Roger Federer and Robin Soderling met again after the Roland Garros final in the fourth round at Wimbledon 2009. Here are some thoughts on the match…

Soderling played the first set exactly the way he should have played the final of Roland Garros; he played very aggressively, hitting close to the lines and he didn’t give Federer enough time to get into an attacking position.

Federer was constantly in defense and barely got a chance to force the game with his forehand. In fact, Federer seemed to play more defensively intentionally because he had time (just a few times) to force with his forehand but he chose just a solid rally forehand deep to Soderling’s backhand.

The same thing happened at 4:4 on Soderling’s serve with one exception; Soderling was unable to keep the same level of play. He committed a double fault and missed a few shots – just barely out which he didn’t miss in the previous 8 games.

Roger didn’t do much for that break of serve except forcing Soderling to play every ball. Federer hung in there defending with backhand and even forehand slices and Soderling missed them.

Federer committed only 3 unforced errors in the first set and Soderling made 9. Roger also served better with 7 aces to 4 and was most of the time winning service games pretty easily.

Soderling played extremely well again in the second set, serving aces and winners and forcing the game from the baseline. Roger Federer’s plan – in my opinion – was to disrupt the rhythm of Soderling and he started to incorporate a few more drop shots and short slices in the game.

Roger actually rarely hit a drive backhand in the second set. Even when he had enough time, he played a very low slice backhand and forced Soderling to reply with the same shot – which of course is not Soderling’s strength. While Federer’s plan worked fine for some points, he still couldn’t break Robin’s serve.

By the way, Federer hit 3 net cords in a row in one ball exchange – all with his forehand. That was at 5:6 in the second set. Hope the point gets posted on Youtube.

Roger masterfully defended at the start of tie-break as he was under immense pressure from Soderling. If Roger had not been exceptionally good in defense, he would have been 4:0 at the start of the tie-break instead of 2:2.

Robin committed the first unforced error at 4:3 when Federer returned the second serve with a very low and short backhand slice. This same shot proved very ineffective at Roland Garros but it’s very different here on low skidding grass courts.

Federer later missed on forehand and the players were on serve until 6:5 for Federer when Soderling committed another unforced error hitting his forehand too long.

The story of first and second set was the same; Robin Soderling played unbelievable tennis for the whole set just until the last few points. His game before was so good that Roger basically had no chances on Soderling’s serve and was in defensive position most of the time in baseline rallies.

But when it came to really big points at the end of the set, Soderling just couldn’t keep his level of play high and missed the key shots.

This match was an excellent example of how a more experienced player doesn’t really beat his opponent by hitting winners, but just keeps high game at a very high level and waits (or allows!) for the opponent to miss a few key shots and therefore wins in the long term.

Roger continued to play with very few unforced errors in the third set and didn’t really force the game. His goal was to neutralize Soderling’s attacks and slowly wear him out.

But Soderling was still able to play forcing tennis shots with his low flat hit drives that didn’t give Roger time to get behind them and really unleash his big forehands.

The games went with serve again until the next tie-break. Soderling was basically unbeatable on his serve and in most baseline rallies. He kept his level until 5:5 in the tie-break when he made a double fault. Imagine that; playing impeccable tennis, then committing a double fault and giving Federer a match point.

Federer on the other hand didn’t make a double fault; he served a first serve winner and that was it. The difference between the two was very small and the stats tell the same story: Federer won 103 points, Soderling 97.

There are a few lessons to be learned from this match:

1.    How to play against a »better« player:

Soderling played much better than in Roland Garros. He played much more reserved and careful tennis is Paris and that was just too easy for Roger. But this time, Soderling played the same kind of tennis that he played against Nadal and others; forcing the game with his serve and groundstrokes and not allowing Federer to get the upper hand in ball exchanges.

The only thing that didn’t work for Soderling were the big points and missing those was not a tactical mistake but more a mental one. Robin’s mind was just not clear on those shots. He may have been worried or too aggressive or thinking ahead.

2.    How to play against a »weaker« player:

Federer kept his cool throughout the match even though he wasn’t getting the upper hand in most rallies. But he focused on his strengths; namely his serve, forehand and his backhand slice and was able to hold his serve pretty comfortably. Then it was all about who can keep this high level of play longer.

The logic is of course on Roger’s side; if Soderling would be able to keep such high level of play throughout the matches in the past, he would have been a top 5 player.

But he isn’t – and there’s a reason for that and Roger knew that he just had to hang in there and the reason will show up. And Soderling actually held his game together almost until the last points in the second and third set tie-break – until then, he played almost perfect tennis.

So if you’re playing a »weaker« player – based on rankings – but that weaker player is playing very well today, then you need to hang in there and wait for the reasons (of why this player is not ranked higher) to show up.

Focus on your own strengths; hold your serve and keep your level of play high and your opponent’s level of play will drop sooner or later.

Related posts:


• Roger Federer Enters History Books
• Robin Soderling In His First French Open Final
• Soderling And Cibulkova Breeze To Semi-Finals Of Roland Garros
• Why Did Djokovic Stop Fighting?
• Rafael Nadal Out Of The French Open 2009

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Roger Federer, Wimbledon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.