Robin with the Pro:Direct Tennis team broadcasting live on Facebook

Former World Tennis No.4 Robin Soderling Masterclass

Former world ranked No.4 Robin Sorderling gave a masterclass to student and community tennis players at the University of Exeter Sports Park, in an event organised by Pro:Direct Tennis. A selected number of lucky members from the University Student Tennis Club, Exeter Tennis Centre Performance Programme and local players attended the session at the University of Exeter Tennis Centre on Friday 9 September.

He took questions, gave a serving masterclass and wowed onlookers by demonstrating his legendary serve.

Lydia Green, University of Exeter Women’s Tennis Captain opened up with the first question. She asked: ”During your tennis career, what was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?”

Robin replied: ”I had a lot of difficult challenges, the biggest one was always trying to stay positive on court…… focus your energy on the right place, focus on your own game.”

Jack Large who is student tennis scholar and fellow big-server felt inspired by being able to talk to Robin about his serve and the impact it can have on a game, he asked Robin what he felt was his favourite match and why. Robin was pleased to say, ‘… beating Roger Federer in the French Open quarter-finals in 2010!’.

Athena Nathalia, Women’s Tennis Scholar, said she “loved every second” of the opportunity to share a court with Robin Soderling. She saidL ”It was an amazing experience, and he was a great guy, very approachable and took time to get to know each player. I’ve picked up a few tips to take into the new academic year BUCS games.”

Charlotte Wallace, Tennis Programme Manager at the University of Exeter, is a former tennis scholar and held a world ranking. She currently oversees the centre’s programmes and hopes this visit inspires players to work harder and reach their potential. She said: “It is such a special and rare opportunity to be able to meet and talk to players of his calibre and experience. At the Centre we have some fantastic players all at different levels and places in their tennis journey and hopefully this will help unearth a player of his quality.”

Tennis is one of nine focus sports at the University of Exeter and ranked in the top three in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) rankings. The University of Exeter finished an excellent 5^th overall in the BUCS rankings for the 2015-2016 year.

For more information about the our Tennis Programmes contact Charlotte Wallace at c.e.wallace@exeter.ac.uk and for information about the Student Tennis Programme contact Steve Wood, Head of Student Tennis at s.wood@exeter.ac.uk 

The University of Exeter has been awarded The Times and The Sunday Times Sports University of the Year 2016, following significant investment and development over the past 10 years. The University has also achieved a Global 100 ranking in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. The prestigious rankings, which mean Exeter retains its position as best in the South West, take into account a wide range of factors, including student satisfaction and research excellence. 

Friday 9 September 2016

Date: 13 September 2016