Soderling, the first tennis player to beat Nadal in Paris, surrenders to the Balearic Islands after Roland Garros

Robin Soderling can boast of having been the first tennis player to defeat Rafa Nadal on the clay of Roland Garros and, to this day, one of the two players who have been able to win a match against the Balearic tennis player on the clay of Paris (the other is Novak Djokovic, who did it in 2015).

Soderling, who defeated Nadal in the round of 16 at Roland Garros 2009 and who He was a finalist in the tournament that year and in 2010, losing in both finals to Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal respectively., surrendered to the success of the Balearic tennis player with the conquest of his thirteenth title at Roland Garros.

The Swede highlighted Nadal's feat in a tournament in which he assumes that it is already an achievement in itself to be present in 13 final phases of the tournament. “To put things in perspective: just qualifying for the Roland Garros main draw thirteen times is an incredible achievement for any athlete. There are no words to describe what Rafa has done. A young master!” Soderling stated.

All a gesture of sportsmanship from Soderling, who In his last professional match at Roland Garros, he lost to Nadal in the quarterfinals of the tournament in 2011 before hanging up his racket a few weeks later after winning the title at the Bastad tournament. due to mononucleosis with only 27 years.