Former Roland Garros finalist Robin Soderling tells ESPN.com that he doesn’t know if he will ever play professionally again. The 28-year-old has been battling mononucleosis since the summer of 2011.
“The hope, the hopelessness, then the hope again, then the hopelessness -- that really kills me,” Soderling said. “I feel really good, then I start to practice, and then I think maybe in a couple of months I can come back and I really believe it. Then I do a bit too much and wake up one morning not feeling well again.”
One medical test on Soderling revealed that his thyroid wasn’t functioning properly, leading to extreme fatigue. The Swede said he began to feel very sick in last summer, and may have overexerted himself.
“Wimbledon was not good at all,” said Soderling, who was upset by Bernard Tomic there last year. “I was vomiting in the morning and I had a fever. I don’t know why I played. But then it’s Wimbledon and you want to play, and that’s what you’ve done your whole life. You’ve pushed away your feelings of tiredness and tried harder.”
Soderling added that three weeks later, after winning the title in Bastad for the first time, he “got really, really sick.” His longtime partner, Jenni Mostrom, recently gave birth to their daughter, Olivia.
“I don’t want my career to be finished yet,” he said. “I feel I have at least five more years in me.”