The competitiveness of sports leads to some great smack-talking sometimes. You may not hear it as much on the professional level, but sometimes it’s there. Today we got to witness that, at the 2009 Wimbledon.
To set up the story, Roger Federer played Robin Soderling in the final at the 2009 French Open less than a month ago. Before that match, Soderling had joked with his coach that nobody beats him 10 times in a row, because he was 0-9 against Federer. As you know, Federer won that match fairly easily. After the match, Soderling told everyone about that conversation, even saying it to Federer, and then joked that nobody beats him 11 times in a row. Which leads us to today’s match, where they met again.
Soderling’s game translates better to grass, so one would expect this match to be closer. The score was close, even though Federer won in straight sets. I’m curious what Soderling will say this time… 🙂
Buffet o' Blog 
Soder-who??
I say NOBODY. I mean NOBODY has beaten me 12 times in a row. Bring it! Name one person with a superb record such as mine? hmmmmmm….thought so. Everybody knows I am the next best thing. Everybody knows who I am. I keep getting better with every game I play. Move over Nadal, I am the new Nemesis of the Federer.
Beppo
But when does it cross the line from talking smack to speaking foolishness? When you’re 0-11 against a guy, you’ve been OWNED.
Of course, if he’s joking (as he was before), then it’s a moot point.
Brad Gilbert used to say such things about Ivan Lendl, and Gilbert ended up going 0-16 against him. Sometimes a player just doesn’t match up well against another.
But Soderling can take comfort in the fact that a lot of tennis pros have never beaten Federer.