Robin Soderling

Full name is Robin Bo Carl Soderling...Began playing tennis at age five...Father, Bo, is a lawyer; mother, Britt-Inge, is a housewife...Has one older sister, Sandra, who is a teacher...Ranked as No. 4 junior in world in 2001, highlighted by winning Orange Bowl title (d. Monaco)...Also won European Junior Championships and reached doubles final (w/C. Johansson)...Enjoys playing table tennis and favorite movie is “Gladiator”...Speaks Swedish, English and German...Has a 9-3 career Davis Cup record (8-3 in singles) in seven ties...Coached by countryman and former ATP pro Magnus Norman, who reached Roland Garros final (l. to Kuerten) in 2000 and ranked No. 2 in June that year.

2002 -- Jumped 267 ranking places after going 12-6 in Challengers...Qualified into first Grand Slam at US Open and reached 2nd RD...In Challengers, advanced to SF at Hamilton and Grenoble...

2003 -- Made breakthrough on ATP circuit, jumping over 100 places...Reached first ATP final in Stockholm (l. to Fish), advanced to SF in Shanghai and made successful Wimbledon debut by reaching 3rd RD as a qualifier (l. to Henman)... Also won two Challenger events and finalist in Helsinki (l. to Sanguinetti)...

2004 -- Won first ATP title in Lyon (d. Malisse) and reached final in Marseille (l. to Hrbaty)...Reached SF or better on all four surfaces...

2005 -- Claimed title in Milan (d. Stepanek)...Missed next six weeks with knee injury...On clay, reached 2nd RD at Roland Garros and advanced to 3rd RD at US Open...Finished season with QF showing in Metz (l. to eventual champion Ljubicic)...

2006 -- Finished as his country's No. 1 player for first time...Began year by winning Heilbronn Challenger (d. Zib) and followed with QF in San Jose (l. to eventual winner Murray) and final in Memphis (l. to Haas)...At AMS events, reached 3rd RD in Indian Wells, Monte Carlo (d. No. 6 Davydenko in 1st RD), Hamburg, Cincinnati and Madrid...

Advanced to three SF and fell to the eventual champion each time, at Nottingham (l. to Gasquet), New Haven (l. to Davydenko) and Stockholm (l. to Blake)...Also reached QF in Halle, Bastad...After a five-set 2nd RD loss to Wawrinka at US Open, helped his country back into ‘07 Davis Cup World Group with two wins in Brazil...

2007 -- Finished in Top 50 despite missing final three months with a left wrist injury...Did not reach an ATP final for first time in five years but reached SF in Doha, Marseille (d. No. 3 Davydenko, Gasquet, l. to Simon) and Dubai (d. Ferrer, l. to Youzhny)...Also a QF at AMS Monte-Carlo (d. No. 4 Davydenko, l. to Berdych) and in Bastad...Equalled his best Wimbledon results with a 3rd RD showing (l. to Nadal in five sets)...Played final match at AMS Montreal on Aug. 7 when he retired in first set vs. Safin with a left wrist injury.

2008 -- The top Swede finished in Top 20 for first time by winning his second career ATP title in Lyon and reaching three other indoor finals...Won a personal-best 45 matches, 18 more than previous year, and led ATP circuit with 23 indoor match wins (23-7)...Returned from August '07 left wrist injury in February and reached back-to-back finals in Rotterdam (l. to Llodra) and Memphis (l. to Darcis)...

On clay, lifted his native country to ATP World Team Cup title in Dusseldorf by winning all four singles matches and followed with 3rd RD at Roland Garros (l. to Benneteau)...Went 9-7 in next three months before finishing with a 13-4 indoor mark...Reached QF in Bangkok, final in Stockholm (l. to Nalbandian), 2nd RD at AMS Madrid, winner in Lyon (d. Benneteau) and 2nd RD at AMS Paris...

Went 5-10 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled marks of 25-13 on hard, 12-6 on clay, 5-0 on carpet and 3-2 on grass...Had an 8-17 record in tie-breaks...Ranked No. 4 in aces (656) and in Top 5 in three other serving categories...Earned a career-high $1,059,966.

2009 -- The top Swede became first player from his country to finish in Top 10 since his coach Magnus Norman was No. 4 and Thomas Enqvist was No. 9 in 2000…The season was highlighted by reaching his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros, capturing his first ATP World Tour title on clay and reaching SF at year-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London…He won nine matches in his first 10 tournaments through mid-May…But then turned things around by compiling a 40-10 match record rest of way…In first two weeks of season, reached QF in Brisbane (l. to Stepanek) and followed with SF in Auckland (l. to del Potro)…Also won Sunrise Challenger title in Florida in March (as a qualifier)…

Put together a career-best nine-match winning streak with three round-robin matches at the ATP World Team Championship in Düsseldorf and then six matches in Paris…He surprised World No. 1 and four-time defending champion Nadal with a four-set upset win in the fourth round en route to his first Grand Slam final…Also beat Top 15 opponents No. 14 Ferrer (3rd Rd.), No. 11 Davydenko (QF) and No. 12 Gonzalez (SF) before falling to Federer…Became first Swede to reach the French final since his coach Magnus Norman in 2000 and afterwards climbed from No. 25 to No. 12…Followed with career-best 4th Rd. at Wimbledon (l. to Federer)…In July, earned his first clay-court title on home soil in Båstad (d. Monaco) and also reached doubles final (w/Lindstedt)… Suffered a third-round exit at Hamburg (l. to Almagro) before turning in a quarter-final effort at Washington (w/o vs. del Potro due to elbow injury)…Reached career-best QF at US Open (l. to Federer in four sets)…

Played well rest of season, reaching QFs or better in all five tournaments, including SFs in Kuala Lumpur (l to Davydenko), Beijing (l to Djokovic), Stockholm (w/o vs. Baghdatis - elbow)…Broke into Top 10 on Oct. 19 after QF at Shanghai* and finished No. 8 on Nov. 30 after SF showing at Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London where he lost to del Potro in a third set tie-break…Came in as an alternate for injured Roddick…In round robin play, posted wins over No. 2 Nadal and No. 3 Djokovic, both in straight sets…Compiled marks of 28-14 on hard, career-best 18-6 on clay and 3-1 on grass…Went 7-11 vs. Top 10 opponents and earned a career-high $2,313,785.

 

2010

In the first month of the season he went 0-2 in singles play, falling in Chennai first round (l. to Ginepri) and Australian Open first round (l. to Granollers)… Was named eighth seed at the hard-court Grand Slam, his fifth Melbourne (2-5 overall record) and 25th overall major appearance.