Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has had an eventful grass season so far. He beat Rafael Nadal at Aegon Championships, but lost to Andy Murray in the finals. He has beaten Roger Federer at Wimbledon in the quarter-finals and is now scheduled to meet Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. Of the top four, it is Djokovic only against whom he holds a favourable head-to-head record. He has beaten him five times while losing only twice, the most significant of that loss having been in the finals of the Australian Open 2008. That was the tournament that brought Tsonga to lime light when he made short work of Murray and Nadal as an unseeded player and went on to bag the runners up trophy. It was a victory of sorts for Tsonga inspite of the defeat in the finals to Novak Djokovic in four sets.
Tsonga has never been able to replicate that performance. He did not mature into a champion. Many seasons went by and each time when there would be a glimmer of hope for his fans, he would uncharacteristically lose. His fitness was hardly good enough to let him play at the highest percentage of his talent and capacity. From the best French player, he degenerated into a journeyman, only occasionally showing flashes of brilliance.
Novak Djokovic too had fitness and health problems. His progress in big events started generating suspense as to when he would throw in the towel. His frequent mid match retirements did not find favour with the bookies. But he held on and kept on progressing to the second week in the Grand Slam majors. And then came 2011. He decimated all opposition in all the tournaments he played leading to the French Open. Before his winning streak could break all records, Federer took him out in the semi-finals of the French Open to deny him a chance to bid for a maiden Roland Garros title.
Both Tsonga and Djokovic are in good form. There is a lot of excitement in the air. There will be a new finalist at the Wimbledon Championships.
Djokovic and Tsonga have similar height but Tsonga carries an extra 11 kgs. on his broad frame. Since he is a good athlete, this extra weight might have given him some advantage if he fought a boxing bout. But in tennis, it is not an advantage. Tsonga is quick on court, can sprint to the net for picking drop shots and is a natural rusher to the fore court for volley. But the big frame and the extra weight affects his foot work and quick shuffle. While trying to control body momentum, he becomes unbalanced sometimes while getting into a posture to execute a volley or other close body shots.
Djokovic game is more suited to the hard courts. He is a baseliner who can come to the net when needed. His newly acquired power on ground strokes has created problems to all in the last six months. He can hit the ball hard consistently over a long rally, something that even Nadal does not do. His balls go deep into the court but do not go out. The opponent is pushed back and back and back. But with Tsonga, this will not happen. Lose or win, Tsonga will come to the net. Executing a power ball while opponent is advancing menacingly is not as easy as hitting it to the opponent standing at the baseline. Nadal lost to a rushing Tsonga at Aegon Championships earlier this month.
Tsonga, the attacker, is the best spectacle on court. But Tsonga, the defender, is brittle. Tsonga has the capacity to go down without fighting. When losing, first serve percentage goes down, absence of Plan B starts biting, latent mental and physical exhaustion starts taking toll, movement becomes laboured - infact everything starts crumbling. It is not like Nadal where every point is a new point which starts as if from love all.
Djokovic has not shown good game against Bernard Tomic. Which Djokovic comes out in the semi-final is crucial. If it is the one who was on winning streak prior to the French Open semi-finals, Tsonga can book the return flight home. If it is the one that came out against Tomic, Tsonga will be in the finals of a Grand Slam for the second time. In between, it would be on Tsonga’s racquet, but win or lose, he will come out bruised.
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