It was a late night slaughter when Roger Federer walked on to Arthur Ashe Stadium to play Juan Monaco in their fourth round match that started after midnight. Federer was in no mood to get involved in a battle of any variety, instead after six minutes he had broken twice and had a 4-0 lead.
Monaco fought valiantly to get involved in points despite the windy conditions as rain loomed but Federer took the match and completely dominated, taking the first set 6-1 in just 19 minutes. Read more
Posted in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Monaco, Roger Federer, US Open
Jo Wilfried Tsonga fought back from a two sets to one deficit against American Mardy Fish to book his place in the US Open quarterfinals where he will face Roger Federer or Juan Monaco. It took the Frenchman five sets and three hours and 45 minutes to win the 6-4, 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 match.
The evolution of Mardy Fish has been impressive over the last 18 months but the power and physical prowess of the Frenchman ultimately won the match. Mardy was hampered by right leg issues, calling the trainer before the fifth set, seemingly having difficulty moving to his forehand wing during the final set where he was promptly broken. Read more
Posted in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Monaco, Mardy Fish, Roger Federer, US Open
It’s not uncommon for the injury list to mount before Wimbledon and the US Open and this year is no exception. The grueling clay court with minimal transition time on to grass courts cause players bodies problems as they try to adapt to the different requirements of the game on different surfaces. Likewise the hard courts are not friendly to the body and ahead of the years last Grand Slam the list of injured players is mounting.
Mardy Fish wanted to use the tournaments leading up to the US Open to try and comfortably secure himself a position in the top ten rankings and he has done so by securing a finals position after defeating Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-4 in the Rogers Cup semi final. The bad news for Fish is that his opponent is Novak Djokovic – a man who has lost one match all season and is looking to become the first man to win five Masters 1000 titles in a year. Read more
The top seeds are flying out the door in Montreal. The latest to fall was Roger Federer who was beaten in three sets by Jo Wilfried Tsonga in a rematch of their recent Wimbledon quarterfinal. Federer’s exit leaves Novak Djokovic, the new world number one, as the only surviving player from the famed ‘Big Four.’
Tsonga played his flamboyant, powerful game and managed to defend three opportunities Federer had to break in the first set. After almost an hour it was Tsonga who took the lead after taking the first set tie break. Read more
Making his official debut as a player inside the top 100 (68 to be exact) Bernard Tomic hasn’t had the start he was hoping for. Tomic was hoping to use his intelligent variety of play to claim the scalp of Jo Wilfried Tsonga but the Frenchman was too powerful for the young Australian and dealt with him comfortably 6-3 ,7-6 .
After strong opening service games it was Jo who broke first for a 4-2 lead making no mistake as he served for the set.
Again Jo took a 4-2 lead in the second but Tomic refused to back down, breaking back at 5-5 as Tsonga tried to serve for the match.
The huge serves and powerful prowess of Tsonga crushed Tomic 7-1 in the second set tiebreak.
Tsonga will now face Roger Federer for a place in the quarterfinals.
Posted in Bernard Tomic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Montreal, Roger Federer, Rogers Cup
Novak Djokovic h
as climbed to the summit of men’s tennis. By beating Jo Wilfried Tsonga 7-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 he has not only gained a place in the finals at Wimbledon but he has also taken over, officially, as the best tennis player in the world.
Tsonga came out blasting, flaunting his power and breaking Djokovic in the opening game. Despite facing some break points Tsonga stood and prepared to serve for the first set at 5-4 before meekly handing it over. Read more
Posted in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Match Report, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Wimbledon
When Roger Federer came out and broke Jo Wilfried Tsonga immediate and then quickly took the first set 6-3 it looked like his match with Roger might be a one way affair. A tightly contested second set saw Federer take a two sets to love lead after taking the set in a tiebreak but then Jo switched it up and played an all out attack style game for 90 minutes and Federer struggled to find a way to break him. Read more
Posted in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Wimbledon
To break the lengthy draw analysis in two parts I have separated the explanation about what’s at stake for the big boys Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic and what to look for in the early rounds into another post (click here).
If we look at the draw as a whole it’s hard to look beyond Federer as champion. Read more
Posted in Alejandro Falla, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, David Ferrer, Dudi Sela, Ernests Gulbis, Fabio Fognini, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Injury, Ivan Dodig, Ivan Ljubicic, Ivo Karlovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, John Isner, Juan Martin Del Potro, Juan Monaco, Marcos Baghdatis, Mardy Fish, Milos Raonic, Nicolas Almagro, Nicolas Mahut, Novak Djokovic, Pete Sampras, Radek Stepanek, Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet, Robin Soderling, Roger Federer, Roland Garros, Thomaz Bellucci, Tomas Berdych, Viktor Troicki, Wimbledon
Jo Wilfried Tsonga has showed some skin, and his toosh, for a Everyman Male Cancer Campaign that will appear in the UK’s Cosmopolitan magazine. Fernando Verdasco and Tommy Robredo have both previously posed for Cosmo for the same cause.
Posted in Everyman Male Cancer Campaign, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Media
