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Date: 07 Jun 2010 10:25

Nadal Defeats Soderling in Lacklustre Final

Tennis World Magazine Tennis World News Nadal Defeats Soderling in Lacklustre Final In a decidedly unspectacular final, Rafael Nadal overcame Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to claim his fifth French Open title on Sunday. "[It was a] very important victory for me,” Nadal said afterwards. “I think one of the most important victories in my career. It was a difficult year for me the last year. I worked a lot to be here. I was very nervous during all the tournament, because I know before that I was ready to try to win another time, and I saw the chances there. But the very positive thing is today I was ready to play. I was ready to play with calm and to try my best and to enjoy the match. I did, and it was a very special day.” Unfortunately, neither man played the level of tennis that fans were expecting at this level, and the epic contest that everyone was hoping for never materialised. Soderling, whose stinging grounstrokes toppled world number one Roger Federer in the quarter-finals, couldn’t find the court on a sunny day in Paris, and he made 45 unforced errors in the short three sets that the players were on court. Nadal’s level of play wasn’t exactly enthralling either. With the Swede imploding on the other end of the court, Nadal simply looped the ball back into play in the manner than many Saturday afternoon club hackers will be very familiar with. At one point in the third set, after Nadal had played a string of these loopy shots (followed by an error from Soderling) a chorus of boos actually erupted from the crowd. The French know good tennis, and this wasn’t it. Both players raised their game slightly after that, but it was too little, too late for Soderling. Nadal will now return to number one when the new rankings are released on Monday, and Soderling will move into sixth position.