The 2009 tennis year has been a most interesting one. Beginning with Rafael Nadal at his absolute peak, it seemed like no one would be able to stop him. Nadal defeated Roger Federer at the Australian Open finals and literally reduced Federer to tears when the trophies and checks were being presented to them both after the match.
Nadal had won three of the last four grand slam tennis events at this point in time, and secured the #1 ranking in the world for the first time in his career. Things couldn't get better for Nadal.
Going into the clay court season, Nadal was obviously the heavy favorite to win yet another French Open, which would have been his fifth consecutive title. Nadal coasted through many of the preparation tournaments, but suddenly, something unexpected happened.
Nadal lost a tennis match to Roger Federer on clay. This had never happened before, and was a shock to the tennis world. Still, people wrote it off. From there, Nadal ended up proceeding to the French Open, where he still remained the heavy favorite. Somehow, he was knocked off in the 4th round of the tournament by Robin Soderling in a shocking upset!
Was Nadal really off his game? Or did the little known Swede suddenly rise to the occasion and dethrone Nadal of his reign? It seemed like it could have been a combination of both, as Soderling advanced to the final with some more big wins before meeting Roger Federer, and losing.
Soderling has since established himself as a top 12 player and looks like he's finally found his way.
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