French Open 2012: Tsonga Versus Wawrinka - Preview

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga takes on the challenge of Stanislas Wawrinka on Sunday, the 3^rd June. Can the Frenchman avenge defeat of a Frenchman by the Swiss in the previous round?

Wawrinka is a toughened warrior having withstood the five set onslaught from a local favourite on Friday. He will have to go a bit higher tomorrow when he meets the fifth seed Tsonga in the round of sixteen. He can do it if he just repeats what he did at the same place last year. He triumphed over Tsonga in five sets. There would be fifteen thousand people baying for his blood. Will Tsonga be up to the task? We have to examine how things are different from last year. First of all, Wawrinka was three ranks higher than Tsonga last year. This time round, Tsonga is thirteen ranks higher than Wawrinka. Although the paper statistics is no guarantor of the result on court, but it does reflect the performance of the player over the last twelve months. Tsonga has won a title in Doha this year; Wawrinka has not reached any finals this year. But Tsonga did not have stellar clay season so far. He fell to John Isner in the Davis Cup in France on clay in April; to Gilles Simon in Monte Carlo; to Alexandr Dolgopolov in Madrid; and to Novak Djokovic in Rome.

The home conditions are double edged weapon. These can lift the performance of the player or can crush it under the weight of expectations. Perhaps Gilles Simon experienced the latter yesterday. He was too cautious, afraid to hit winners and was content with pushing the ball over the net. Tsonga will not be like that. He will be the opposite and that might make or mar his chances. He lives by the theory that offence is the best form of defence. He likes to take the first strike in a rally. If opponent hits hard, he hits harder. This raises his count of unforced errors. His winners will outnumber those of Wawrinka, but what would be the difference between the winners and unforced errors is difficult to predict. Whether he wins or loses, will depend on this. Wawrinka may not have the crucial decision making in this, since forced errors may not be the main factor. It is likely to be the count of unforced errors.   

Tsonga will hit more aces and forehand winners than Wawrinka, but Wawrinka will have better say on the backhand side. Wawrinka will be tougher mentally, more so after having withstood the Simon crusade. Tsonga will have more forays to the net and since Wawrinka is not the fastest athlete, he will volley a healthy number of winners too. Wawrinka plays within his limits. He does not only play percentage tennis; he takes chances. These paid off against Gilles Simon in the previous round.

Wawrinka has never crossed the round of sixteen at Roland Garros. He was defeated by Roger Federer on both the occasions he reached there in 2010 and 2011. Tsonga too has never crossed the round of sixteen, having floundered at that stage twice. One of them will be lucky to go higher tomorrow. Tsonga defeated Wawrinka in 2007 and Wawrinka defeated Tsonga in 2011. If one has to win by the law of averages, it is Tsonga’s turn.