Oz final bound Tsonga in admiration of himself
As you’re just getting to know Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, we’re just getting to know Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Here’s what we’ve picked up: The Frenchman is a very talented player, works the court like a panther, and has bullied his way through three top 10 players, including world number two Rafael Nadal, on his way to an unlikely Australian Open final. We’ve learned Tsonga doesn’t say all that much, but what he does is a mixture of wide-eyed wonder and unmistakable confidence. Case in point: Tsonga’s response when asked to assess his performance against the shell-shocked Spaniard.
“It’s ridiculous.”
Has he ever played at this level before?
“Never.”
Can he keep this level going for the final?
“Yes.”
Tsonga knows he’s riding the magic carpet right now, but he also has no doubt it’s a ride he is entitled to.
“It’s ridiculous, for sure. For sure, because I think it’s the first time I played this level, and it’s here in semi-final of Australian Open.”
The Frenchman did what very few have ever done – out-energised Nadal. The matador was on his game, but this bull crashed through the red rag, devouring his prey, looking hungrily for his next victim.
“I was moving on the court like never I move, so everything was perfect,” Tsonga said. “Everything was in and my backhand worked a lot. My serve also, my forehand, my volley, my drop shot, everything.”
Two weeks ago, Tsonga was known more as a talented young guy who kept getting hurt. He’d played just 34 tour games in his life. When the Frenchman upset Lleyton Hewitt in Adelaide a little over a week before the Open, the Australian media was in a state of panic, convinced that defeat to this nobody signalled an immediate end to Hewitt’s Open campaign.
If only they knew.
Tsonga credits his new found game to a level of fitness he’d previously never reached.
“Maybe before it was different because I never practice like this at the winter. I knew that I can play unbelievable, but my body was not ready for that before. Now is ready, so I do it.”
Did the constant injuries give him added motivation?
“Maybe not more motivation, but maybe more pleasure.”
Judging by his dance, where he jumps around the court after victories pointing his thumbs at himself, this 22 year old is loving the attention. Rafael Nadal predicts the pressure will get to Tsonga before Sunday’s final, but pressure doesn’t seem to exist in this man’s world. He admitted he had a strange feeling when he realised he was on the verge of beating Mikhail Youzhny in the quarter finals, but he simply sucked it up and dealt with it.
“Yesterday it was really the first time I met something like that, you know. Today I said, Okay, yesterday I did it, so today it’s going to be the same.
Wide-eyed wonder and unmistable confidence. All in one.
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| > | Hewitt: Late finish took away my sharpness |
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| > | The Grill: Australian Open boss Craig Tiley |
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