Soderling will play into Federer's hands

LOOK at the way Robin Soderling has blazed his way to the French Open final and I defy you not to be in a quandary. He merits respect for being one win away from becoming a Grand Slam champion, having already beaten Rafael Nadal, the player many, myself included, revere as the greatest ever on a clay court. Despite that, Soderling epitomises many of the things I dislike about modern Tennis. He is Swedish but is no Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander or Stefan Edberg. There is no grace to his game, no guile, not a glimmer of personality. All he does is hit the ball hard. There is no plan B and he frequently blazes the ball so wide of the court that spectators are in danger. Yet all of that becomes irrelevant because he has reached the final of the most exacting tournament in the game when it comes to skill and patience. In doing so, he has ended one of the most historic winning sequences we have seen. Nobody else has beaten Nadal at Roland Garros and Soderling will always be remembered as the man who stopped the Spaniard at the French Open. Some will ask whether Nadal was fully fit, given that he subsequently withdrew from this week's Aegon Championship at Queen's, but the Spaniard is vastly experienced and felt fit enough to play in Paris. Soderling's unattractive, bludgeoning game sent the champion home to Majorca to lick his wounds, but will the Swede do something similar to deny Roger Federer the title he craves more than anything? Frankly, I think his chances are negligible. Soderling beat Nadal in the same way that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga did at the Australian Open last year; he hit the ball very flat against him, attacked, took risks, used power and drove forward. It is the only way to beat the the world No, 1 but Federer is a different proposition. Federer enjoys playing big hitters, as his record against Andy Roddick proves. The Swiss has all the answers and I think his slice will be too debilitating for Soderling. The cooler weather predicted for today will also favour Federer. Soderling is totally reliant on pace and the damper it is, the slower the ball will travel. Federer will be nervous because he is on the brink of finally completing the set of majors, and he knows that winning today would define his career. There is, however, no substitute for experience in Grand Slams and Federer has played in many finals, and his body knows what to expect. Soderling has never played seven best-of-five-set matches in a fortnight before. I saw ominous signs towards the end of the Swede's semi-final victory against Fernando Gonzalez. His back was stiffening, he was struggling to move his legs and his movement was compromised. He is hurting because this is uncharted territory for his body. Many surprise packages have reached a Grand Slam final, but few of them have picked up the main prize. Remember the big Dutch player Martin Verkerk here just a few years ago. He couldn't win a set against Juan Carlos Ferrero in a one-sided final and not too much was ever heard of him again. Marcos Baghdatis did well to reach the final of the Australian Open in 2006 but after a good start was ultimately powerless against Federer. It was the same story for the German Rainer Schuettler against Andre Agassi three years earlier. Federer is not as good on clay now as he was a few years ago. He misses more. He goes through periods where he really struggles. He often starts nervously. However, everything has conspired for him to win the one prize that has eluded him. Legends don't waste such opportunities.