TENNIS FRENCH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS: HISTORY WAS ushered in with a forehand, inside-out winner. It was just after 8.30pm, the skies were grey, and the electric scoreboard shone as brilliantly as if this had been a night match. It blazed the legend 3-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in favour of Roger Federer – and so he will walk out on to the clay tomorrow poised to win his first French Open title, become only the sixth man to win all four slams and equal Pete Sampras's record of 14 majors.
That is, unless Robin Soderling, who has already inflicted the mother of all upsets by beating Rafael Nadal, has one final shock in store. The Swede will always be remembered as the man who defeated Nadal for the first time at the French Open, thereby ending the Spaniard’s hopes of winning a record fifth successive title.
He will be hoping the tennis world will hail him as a grand slam champion in his own right, though should he win he may need an armed escort out of Roland Garros.
“Roger, Roger,” the crowd roared as Federer came back from two sets to one down against Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro. They love him, and they desperately want him to win here.
Soderling will not only be fighting Federer and fatigue, but also the crowd and history.
It has not been easy for the Swiss. The irony may be that he will achieve his ultimate goal while playing tennis of a lesser hue to that which saw him win eight slams out of 10 from Wimbledon 2005 to the 2007 US Open. It hardly matters, though it is a measure of his greatness that this is the first time he has had to play two five-set matches in a slam since 2001.
Del Potro, playing in his first slam semi-final, played wonderfully well and was in tears afterwards. He put his arm around Federer and wished him well, but was bitterly disappointed, having been two points from winning the second set.
The 6ft 6in Argentinian, still only 20, is number five in the world and underlined his sharp improvement over the past 12 months with the vigour and excellence of this challenge. Federer had won his previous five matches against Del Potro without losing a set; this time he was a mightily relieved man, as he had been to defeat Germany’s Tommy Haas in the fourth round.
Federer has won all his nine matches against Soderling, though this is a Soderling reborn.
In yesterday’s first semi-final, the Swede’s amazing fortnight took another dramatic twist when, having surrendered a two-set lead, he turned around a 4-1 deficit in the fifth against Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez to win 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4. It was a thrilling contest, awash with the most spectacular, uninhibited hitting, though not without controversy.
At 4-4 in the fourth set, Gonzalez questioned a line call, and when it went against him he rubbed the mark out with his bottom. Nobody could remember such a thing happening before, and the crowd whistled their displeasure. They have never liked a smart arse, particularly one covered in clay, though generally they were on the side of Gonzalez throughout.
Soderling’s talent has rarely been in doubt, simply his temperament. He has walked a tightrope of emotions, not wanting to bottle things up, but also realising that red mists have caused him to lose matches he should have won. Not so here, in a semi-final that lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours.
The Swedish public have considered Soderling as something of a whinger and a whiner, while his reputation in the world’s lockerrooms is as one of the awkward squad, fractious and intractable.
Soderling does not deny it. “As a kid I could be the worst kind of loser. When my family and I played board games at home I would slam the table and just run out of the room if I lost, really angry. That will not happen any more.”
The only slam he wants now is the French Open.
Guardian Service
