Roland Garros 2009: Did Robin Soderling Finally Manage To Win Hearts?

A slight deviation from the deluge of the euphoria-induced Roger Federer articles [he deserves it], I wish to turn a wee bit of attention to Robin Soderling, who has reached the status of a "Prima Donna" villain in the current tennis fraternity.

How many true blue tennis fans actually like his abrasive bordering on brash attitude, not to mention his cocky and sometimes demeaningly taunting behaviour?

This French Open was no different; at least till today's final against Roger Federer; Today, it appeared that Robin Soderling had tweaked himself somewhere in between these past two weeks and on this day; the Soderling who played with an air that said, "You should be honoured that you are playing against me" was reduced to, "I am honoured that I am playing opposite you."

And I am not make-believing this scenario. Throughout the course of the match, he was not in the least rude nor was he throwing attitude to the skies; and it was not because Federer was the stronger man today, in fact it had nothing to do with Federer winning, nothing at all!

Soderling was a changed man today, he played OK- sometimes flashes of his forehand would appear before Federer quelled his enthusiasm; but no...the man himself looked like he had undergone a complete metamorphosis, and that too within a fortnight? Another surprise in the making, after the "Sweet like Salt" episode.

Taking a look at his post match speech, it came as a little stunning shot when he was smiling [considering Soderling, smiling was implied to be out of the question] and appeared as if losing meant nothing to him, no..before anyone gets me wrong, I wish to explain that I don't mean to belittle Federer's victory but "The Soderling Grin" really stymied me at that moment!

To add to that, his talk about how Federer taught him "How to play tennis today" was another shocker and when the talk turned to "For me, Federer is the best player ever," it felt like deja vu: A Swede repeating what a certain Spaniard continuously to mouth; only difference being the word "Humility" which supposedly the Swede was lacking!

So, does today's ultimate dialogue deliverance and a show of being a "Good Loser" as opposed to being a "Sour Loser" from Robin Soderling, indicate a change for the better from his side making him a new crowd favourite in the days to come or was it just a "blink-and-a-miss" one time story from the Swede?