Roger Federer may be top seed, but Robin Soderling shares the headlines ahead of this week's Stockholm Open.
The No. 5 ranked Swede told reporters Monday that he wants to succeed at a tournament that he grew up watching as a child.
''Of course I would like to win this tournament,'' Soderling said. ''I've grown up with this tournament and I came close two times, losing both times in the final.''
To achieve his goal, Soderling will probably have to overcome second-ranked Federer, who has won 14 of their 15 contests so far, including a 6-1, 6-1 thrashing in the quarterfinals of last week's Shanghai Masters.
Third-seeded Tomas Berdych and fourth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic will also provide tough competition at the indoor hard-court tournament, that is missing top-ranked Rafael Nadal.
Andy Murray beat Federer in the final in Shanghai and the Scotsman, along with Soderling and Novak Djokovic, leads a group of players trying to wrestle away the big two's dominance both in the rankings and Grand Slam tournaments.
''I really feel that there are quite some players that can actually win the biggest tournaments,'' Soderling said. ''Of course, in any tournament when Roger and Rafa is playing they'll always be the favorites. But I see myself as one of them who can do really well.''
The closest Soderling has come was as a losing finalist at the French Open for the past two years.
His journey to the Roland Garros final in 2009 brought Soderling to prominence, having surprisingly beaten the all-conquering Nadal in the fourth round before losing to Federer in the final.
Since then, Soderling has risen from No. 25 to his current career high ranking.
His big serving, hard hitting style may not match the flair of former Swedish greats Bjorn Borg and Stefan Edberg, but he's bound to have the home crowd behind him in Stockholm.
Borg has said he believes Soderling can make it all the way to the top of the rankings, but Soderling acknowledges he has a way to go before he can rise above Nadal and Federer.
If you look at the top guys, they're great players but they're doing well week in and week out and I think that's what you have to do,'' Soderling said. ''It's not enough to do well with a few results, you have to do well for a long period.
''The top guys are very complete as players. Of course there's parts in my game I'm working on, but you have to improve everything.''
