The Swede, who lost to Federer in the 2009 Roland Garros men’s final, said the defending champion will have his challengers, but if he plays to the best of his abilities, there’s no one that can beat him.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Novak and Andy do well, but I think Federer. When Federer played his best last year, no one could match it. Not even Nadal, ” he told ausopen.com. "Rafa finished the year world No.1, but if Roger would have played the clay season he would have finished as No.1.”
After contracting mononucleosis, Soderling retired in 2011 with 10 ATP titles, four top-20 finishes and two Grand Slam finals.Throughout his career, he had many battles with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
“I always had tough matches against Roger. Playing against Djokovic, Nadal, I could go off the court and feel I played well. But against Roger, he just made me play bad,” Soderling reflected.
“Hm…but if they are both at the top, I think Novak would beat Roger more times than the opposite. He moved so well, got so many balls back. That’s really tough for Roger because he might play too fast, he would panic a little bit.”
When asked about his impressions of the 2017 ATP season, the 33-year-old was quick to point out the litany of injuries the men’s tour had suffered. “There were so many guys that were injured, and tennis can only blame itself for that,” he said.
“In tennis, we have a few weeks in December and that’s it. You start again the day after New Year’s Eve. The sport would really benefit from having a longer break.”
Soderling currently coaches promising young Swede Elias Ymer, who will be competing at the Australian Open qualifying event in early January. The 21-year-old is ranked world No. 144 and, after a disappointing season, is headed in the right direction. “He dropped from 160 [in the world] to 280, so he lost a lot of confidence and was playing way, way back behind the baseline. He wasn’t aggressive enough and in today’s tennis you have to be aggressive.
“He’s a quick learner and he’s already improved a lot in six months; he’s back to 144 and has a good chance in the [Australian Open] qualifiers in Melbourne and he’s playing way more aggressive now.”