Sweden is used to having an abundance of tennis champions. Remember Bjorn Bjorg's Wimbledon heroics, the brilliance of Mats Wilander, doubles specialist Anders Jarryd and the ever-gentlemanly former world No.1 Stefan Edberg? All fantastic world-beaters of eras gone by. 

Even in the past decade, the likes of Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Enquist have kept the Swedes at the forefront of the men's game.  However, with Bjorkman in his mid-30s and Enquist retired from the game, who is left to pick up the pieces? Who is a potential champion in the making? Who can challenge the Federers and Nadals of the ATP tour? Robin Soderling will give it a go!

Soderling is the new Swedish No.1 - more through default than actual results so far in his career. However, the 6ft 3in giant has shown recently that he is making a good recovery from injury to start to tackle the top stars.

'Soderling will look to win big points in the next few months to help bolster his ranking even more'


Robin was just about to break into the top 20 in 2007 when his season was cut short in August due to injury.  He had a solid season on tour in the first half on the year, reaching the semi-finals in Doha and Dubai before making the last eight in Monte Carlo, where he now resides. 

The list of top players he defeated during these tournament runs is impressive in itself. Nikolay Davydenko, Richard Gasquet, David Ferrer, Marcos Baghdatis and Fernando Gonzalez all fell victim to the powerful Swede. It was at Wimbledon where Soderling came to the limelight.

The event, well known for its previous Swedish victors, seemed to spur Soderling on and it took a very tenacious Rafael Nadal in the third round to win a hard-fought five-set match to end Soderling's hopes. The match was a classic fuelled with rain delays and injury time-outs.

This year has seen Soderling make an impressive comeback after five months out of the game. In his first tournament he reached the quarter-finals in Marseille before reaching back-to-back finals in Rotterdam and Memphis to move back into the world's top 40.  In reaching his two finals, Robin defeated the in-form Andy Roddick and dangerous Cypriot Baghdatis.  He has had success on clay and grass during his career, so the Swede will look to win big points in the next few months to help bolster his ranking even more.

For Soderling to live up to the careers of his fellow Swedes will be difficult if not impossible. However, he can mix it with the best on the current tour and could have a few surprises up his sleeve in 2008.