Rafael Nadal and Robin Soderling didn’t use to have a great relationship, and for the Spaniard it was a real blow when he lost to him in 2009 in the Roland Garros 4th round 6-2 6-72 6-4 7-62. Rafa was defeated at the French Open only on another occasion in 2015 to Novak Djokovic 3-6 7-5 6-2 6-4. It’s worth noticing that the year after losing to the Swede, Nadal beat Soderling in the French Open final 6-4 6-2 6-4 before defeating him again the following year (2011) in the quarters still in Paris (6-4 6-1 7-63)
During a recent live streaming on Twitch, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga revealed that Nadal wasn’t at all at his very best that day in Paris when he faced Soderling and that was one of the reasons of his demise.
“Rafa will never speak about this, but when he lost to Soderling at the French Open in 2009, we all knew he was sick. He had a bad throat and did not feel well at all. That’s the truth,” said the Frenchman.
Rafael Nadal in 2020
Now ranked no.2, Nadal played his last match on the 29th
of February when he overcame Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-2 in the final in Acapulco to win his 85th career title.Currently, this year Nadal has a 13-3 win-loss record. Nadal clinched 1 title in Acapulco.
Rafael Nadal and Robin Soderling played each other 8 times. The head to head is 6-2 for Nadal. The last time that they locked horns, Rafael Nadal won 7-6 7-5 in the final in Capitala World Tennis Championship (Capitala World Tennis Championship) in January 2010.