R. Soderling def. R. Nadal in the fourth round of the French Open: 6-2, 6(2)-7(7), 6-4, 7(7)-6(2) in 2h 46m

 

The Upset Of The Year. 

 

PS: And on a far less upsetting note, last year's "queen" of RG, Ana Ivanovic, was defeated in the fourth round by Victoria Azarenka in straight sets: 6-2, 6-3; there will be two new champions for 2009. 

This is an absolute shocker! I'm very pissed that the match wasn't shown live. I'l give my comments once I watch the match.

True.

Nadal did not play well, but Soderling was on fire. Deserved to win.

Astounding. No love lost between those two and after Nadal nearly shut him out 0-1 in Rome just never even thought this was remotely possible. Unreal. Soderling was so explosive out there and yes Nadal was not himself. Astounding result.

Now that Nadal is out, Federer might be the favourite to win this event. 

 

To borrow a line from Redhead: The King is dead, long live the King.

Delta:

   :)

  One can only wonder what kind of message board ammunition this monumental upset will give to the Red Baron, who is a big Soderling fan. Redhead once suggested when Vince Spadea retires he would support Soderling (in addition to Djokovic).

Agree with redhead, always liked Soderling. Thought he should have won against Nadal at Wimbledon couple of years back. He had a great match at Wimbledon against Martin Verkerk in 2003 (after the final Verkerk played the final at the French). Saw him at the Rotterdam tournament last year, the guy hits hard. Always thought he was a bit of a headcase, but he had amazing composure today. Specially after losing that second set.

By the by, I saw that Magnus Norman is his coach, maybe he helped Soderling calming down?

I am so mad.  The match will be shown on NBC, but the local affiliate here has a thelathon going on so I will miss it.  Is there a chance the Tennis Channel may show it later.  It will be interesting to see who makes it to the finals.  I am cheering for Federer, but like Del Potro also.  Do you think Murray will make it in the other bracket?

Soderling is and always has been a very tough player, he was #2 junior, almost toppled Nadal at Wimbledon, he has had some great runs. He was so poised down the home stretch, he really believed and knew he could win and never once showed any signs of buckling. This was an epic performance from a player who always had it in him, finally he did it. Great great effort and you have to consider him to win this thing now. He really did not overreact to the win, if he can keep that attitude and keep going forward he can win this thing.

 Nadal finally showed he was human. All those tough matches with Djokovic may have taken something out of his sails.

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I did not know the result of Soderling/Nadal when I got home from playing tennis and turned on the TV.  I'd been out all day playing and was planning on watching my tape of the tennis without knowing the results.  It worked out for me timing-wise to watch NBC's coverage, even though I now see I could have also watched on Tennis Channel.

I am bothered that Nadal, in his press conference, kept saying he did not play well.  It does happen that some players cannot play their best on certain days without it having to do with the opponent, but the fact is that Soderling was so overpowering in every way that he is the reason Nadal could not play as well as he usually does.  If Soderling had let up in any way, Nadal would have won, as indicated by the score which showed Nadal was on his heels for the final two sets.  Bravo Soderling!  It is known that top 50 players can create havoc for top 5 players on any given day.  Today was an example of a player playing to his full potential.  It was inspiring.