STARNBERG, December 20, 2019

Former World No. 4 Robin Söderling has been named as Sweden’s new Davis Cup captain, replacing Johan Hedsberg, who has held the role since January 2017.

The 35-year-old’s career highlights include reaching two consecutive Grand Slam finals at the French Open in 2009 and 2010, and an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the 2010 Paris Masters. Söderling was the first player to defeat Rafael Nadal at the French Open.

He was forced into early retirement at age 31 after contracting a lingering bout of mononucleosis, a viral illness also known as glandular fever. Söderling spent four years away from the tour before officially retiring in 2015.

“Being able to lead the best players in the country is an honour, so it was a pretty easy decision,” Söderling told tennis.se. “I have not thought about this, but when the question came, I immediately felt that I wanted to do this. I want it to go well for Swedish tennis.”

Söderling’s first test will be in March when Sweden will take on Chile on home soil in the Davis Cup qualifiers. The winner of the tie will be moved into the 18-team Davis Cup Finals, which has been held for the first time this year at the Caja Magica in Madrid.

“Sweden has certainly not been favourites in all those matches. They have done really well,” Söderling said. “If you look at the (Swedish) team, we have a good team with Mikael and Elias Ymer even though we are not super wide overall compared to many other countries that have several players in the top 100. But we are competitive and actually play for a place in Madrid against the world best team.”