Whoever wins the men's singles at the French Open this year, it will not be Roger Federer. The phenomenal Swiss tennis player lost a four-set match to Robin Soderling of Sweden in this year's quarterfinals yesterday. It was vengeance of a sort for Soderling, who was defeated in the 2009 final by Federer, when Roger won his first and only French Open title.
Federer took the first set easily and was up 5-4 in the second set when a 45-minute rain delay apparently stole his thunder. When play resumed, everything went Soderling's way for the next three sets. Federer had his chances, including a set point just before the rain delay, but Soderling, who also managed to knock Rafal Nadal out of the tournament in 2009, was clearly the better player for the match. Now Soderling will face Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in the semifinals. Nadal, who won his match today, will meet Austrian Jürgen Melzer in the semis. It could be that Soderling and Nadal will meet in Sunday's final. If nothing else, Soderling has made tennis history by winning against both Federer and Nadal in the same Grand Slam tournament, even if not during the same year.
Switzerland, of course, adulates "le Grand Rodgeur" as well it should. He is a truly phenomenal champion, no matter what happens from now on. But, as a nation, Switzerland was probably most excited by last Sunday's match, when Federer played his fellow countryman and occasional doubles partner, Stanislas Wawrinka. (Together, they won the Gold for Switzerland in men's doubles at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.) As expected, Federer won Sunday's match. But Stan is a favorite where I live, in part because he comes from the canton of Vaud. Many were pulling for him. He is also a really nice guy. He wins more brownie points locally than Federer does because Wawrinka almost always participates in the Swiss Davis Cup matches whereas Federer more often than not does not.
HWMBO and I attended the first weekend of play for the 1997 French Open and had a ball. That year, Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil was the winner. Kuerten went on to win the championship two more times. The matches we watched were fun because, at the time, we had no idea who would end up in the finals, or even the quarterfinals, and were simply able to enjoy ourselves cheering for whomever we wanted to. As always, it was a pleasure to visit the City of Light. We will long remember the atmosphere of actually being there although we must admit that we actually see the players and the games better watching our TV set at home.
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