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PILOT PEN TENNISAugust 24, 2006Robin SoderlingNEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Run me through the match. Talk about how you played. ROBIN SODERLING: It was a little bit tougher I think than the score showed. I think I served really well today, as well. I felt like really I hit the ball well. But I was a little bit tired, though. It was tough. I played late, pretty late last night, pretty early today. I could easily have been sleeping a couple of hours more. But it was okay. I won 3-2 against Jurgen, who is a really good player on hard court. I mean, I have to be satisfied. Q. When you do that, when you have that quick turnaround, do you have to make sure you stretch better before the matches to make sure you don't do anything physically to yourself? ROBIN SODERLING: No, not really. I always do the same after matches and before matches. You don't have as much time. When you play a tough match like I did yesterday, you like to sleep at least nine hours. Was tough to get it this night. I was a little bit tired. I'm very satisfied with the way I played the match. Q. Any preference on who to face in the semis? ROBIN SODERLING: No, not really (smiling). They're both good guys. They have a pretty similar game. They move really well around the court. They don't miss much at all. I'm expecting a really tough match. I played Davydenko once. I also played Rochus once. They're both great competitors. Q. What happened in those two matches? ROBIN SODERLING: I lost to Rochus. I had to retire to Rochus actually. Davydenko I beat earlier this year in Monaco. Both tough matches. They're good players, very good. Q. When you were coming here, did you envision you could be sitting here ready to go into the semifinals? ROBIN SODERLING: Yeah, actually I did. I played almost a full year now without any trouble with my knee. I've been practicing very good for, yeah, the whole year. I felt like my game is improving almost every week. I played pretty good in Toronto and Cincinnati as well. I lost a tough match in Toronto to González who played really well. I lost in three sets. In Cincy I think I did a good tournament. Here, as well. I feel like I'm pretty consistent right now. Q. What does that mean going into the Open? ROBIN SODERLING: It's very good for my confidence, I think. At the same time, you know, you don't want to get too tired when you're going to the Open. The good thing here is that you play the finals on Saturday, which normally you play on Sundays. Hopefully you can get a Tuesday start at the Open. That gives you three days. That's more than enough, I think. Q. Can you talk about tennis in your country. After Borg left, you had Wilander, Edberg. What's happened since then? Other young players coming up through the system? ROBIN SODERLING: Not as much any more. I think tennis is not that popular any more in Sweden. We have different sports that are more popular, like soccer, ice hockey. A lot of kids starts with those sports. After Borg, Wilander, Edberg, everybody wanted to play tennis. Every kid played tennis. They played in their backyards, streets, school, everywhere. It's not the same any more. I think it's pretty normal that we don't have as much good juniors any more. Q. Joachim out there, if he's healthy, do you think that would create more of a buzz in the country? ROBIN SODERLING: Yeah, maybe. I think tennis is getting a little bit more popular again. They start a new TV channel where they show a lot of tennis, all the Swedes' matches in tournaments around the world. It's a little bit more popular again. It's going to take for sure maybe 10 years before we have more good guys on the tour. I think we're on the right way right now.
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