Men's French Open Final - Nadal vs Soderling

By Nishant Joshi

Another relatively facile French Open draw for Rafael Nadal will culminate in his toughest test yet, as he comes up against the fearsome Swede Robin Soderling. There is little doubt that Nadal is the best clay court player of all time, but Soderling is currently the only player on the planet capable of beating the Spaniard. What's more is that he knows he is capable of doing so, having knocked him out of the French Open last year in one of the biggest shocks in tennis history.

Soderling has always been one of my favourite players, but pre-2009 he would simply throw away leads when miles in front, against poor players. This led to plenty of 1.01 gubbing and Soderling was a serial under-achiever until last year's win against Nadal. He remains the only player to ever beat Nadal at the French Open, as the Spaniard has won on four of the five occasions he has played there.

Nadal goes into the match as a worthy favourite, but Soderling's confidence is sky-high at the moment, and he will go into the match knowing that he has little to lose as big underdog. This will suit his style of play as he relishes being able to swing freely. Having broken his 12-0 duck against Federer in the quarter-finals, Soderling will be looking to improve on his final defeat in 2009.

I will boldly predict that Soderling will overtake both Djokovic and Murray in the rankings by the end of the year, and that he might even win the US Open. He was always one of the most talented players on tour, but it's only now that he's finally realising his absolutely true potential, beating the very best in the world on a consistent basis. His career is at a critical mass, and I think he could well beat Nadal tomorrow.

We've seen hints of weakness from Nadal this season, despite having won all of his matches on clay in 2010. He has dropped sets to Gulbis and Almagro, and was on the verge of dropping a set against Melzer yesterday as well.

At the moment, Nadal is playing excellently as expected, but I will be bullish and suggest that Soderling's best level is better than Nadal's. We will have a small interest on the Swede at 4.6. Also we will have a bet on Soderling to win the aces handicap of -7.5 with SkyBet. Nadal will typically only serve a handful at best per match, whereas Soderling has the capability to burst it well into double figures.

NJ's Bets:

Soderling to beat Nadal - 2pts @ 4.34 (Extrabet)

Soderling to beat -7.5 aces handicap - 3pts @ 1.83 (Sky Bet)

Soderling to win US Open - 3pts @ 21.0 (E/W, 1, 2, 1/2) (Stan James)

Nishant Joshi