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U.S. OPEN

September 4, 2010

Robin Soderling

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

R. SODERLING/T. De Bakker
6-2, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You must be very happy with the way you've been playing in this tournament. You seem to be cruising pretty much through.
ROBIN SODERLING: Except the first round.
No, it's been better and better, I think. Started my first match maybe not so great, but after that I think I played two pretty good matches.
And today was not easy. It was difficult conditions. I told myself before the match, It's not gonna be pretty. I think during the circumstances, I played a pretty good match.

Q. How would you say this connects to the rest of the summer on hardcourts for you?
ROBIN SODERLING: Well, I only played two tournaments, and I think, you know, I had two good wins and two losses against good players.
Maybe the result hasn't been really what I wanted to, but I played some pretty good tennis, so it's been okay. It's been good preparation for this tournament.

Q. These days, when fans of Roger and Rafa look at the draw, the first thing they look for is, Where is Soderling? How does that feel?
ROBIN SODERLING: (Smiling.) Well, I think they should look for many other players, because I think there's a lot of players who can do really well. Of course, in any tournament, when Roger and Rafa is playing, they will be the favorites.
But, again, I think there is many players who can actually beat them.

Q. Have you played any better this year than you did when you played against Federer in Paris?
ROBIN SODERLING: What was that?

Q. Have you played any better than you did in that match in Paris?
ROBIN SODERLING: It's tough to compare matches. It was definitely a very good match. It's tough to say if it was one of my best ones, but of course, you know, it's always difficult to play against Roger.
I played him a lot of times, and I think almost except from that last match I never felt that I played well. But that's not because of me. That's because of him, because he makes you play bad.
So I think it was a very good match. One of my best five matches this year.

Q. One of his last service games he hit, I think it was a service winner ultimately, but you had some problem with that. I don't know if it was a Hawk-Eye issue, or a call issue. You spoke to the umpire a little bit.

Q. Do you remember that?
ROBIN SODERLING: Yeah, yeah. It was a let serve. I think during the match there were a couple of strange let calls. I think she called let when not one of us heard, and it then all of a sudden she didn't call it. Yeah, I think it was the machine.

Q. When you came on the tour, what would you have thought was your best surface, and what do you think your best surface is now?
ROBIN SODERLING: Now I'm not sure. (Smiling.)
When I started, I had my best results indoors and on faster surfaces. But I think last two years I played very good on all surfaces, especially on clay.
So now I'm not sure anymore, which is a good thing, because I really feel like I can do well on any surface.

Q. How close to ideal do you feel this surface is to you in terms of your comfort level on the court?
ROBIN SODERLING: Well, I think it's a good surface for me. I played well here in the past. Um, the thing is that a lot of the courts are not the same. Some courts are a little bit faster. Some courts are a little bit slower.
So I think some courts suits me better than other ones. But overall, I think it's pretty good for me. It's not too fast, not too slow. It's good.

Q. Why do you think this is the one Slam that Nadal has not won? You're very familiar, obviously, with his game. You've seen him on all the different surfaces. In your mind, why do you think the US Open has been particularly difficult for him?
ROBIN SODERLING: I think you should ask him. He could easily have won this one, as well. But I think -- it might be the fastest one, and even though he has improved his game on the fastest surfaces, I think he still is a better player on the bit slower surfaces. Maybe that is why.
But I think he will definitely have a good chance to win this tournament a couple of times.

Q. If he is successful here, given his head-to-head with Roger, do you think it's a matter of time before he'll be looked at maybe as even greater than Roger?
ROBIN SODERLING: Well, he's still very young, and of course he needs to win a lot more matches and a lot more tournaments before he's at the same level as Roger. But if he's gonna be healthy, he for sure have a lot of more years, and he's for sure gonna be win many more tournaments.
It's tough to say, but he definitely got the chance. He's got a very good game, and he also got a good game for any surface, you know. I think it shows. He won so many tournaments on all different surfaces.

Q. You have a reputation as a giant killer. I'm sure that's a pleasant one to have. Is it ever irritating? Do you feel you're ready to move on to the next level where you're a giant instead of a giant killer?
ROBIN SODERLING: Oh, no, I don't really care. I think Roger and Rafa, they're best two players in the world right now. I think it will remain like that for a couple of years.
But, you know, I'm in the top 5. Of course I want to improve. I want to do better. But it's also a matter of doing well many matches, many tournaments in a row, not only ones here and there. I think you need to play at a very consistent level throughout the whole year.

Q. You go about your business very quietly. Is it getting harder to do that with the kind of attention you're getting now because of your recent results?
ROBIN SODERLING: Well, a little bit maybe. But, you know, I still feel the same, and I'm doing the same things every day: working on my game and trying not to think about other stuff.
I think I've been handling it pretty well. I still want to improve, and hopefully -- I'm still not that old, so hopefully I can do that.

Q. Peter talked about how people look at where you are in the draw. Have you looked a bit ahead? Do you know what's coming possibly next round and the round after?
ROBIN SODERLING: Yeah, I saw Montanes won in his match against Nishikori. I will play him in the next round, which will be a very difficult match. We played many times. We had tough matches. Yeah, I think here was the first round last year we had a tough four-setter, I think. He's a good player. It's gonna be tough.

Q. Do you know what might happen the round after that?
ROBIN SODERLING: Yeah. Everybody has been telling me that since the draw came out. I'm going against Roger in the quarters. He still needs to win two more matches, and I still have to win one more. It's still far ahead.

Q. Does that bother you people have been telling you, or it's gonna happen no matter what you do?
ROBIN SODERLING: No, I mean, I'm the fifth seed, so I know I'm gonna play one of the four top guys in quarters. I mean, they're all good players, so it doesn't really matter who I'm playing.

Q. I assume you're still coached by Magnus. You appear to be very well-coached. Can you just comment on the kinds of things you've been doing and how you've been maintaining this level?
ROBIN SODERLING: Ah, yeah, we've been working on many different things. I think if you look at all the top guys, they don't really have any weaknesses. They are all very complete players.
That's what we've been trying to work on, you know. We've been working a lot on my footwork, on my movement around the court, and also playing a little bit more aggressive, coming to the net sometimes.
It's been working, but we are still working on it, and hopefully I'm pretty sure it can improve even more.

End of FastScripts

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