2008 was meant to be the year that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga would become a household name among sports lovers. He started off with a bang, beating 9th seed Andy Murray in the first round of the Australian Open.
He then handed Rafael Nadal one of his worst straight-set thrashings on a tennis court, before losing to Djokovich in the final. But while Nadal won the French Open (again!) and Wimbledon for the first time to rise to the No. 1 rank displacing Federer, and Andy Murray became a force to reckon with by the end of the year, a long knee injury lay off almost pushed Tsonga out of the limelight.
After a lacklustre US Open where he lost to Robredo in the 3rd round, Tsonga won the Thai Open by beating Djokovich in the final, followed by a victory in the Paris Masters where he beat Djokovich in the pre-quarters before defeating Nalbandian in the final. That enabled him to qualify for the season-ending finale at Shanghai.
But he didn't get past the round-robin stage, losing to Davydenko of Russia and Argentine sensation Juan Martin Del Potro, before a consolation victory over - you guessed it - Djokovich.
2009 hasn't started off great. Tsonga won a doubles title at Brisbane partnering countryman Marc Gicquel but lost in the quarters to another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet. A back injury forced him out of the next tourney and there were some doubts whether he'd be able to play in the Australian Open.
But those doubts were firmly set aside when he took on Juan Monaco of Argentina in the 1st round. A slow start cost him his first service game but he won 4 in a row to lead 4-2 on his way to a 6-4 win. Tsonga still looked rusty and short of match practice - making several wild shots and committing silly errors.
In the second set, he began to look more assured and jumped to a 4-0 lead before a lapse of concentration allowed Monaco to claw back to 4-3. But the fight ended when he won the set at 6-4.
The third set saw Tsonga truly on song. This exciting all-court player was all over his opponent - hitting 200KM+ serves, vicious forehand winners, dinking drop shots and rushing to the net to put away volleys. One felt sorry for Monaco, currently ranked 43 - getting humiliated in front of a world wide TV audience by a player nicknamed 'Tsunami'. The set score? 6-0!
The opposition will get tougher in the next few rounds and Tsonga will need to tighten up his game. There are few better sights in world tennis today than watching a talented player at his uninhibited best.
In other action, former champion and World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt continued his slide down the rankings, losing a Ist round encounter against 2007 finalist Fernando Gonzales in 5 sets.
And in a David-Goliath 1st rounder, spindly 61st ranked Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan produced the best tennis of his life to outplay burly 10th seed David Nalbandian, also in 5 tough sets.
The Australian Open of 2009 promises to be one of the truly 'open' grand slam events in a long time.
Posts
