In Which I Decide Robin Soderling is a Cool Guy

-Soderling and Gonzalez proved that the upsets they executed this week were well deserved, going 5 strong sets, and 23rd seed Robin Soderling advanced to his first career grand slam final. In the press room after the big upset on Sunday, Rafa Nadal said that when a player plays badly he deserves to lose and that's what happened to him. We now know for sure that he didn't give Soderling nearly enough credit.

-The general consensus among commentators seems to be that Soderling is not well-liked on the ATP tour, which may be to his advantage if he ends up facing Federer in the final. Soderling definitely won't have the crowd behind him, but if he's used to that, it might
fuel his energy.  Not being the fan favorite didn't hurt him when he took out Nadal, but maybe he was just that focused. In his post-match press conference today he was actually asked why he doesn't say hi to other players more often in the locker room, and he was candid
- he's tense before matches, doesn't like to talk, and nothing's going to change that now that he's made a slam final. When asked how his nerves will be affected by the spotlight of center court, he was equally cool: "It's just tennis, I never really cared how many were watching." I don't think Soderling's aloofness is intentional - he's not being rude, he's just
doing what he needs to do to give himself the best chance to win. He's here for the tennis and nothing else, and it's tough to root against a guy who would want this title more than anything even if the final were on court 14 and he wouldn't win a dime.

-This has been said already, but even though the first semi today was made up of relative unknowns, it was a classic French Open match.  Both guys labored for every point, and Soderling in particular showed signs of the 11+ hours he has spent on court throughout the tournamnet.  His matches have been long and tough on the legs - at one point he called in the trainer for a blister and we saw that his entire foot was covered in tape.

-In keeping with the theme of deserving underdogs, Del Potro can hang with Federer. He took the first set 6-3, lost the second in a tiebreak, and just won the third. If Feds loses this match, the final at Roland Garros will once again be all about Federer & Nadal...it'll just be about how bizarre it is that they're not here.

- Lena M. Glaser