fish	7–5, 3–6, 7–6⁴
2.	10 November 2003	Helsinki, Finland	Hard	Davide Sanguinetti	6–4, 7–6⁴
3.	23 February 2004	Marseille, France	Hard	Dominik Hrbatý	4–6, 6–4, 6–4
4.	20 February 2006	Memphis, U.S.	Hard	Tommy Haas	6–3, 6–2
5.	18 February 2008	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard	Michaël Llodra	³6–7, 6–3, 7–6⁴
6.	25 February 2008	Memphis, U.S.	Hard	Steve Darcis	6–3, 7–6⁵
7.	6 October 2008	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard	David Nalbandian	6–2, 5–7, 6–3

Doubles titles

Wins (2)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (1)
Challengers (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	10 November 2003	Helsinki, Finland	Hard	Robert Lindstedt	Roko Karanušić Janko Tipsarević	6–3, ²6–7, 6–1
2.	7 July 2008	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Jonas Björkman	Johan Brunström Jean-Julien Rojer	6–2, 6–2