Robin Soderling |
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Robin Bo Carl Söderling (born August 14, 1984 in Tibro) is a professional tennis player from Sweden, currently ranked world no. 9. Söderling is the first and only tennis player to defeat Rafael Nadal in the French Open. Though he would go on to lose in the final to Roger Federer, he completed the strongest performance in a Grand Slam event of his career. Currently he is the only Swede in the top 200 in the ATP rankings.
Söderling began playing tennis at the age of five. Robin Söderling 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. In his first full year in the junior tour (2000), he achieved four tournament victories and in 2001 attained three more titles in the juniors including the Orange Bowl. In the same year Söderling achieved fourth place in the year-end ranking and played in his very first ATP tournament in Stockholm, winning his first match against Ramón Delgado.
Söderling tried to break into the men's circuit, playing five more ATP tournaments and the second round of the US Open. In the Challenger circuit he achieved a 16–8 record, and he played in the US Open Junior tournament.