"Radek Štěpánek and the Malaysian Open losing to Nikolay Davydenko. Verdasco is making his debut at the championship. After Roddick's withdrawal due to left leg injury on 17 November Robin Söderling was announced as his replacement. Robin Söderling 's highlight of the year was reaching the French Open final. After becoming the first player to defeat Rafael Nadal at the Roland Garros. He won his only title of the year at the Catella Swedish Open defeating Juan Mónaco. He reached 4 semifinals as well at the Heineken Open, Proton Malaysian Open, China Open, and the If Stockholm Open. Soderling is"
"Robin Söderling Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a former professional tennis player from Sweden. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on November 15, 2010. His career highlights include reaching two consecutive Grand Slam finals at the French Open in 2009 and 2010, and an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the 2010 Paris Masters. He was the first player to defeat Rafael Nadal at the French Open (which was a major upset when it occurred). He was forced into early retirement at age 26 after contracting"
"1998) Rafael Nadal is considered the greatest Spanish tennis player of all time. He has won the French Open a record eleven times, winning four consecutive French Open titles from 2005-2008 along with five consecutive French Open titles from 2010-2014 and another title in 2017 and 2018. After defeating then world number #1 Roger Federer in 2008, Nadal claimed the Wimbledon trophy and became only the second Spaniard to do so. He also won the 2009 Australian Open, the first male Spaniard to do so. In 2009, he became the first player ever to simultaneously hold Grand Slam titles on"
"titles. Until the 2016 Wimbledon, this was the last Grand Slam tournament that Novak Djokovic failed to reach the quarter-finals. He lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round. 2009 French Open – Men's Singles Rafael Nadal was the four-time defending champion, but lost in the fourth round to Robin Söderling in a huge upset. This was Nadal's first defeat (of two) at the French Open, having won the title in all four of his previous appearances at Roland Garros since debuting in 2005. With Nadal's loss, there would be a first time French Open champion for 2009. Roger Federer"
"Spain has also won the Davis Cup five times (2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011) and the Fed Cup five other times (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998) Rafael Nadal is the greatest Spanish tennis player of all time and widely considered one of the best players ever. He has won the French Open for five consecutive times, and altogether won eleven Roland Garros titles surpassing Björn Borg's record of six French Open titles. After defeating then world number #1 Roger Federer, Nadal claimed the Wimbledon trophy and became only the second Spaniard to do so. He also won the 2009 Australian"
"Marcus Sarstrand Marcus Sarstrand (born 24 July 1978) is a former professional tennis player from Sweden. Sarstrand comes from Borås and started playing tennis at the age of seven. He competed in the boys' singles events at both the French Open and Wimbledon in 1996. At the Swedish Open in 1997, Sarstrand upset top seed Thomas Johansson, who was ranked 35th in the world, compared to his own ranking of 841. It was Sarstrand's first year as a professional player and he was making his debut in an ATP Tour main draw. He was eliminated in the second round by"
"heart attack while playing a tennis match in Los Angeles. He died in Arcadia on 28 May 2008 as a result of pneumonia. Sven Davidson Sven Davidson (13 July 1928 – 28 May 2008) was a Swedish tennis player who became the first Swede to win a Grand Slam title when he won the French Championships in 1957, beating Ashley Cooper and Herbert Flam. Davidson also reached the French championships final in the two previous years. In 1955 he beat Budge Patty before losing to Tony Trabert. In 1956 he beat Flam and Cooper before losing to Lew Hoad). He"
"Roland Garros. Women's tennis legend Martina Navratilova described the match as one of the greatest upsets in tennis history. His 6–2, 6–7, 6–4, 7–6 victory over the reigning world No. 1 made Söderling the first and until 2015, only person to beat Nadal at the French Open and in a best of five-set match on clay. Two days later, facing 10th seed and two-time semifinalist Nikolay Davydenko, Söderling won 6–1, 6–3, 6–1 to reach his maiden major semifinal. Söderling made his first Grand Slam final, beating Fernando González 6–3, 7–5, 5–7, 4–6, 6–4 after having been down 0–30 and 1–4"
"was later diagnosed with mononucleosis. In 2009, Söderling made history by becoming the first of two players (the other being Novak Djokovic in 2015) to defeat Rafael Nadal at the French Open. He prevailed in four sets and eventually reached his first grand slam singles final at the event where he lost to then World No. 2 Roger Federer in straight sets, allowing the Swiss to complete a Career Grand Slam in the process. Söderling reached the top ten of the ATP Singles Rankings for the first time in his career later that year and qualified for the year-ending ATP"
"record nine Grand Slam tournament finals. From 2006 to 2008, they played in every French Open and Wimbledon final, and also met in the title match of the 2009 Australian Open, the 2011 French Open and the 2017 Australian Open. Nadal won six of the nine, losing the first two Wimbledon finals. Four of these matches were five-set matches (2007 and 2008 Wimbledon, 2009 and 2017 Australian Open), and the 2008 Wimbledon final has been lauded as the greatest match ever by many long-time tennis analysts. Nadal is the only player who has competed and won against Federer in the"
"title to Nadal in a close rematch. The progress against Nadal was short-lived. At Roland Garros, Djokovic and Federer both soundly lost to Nadal for the third straight year which saw Nadal steamroll to his fourth French Open win without losing a set in the tournament. Djokovic won his second clay set against Nadal at Monte Carlo in 2009 and then pushed him even further to three match points in their epic semifinal in Madrid. Although Djokovic lost that semifinal to Nadal, Federer defeated Nadal in the Madrid final for his second win over Nadal on clay which saw Nadal"
"met wife Amy Baruch while playing a tournament in Spartanburg in 2008 and they were married the following year. Marcus Sarstrand Marcus Sarstrand (born 24 July 1978) is a former professional tennis player from Sweden. Sarstrand comes from Borås and started playing tennis at the age of seven. He competed in the boys' singles events at both the French Open and Wimbledon in 1996. At the Swedish Open in 1997, Sarstrand upset top seed Thomas Johansson, who was ranked 35th in the world, compared to his own ranking of 841. It was Sarstrand's first year as a professional player and"
"Jonas Björkman Jonas Lars Björkman (; born 23 March 1972 in Alvesta, Sweden) is a former World No. 4 Swedish professional tennis player. He is also a former World No. 1 in doubles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup Doubles championships. As of the end of 2017, he still ranked 28th on the all-time ATP prize money list with over 14 million dollars. On 20 November 2006, he replaced Dick Norman as the oldest player in the ATP Top 100 (singles) when Norman dropped out of the Top 100 for the last time."
"and Andre Agassi — to win Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces. Later in 2009, Roger Federer would become the fifth player to accomplish this feat upon winning his 14th grand slam title at the 2009 French Open. Federer, who was pursuing a record-tying fourteenth Grand Slam title, was unable to hold back tears during the trophy presentation. Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer, 7–5, 3–6, 7–6, 3–6, 6–2 Serena Williams defeated Dinara Safina, 6–0, 6–3 Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan defeated Mahesh Bhupathi / Mark Knowles, 2–6, 7–5, 6–0 Serena Williams / Venus Williams defeated Daniela Hantuchová / Ai"
"Djokovic had also lost to Nadal earlier on in the quarterfinals. Federer beat Nadal in the Hamburg final in 2007, putting an end to Nadal's unprecedented 81-match winning streak on clay. At the French Open, Nadal defeated Djokovic and Federer back-to-back in the semifinals and final to win his third straight title at Roland Garros. In 2008, Federer played a solid match against Nadal at Monte Carlo before Djokovic emerged as a force on clay as well. He pushed Nadal to three sets in the Hamburg semifinals and won his first clay set against Nadal. Federer then lost the Hamburg"
"four sets, 6–1, 4–6, 6–1, 6–4. Almagro then bowed out in straight sets in the quarterfinals, losing a closely contested match against eventual champion Rafael Nadal, 6–7, 6–7, 4–6. At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, Almagro suffered a first-round exit to Italian Andreas Seppi, 6–7, 6–7, 2–6. After this, Almagro traveled to his first clay-court tournament since Roland Garros, the 2010 Swedish Open. He defeated Jarkko Nieminen, 6–4, 6–4, Croatian qualifier Franko Škugor, 4–6, 6–4, 6–0, in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he defeated fellow Spaniard Tommy Robredo, 6–1, 6–3, and then in the final he defeated home favourite, top seed,"
"he won the 2016 Båstad Challenger in July. Fred Simonsson Fred Simonsson (born 27 November 1994) is a Swedish tennis player. Simonsson has a career high ATP singles ranking of 633, achieved on 1 August 2016. His career high ATP doubles ranking of 197 was achieved on 19 December 2016. Simonsson made his ATP main draw doubles debut at the 2012 Swedish Open. He reached the quarterfinals of the 2015 Swedish Open partnering Jonathan Mridha and repeated the achievement at the 2016 Swedish Open partnering Isak Arvidsson. In March 2016 Simonsson won the ATP Challenger Tour doubles tournament RC Hotel"
"for his first ever junior Grand Slam title. In the junior 2009 Wimbledon Championships, Berta lost in the third round to American Alexander Domijan 3–6, 3–6. He was granted a wildcard into the 2009 Ordina Open, which was his ATP tournament debut. He lost to Belgian qualifier Dick Norman in the first round, 3–6, 3–6. He also received a wildcard into the 2009 Swedish Open, where he lost to Björn Phau in the first round 3–6, 2–6. Daniel Berta Daniel Berta (born 26 November 1992) is a Swedish tennis player. He won the Boys' Singles event at the 2009 French"
"a lingering bout of mononucleosis. Söderling began playing tennis at the age of five. He 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. Söderling came to prominence at the 2009 French Open, where he became the first player to defeat Rafael Nadal at the tournament, and the only one to achieve it until Novak Djokovic in 2015. Nadal had previously never lost at the tournament since his debut in 2005 and was the four-time defending"
"exit at the Madrid Masters against Roger Federer, Söderling next competed at the ARAG World Team Cup in Düsseldorf, as part of the Swedish contingent. Although Sweden did not win, Söderling defeated Gilles Simon and Rainer Schüttler, the latter 6–0, 6–0. At the French Open, Söderling, seeded 23rd, reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time after defeating Kevin Kim, Denis Istomin, and David Ferrer. This set up a match with four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal. He scored the biggest upset of the year beating an injured Nadal and ending his record 31-match winning streak at"
"fell to world No. 3 and defending champion Stan Wawrinka in straight sets. At the French Open, he took a set off world No. 1 Andy Murray in the first round. In the SkiStar Swedish Open he made it to his third career semifinal, also his third semifinal this year. He first beat German tennis player Jan-Lennard Struff in only 2 sets. He then defeated no.1 seed, Pablo Carreño Busta, after Carreño Busta retired in the third set. He then beat 7th seed Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals in straight sets to eventually lose to Alexandr Dolgopolov in the semifinals."
"in the spring and Robin Söderling is certainly no exception. The Swede made light work of Gilles Simon on Monday, winning 6–2, 6–3, 7–6 to set up a third Roland Garros battle with Rafael Nadal in as many years. No.1 seed Rafael Nadal opened the second week of his title defence with a routine 7–5, 6–3, 6–3 win over Ivan Ljubičić. The veteran Croat battled gamely throughout and saved no fewer than 14 break points, coming to the net bravely to try to catch his opponent off-guard, but it takes more than that to rattle the five-time champion on clay"
"He lost in the first round of Wimbledon, still failing to capture his first win there, losing to Nicolás Almagro in a match that lasted almost four hours. He represented Argentina once again in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Davis Cup against the Czech Republic, losing both his matches. He then competed in the 2009 Swedish Open, defeating eighth seed Máximo González and dominating in his next three matches against Victor Crivoi, top seed Fernando Verdasco, and third seed and defending champion Tommy Robredo, before losing to Robin Söderling in the final. In the 2009 International German Open, he defeated"
"Roland Garros, Söderling entered the Wimbledon Championships as the sixth seed where he lost, in the quarterfinals, to eventual champion Rafael Nadal 6–3, 3–6, 6–7, 1–6. Despite the loss, he cracked into the Top 5 for the first time in his career. Returning to his native country for the first time since the Davis Cup tie in March, Söderling was seeded top at the Swedish Open; a tournament that he won the previous year. He lost in the final against Nicolás Almagro in the final, 5–7, 6–3, 2–6. After a three-week hiatus from competition, Söderling started off his U.S hardcourt"
"reached the second round. That occurred at the 1996 French Open, where he defeated Tim Henman. In the following round he lost to Guy Forget, in a five set match. Kris Goossens Kris Goossens (born 20 February 1974) is a former professional tennis player from Belgium. Goossens entered into the ATP's top 100 for the first time in 1995, after making the semi-final of the Swedish Open and winning a Challenger event in Ecuador. His run to the semi-finals in Sweden including a win over world number 24 Jonas Björkman. Also that year, he played two Davis Cup singles rubbers"
"Thomas Johansson Karl Thomas Conny Johansson (; born 24 March 1975), commonly known as Thomas Johansson, is a retired professional tennis player from Sweden. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 7 singles ranking on May 10, 2002. His career highlights in singles include a Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 2002, and an ATP Masters Series title at the 1999 Canada Masters. He also won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in men's doubles, partnering Simon Aspelin. To this day, Johansson remains the last man from Sweden to win a Grand"
"career-high no. 5 and won his first Slam at the 2009 US Open defeating Roger Federer 3–6, 7–6, 4–6, 7–6, 6–2 in the final. He is also the tallest ever Grand Slam champion and the first player to defeat both Nadal and Federer in the same Grand Slam tournament. He also won two other titles at the Heineken Open defeating Sam Querrey, and the Legg Mason Tennis Classic defeating Andy Roddick. He also reached his first Masters final at the Rogers Cup losing to Andy Murray. He also reached the semi finals at the French Open losing to Federer. Del"
"Nadal was upset in the fourth round. Meanwhile, Federer twice denied Nadal from becoming the first man since Björn Borg in 1980 to win the ""Channel Slam"" (both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year) by defeating him in their first two Wimbledon finals, but Nadal succeeded the following year. This was the first of three combined Channel Slams with Federer accomplishing it in 2009 followed by Nadal's second in 2010. Federer has also prevented Nadal from winning the Year-End Championships by defeating him in the 2010 finals and eliminating Nadal from the tournament in the 2006 and"
"a top thirty player to a perennial top ten player, reaching a high of number 4 in the world. Söderling remained a fixture in the top ten from 2009–2011 until he was forced to stop playing, while still ranked number 5 in the world, and ultimately had to retire after contracting a serious case of mononucleosis. 2009 French Open – Men's singles final The 2009 French Open Men's Singles final was the championship tennis match of the Men's Singles tournament at the 2009 French Open. It was contested by three-time finalist Roger Federer and Robin Söderling of Sweden. After years"
"the tournament, but went on to win in four sets. In the semi-finals, he put on a devastating display and lost only six games as he dispatched Andy Murray in straight sets. The final was a rematch of last year's semifinal and the 2012 final as well as his 42nd match against Novak Djokovic. In winning his 9th Roland Garros title, Nadal became the only player to have won one Grand Slam for ten consecutive years. Nadal received a bye in the first round and then lost to Dustin Brown in the second round. The loss marked Nadal's third consecutive"
"championships. In March 2015 he joined Andy Murray's coaching team. The son of tennis coach and mailman Lars Björkman, Jonas began playing tennis at the age of six. At 18, he won the Swedish Junior Championship and was among the top 5 junior Swede players. He married Petra on 2 December 2000 in Stockholm and has a son, Max (born 15 January 2003). He plays right-handed and has a particularly good record against left-handed players. He claims it's because his father plays left-handed. He turned professional in 1991. In 1993, he won three Challenger singles titles. In 1994, he won"
"Southern Financial Group Masters. Nadal has a 4–4 record at the championship and reached the semifinals in 2006 and 2007. This is his 3rd appearance On 5 July – after the 2009 Wimbledon Championships – Roger Federer of Switzerland who won his 15th Slam at the tournament over Andy Roddick was announced as the second qualifier. Roger Federer began the year with a loss to Rafael Nadal at the final of the Australian Open. He won his first title of the year at the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open defeating Nadal in the final. For his first win over Nadal since"
"Grand Slam title defeating David Ferrer in the Roland Garros final in Paris, Toni Nadal assumed sole possession of the top position on the history of tennis with 12 Grand Slam title as a coach. He broke a tie with Lennart Bergelin who coached Björn Borg reaching 11 Grand Slam titles between 1974–1981. Solidifying his lead on the coaches' rank list, Toni Nadal has currently 16 Grand Slam titles with his nephew. In 2015, after Rafael Nadal lost in the second round at Wimbledon to Dustin Brown, who was ranked No. 102 at the time, former world No. 1 John"