I have no idea how Robin Soderling plays, the burly Swede who has shocked the world by beating Nadal and then continued to impress by crushing the Russian brick wall Davydenko in the quarterfinals...(sorry non-tennis followers at this point please shift to another webpage as only hardcore tennis aficionados will truly comprehend these hieroglyphics of the sport). He is the 24 year old protegee (pretty old to be one I say) of Magnus Norman, a retired player who coincidentally is also the last Swede to ever be in the semis of the French Open. Let me say this though he is a lot more cute, younger-looking and appealing than his protegee! Hahaha! It doesn't leave me wondering why the camera often took several glances at him all throughout the match!
Soderling's opponent is Fernando Gonzales, the Chilean with the superhuman forehand but a rather tame backhand comparatively. His game reminds me a lot of Steffi Graf's. The forehand is a weapon and he often would run around his backhand to hit a forehand in short to protect a rather mundane shot. I don't like Gonzales as he rubs me the wrong way and well he is more of an eye candy than Robin but I would go for the hirsute Swedeman than him LOL
The match turned out to be phenomenal! Robin won the first two sets 6-3, 7-5 impressively with consistent down-the-line backhands which left Gonzo scrambling. As Gonzo is always looking to hit his power forehand around his backhand he constantly leaves a gap on his forehand side which the Swede consistently explored leaving Gonzo bewildered. Soderling's power is also incredible, he is very very strong and he probably matches Gonzo's forehand power but on both wings, forehand and backhand. He put a lot of pressure on the Chilean's backhand too by pushing the ball deep causing the Chilean to slice the ball defensively and not achieve anything offensive with it. All Gonzales could do throughout the whole encounter was scramble and hit desperation shot after desperation shot. Commentary called his underhand sliced forehand shots, squash shots....The whole match reminded me of a Seles-Graf match urrgh dont get me started on that LOL
But then Gonzales' persistence started to earn him merit as Soderling's game slightly became more tame. The Chilean returned everything the Swede gave him, he sliced forehands, churned out one defensive lob after another, crawled on the ground, even used the whole stadium literally to scramble to get shots!!! Soderling's shots suddenly did not have the same zing as the first couple of sets and Gonzo started becoming more confident. His serve became a massive weapon and served as the anchor for him to impose his game on the match. Soderling committed more errors and the match stood at two sets apiece with Fernando winning the next two sets 7-5, 6-4
With Soderling's confidence shaken and Fernando smelling victory the match stood at 4-1 in the DECIDING SET in favor of the Chilean. Everyone was sure Gonzales would win the match. The French were readying themselves for the next match with Federer in it, the Swede's shoulders were slumped and Fernando was VAMOSing his way around the court....
BUT....the match was ready for one more twist. Suddenly like a revived Lazarus, Soderling's offensive game resurrected out of nowhere. He found the storm und drang that deserted him in the last two sets and started pounding winner after winner. He regained his accuracy on the down-the-line backhands and started trading blows comfortably again with Fernando. I was shocked at his resurgence and the quickness of it all! The SWEDE reeled off five straight games to win the match 6-4 in the fifth set. The Swede falls on his knees, jubilant, victorious....all the apt adjectives and well I say this cheekily, probably shocked to be in his first career Grand Slam final. I was happy because Magnus Norman, Soderling's handsome coach was happy HAHAHAHAHAHHA
This is a rather bizaare account of a tennis match but oh well I have never been one to conform the laws of convention...not even with writing a simple tennis article!!!
Onto the next match, Roger Federer versus Juan Martin Del Potro!!!! (of which I'm not sure I will cover!!! hahahahahahaha)
1 comment:
Liisa, you would be a Del Potro fan believe me...just look at those biceps and legs. :)
Federer, Mr. goodie-two-shoes is married don't you remember?
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