MONTGOMERY, Ala. ---- Former Swedish tennis professional Robin Söderling, who reach as high as a No. 4 ranking in the Association of Tennis Professionals world rankings, spent Thursday afternoon talking with members of the men's and women's tennis teams on AUM's campus.
 
Söderling shared his career path with the team, including his journey to consecutive French Open finals in 2009 and 2010 and his 10 career ATP titles. He talked about his training, his accent to becoming one of the world's top players, as well as his retirement due to injury.
 
Söderling discussed key attributes learned during his career, including maintaining focus during an entire practice or match, understanding that he would not play a perfect match every single match and the value of allowing his body and mind to rest.
 
Söderling won four tournaments in his first full season on the Junior Tour in 2000 and went on to win three more titles the following year, including the presitigous Orange Bowl tournament without dropping a set. He went on to climb as high as No. 2 in the world juniors rankings.
 
The Swede turned pro in 2001 and picked up his first title in Lyon, France in 2004. Five years later, he recorded arguably the biggest upset of the year when he snapped the record 31-match winning streak of Rafael Nadal in a five-set thriller at the French Open, becoming the first player to ever defeat Nadal at Roland Garros. He avanced to the finals of the tournament, eventually falling to the legendary Roger Federer, who he described as one of his toughest opponents. Söderling was also defeated by Federer at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2009, but moved up from No. 17 in the world to No. 8 by the end of the year.
 
Söderling enjoyed his most successful season in 2010, when reached his career-best ranking of fourth and finished the year as a Top-5 player. For the second consecutive season, he reached the finals at Roalnd Garros, beating Federer in the quarterfinals, before falling to Nadal in the finals. Following a quarterfinal loss at Wimbledon to Nadal, he cracked the Top-5 in the world for the first time in his career. He also won the ATP Master's 1000 in Paris.
 
Hampered by injuries during the 2011 season, Söderling finished with four titles, but was also diagnosed with mononucleosis. The illness essentially ended Söderling's career, who officially announced his retirement on Dec. 23, 2015. Söderling played his final tour-level touranment at the 2011 Swedish Open, where he defeated No. 8 Tomáš Berdych in the semifinals and world No. 6 David Ferrer in the finals, to earn his fourth title of the season and 10^th of his career.
 
Söderling finished his career with 310 wins in singles play and posted a 51-31 singles record at Grand Slam tournaments. He recorded 11 singles wins over players who were at one time ranked as the world's top player - four against Andy Roddick, two against Lleyton Hewitt and Nadal, and one against Federer, Novak Djokovic and Juan Carlos Ferrero.
 
Both the AUM men's and women's teams will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 18, by traveling to Aiken, S.C., for a 10 a.m. match against USC-Aiken.