Sweden's new captain, Soderling: "I think I can help the players mentally"

Soderling believes his vast experience will allow him to help the Swedish players mentally. Having been a professional player himself, Soderling says he's able to understand the players better. And that will help him improve their mental aspect of the game.

Soderling was named captain of Sweden's Davis Cup team towards the end of last year. He was a coach prior to his appointment and had trained Mikel Ymer.

"I think that having been a professional player myself, I can really help the other players," Soderling said. "When I was coached by Magnus Norman, it was good to be able to speak to him because I knew that he had been in the same position as me. It’s nice to speak to someone who has been in the same situation."

"I’m sure that even a player like Roger [Federer] can feel nervous sometimes. No matter how experienced, you’ll still feel the same sometimes. I think that with my experience I can help the players mentally."

Sweden will play Chile at home in the Davis Cup qualifiers on 6-7 March. Soderling expects the match to be tough. However, he believes home advantage gives his side the edge over Chile.

"Of course, it’s going to be a tough one. And it should be, it’s a Davis Cup Qualifier. We have a slight advantage being at home, I think it would have been even tougher away. I’ve heard that lots of tickets have already been sold.

"I looked at the draw that we could have had – there were some really tough ones. It could have been worse but it’s still going to be tough. The doubles in particular are always going to be very important.

"We have Mikael Ymer, who’s playing really well at the moment. [His brother] Elias has struggled a bit with injury recently, but when he plays well he’s really good. I think on paper we are slight favourites."

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