Two-time former Roland Garros finalist Robin Soderling has announced the end of his career, after four and a half years on the comeback trail. He won ten titles in a career that took time to get going, but promised much before being curtailed by illness.
His final match was in Bastad in summer 2011, where he dropped just five games to Tomas Berdych and David Ferrer in the final two rounds to take the title. The Swede then suffered a wrist injury which forced him out of the Roger's Cup and Cincinnati Masters, before mononucleosis took over and took him out of all other tournaments.
Until recently, Soderling was holding out hope of a comeback, stating in May that he was hopeful of a 2016 return, but at 31 years of age and seemingly being no closer to a return to the tour, the former world number four has decided to move on from his playing career.
Defeat of Nadal grabbed tennis world's attention
Soderling was a decent, if unpopular player for much of his career, but exploded onto the scene with a run to the French Open final in 2009. In the fourth round, he became the first person to beat Rafael Nadal at the tournament, and remained the only one to do so until Novak Djokovic repeated his feat in this year's quarterfinals.
It was one of the biggest shocks tennis had ever seen - an unheralded player seeded in the mid-20s blasting his way past the four-time defending champion was the last thing anyone had predicted for the tournament.
And, unusually, he managed to back his upset up, going all the way to the final before eventually losing to Roger Federer, who completed his career Grand Slam as a result.
Swede became one of the tennis elite
Soderling went on to become a fixture in the top ten and one of the sport's most feared players, his devastatingly powerful groundstrokes backed up by a new mental strength that coach Magnus Norman had helped him to find.
He reached five further major quarterfinals - at least one at all but the Australian Open, and was able to muster a repeat of his 2009 performance in reaching the 2010 Roland Garros final, this time losing to a rejuvenated Nadal. One of the few players to snatch a Masters title during the height of the 'Big Four' era, he reached his highest ranking of 4 after winning the Paris Masters in November 2010.
Soderling ends his career with two top ten finishes - No. 8 in 2009 and No. 5 in 2010, and a semifinal appearance at the ATP World Tour Finals in 2009.
Illness rendered Soderling unable to build on success
In the years since his last match, the Swede has launched his own brand of tennis balls and became the tournament director of the Stockholm Open in 2014. Having long hoped to be able to return to the tour, but never having been able to have a realistic timetable for doing so in mind, the former world number four has finally decided to end the uncertainty.
At just 27 years of age when illness struck, his fans are left to wonder what could have been had he remained healthy. He finished 2011 with an excellent 38-9 win-loss record, but we will never know how far he could have built on his success.