Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Come on Shake Your Body, Baby Do the Tsonga

January 23, 2008

When looking at the men’s semifinal match-ups at the Australian Open one name jumps off the page as being somewhat out of place. France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is the only unseeded player left standing in singles play at the Grand Slam event. Tsonga is vying for the title with the top three seeds in the men’s draw, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Some may view Tsonga’s presence in the final four as unexpected but when looking at his recent play it should not be all that surprising. In 2007, he jumped 169 spots on the South African Airways ATP Rankings from the beginning of the year to the end, finishing at No.43. He made the semifinals of Adelaide the week before the Australian Open falling to the eventual champion Jarkko Nieminen, pushing his ranking up to No.38.

Tsonga has a history of playing his best at major tournament, making it to the fourth round of Wimbledon and the third round of the US Open in 2007. At the 2007 Australian Open he gave No.7 Andy Roddick fits by pushing him to two tiebreaks and a fourth set. His play this year has been equally as frustrating for his opponents. The 22 year-old has only dropped two sets on his way to the semis and both were against Top 10 players. He defeated No.9 Andy Murray in four sets in the first round and similarly dispatched of No.8 Richard Gasquet in the fourth round. His quarter-final opponent was the always challenging Mikhail Youzhny, seeded-fourteenth. However, Tsonga handled him beautifully capturing a spot in the semifinals by winning 7-5, 6-0, 7-6(6).

Tsonga will now face what should be his toughest match yet against No. 2 Rafael Nadal. However, while Nadal is a force to be reckoned with on clay, he has never made it to the final of a hard court Grand Slam. In fact, this is Nadal’s first appearance in the semifinal of a hard court Grand Slam. This match, scheduled as the night match on day eleven, should be a fight until the end.

The other semifinal match-up for the men pits No.1 Roger Federer against No.3 Novak Djokovic. These two last met in the final of the US Open with Federer prevailing in three sets. However, the meeting before that was in the final of the 2007 Rogers Cup presented by National Bank in Montreal where Djokovic emerged victorious. So, while Federer holds a 5-1 record against the Serb, Djokovic has recently proven that he can take down the all-mighty Swiss.

On the women’s side, the top two seeds are out of the competition as No.1 Justine Henin was defeated by No.5 Maria Sharapova and No.2 Svetlana Kuznetsova was eliminated by Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. The championship is up for grabs and any of the four ladies left can win the whole thing. Sharapova will now face No.3 Jelena Jankovic in the semis. Jankovic has been playing through several nagging injuries which could help Sharapova advance. The second semifinal match will be between No.4 Ana Ivanovic and No.9 Daniela Huntuchova. Ivanovic has been playing some incredibly inspiring tennis and has yet to drop a set to any of her opponents.