Two-time French Open finalist Robin Soderling has announced his retirement from tennis after struggling with glandular fever for four years.

Soderling has not featured on the ATP tour since the Swedish Open in July 2011 when he beat David Ferrer 6-2 6-2 to lift his 10th career title.

However, he contracted severe glandular fever following that win in Bastad and, despite his best efforts to recover, has been forced to call it quits.

"I have decided to end my career as a professional tennis player," the 31-year-old said in a press release. "A few weeks before the Swedish Open in Bastad [in] 2011 I became ill with glandular fever. 

"At the time I did not realise the seriousness of this, I made the mistake of continuing to train and compete with the virus in my body which also resulted in me suffering sharp overtraining syndrome. 

"I have since struggled to recover completely from this. With the disease it has been impossible for me to train one hundred percent and I have been forced to rest after any physical effort. Some periods I felt so bad that I was completely bedridden. 

"This past year, however, my health improved and I have been able to increase my exercise dose, but my recovery after exercise is unfortunately still not as I would like. 

"To play the competitions that require physical exertion over an extended period has thus been excluded. In all the years I have believed that I would be able to get back into the world elite, but now I've realised that I will not be healthy enough to play tennis at the level I demand of myself. 

"For this reason I have decided to end my career as a professional tennis player."