Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee

The Age

Friday January 25, 2008

Jake Niall

An unheralded Frenchman with the nickname 'Ali' delivered a knockout blow to claycourt king Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open last night, Jake Niall writes.

JO-WILFRIED Tsonga has been viewed as tournament novelty or Cinderella. Last night, as he stunned a helpless Rafael Nadal to win a berth in the Australian Open final, the Frenchman played at a level that might even cause Roger Federer to furrow his brow.

Tsonga simply blew Nadal off the court, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. It was a display of power and precision so impressive that one wondered if we were witnessing the arrival of a significant new force in men's tennis. If not, then Tsonga has found a vein of form that few players ever summon.

On Sunday, he has the opportunity to confirm his elevation. To reach a first final at 22 is pretty standard in men's tennis, but more pertinent is the fact that the Frenchman, whose early career was bedevilled with injury, is playing in only his fifth grand slam tournament. On that score, he has equalled Boris Becker, who reached the Wimbledon final at 17.

Tsonga will play either the great Federer or another more established youngster, Serb Novak Djokovic, who meet in tonight's second semi-final. While Tsonga's appearance is stunning, it is an upset true to the Australian Open's recent tradition at Melbourne Park.

The Open has a knack for producing an unseeded "bolter" - some of whom have reached the final against an established superstar. Tsonga continues the pattern of Fernando Gonzalez (2007), Marcos Baghdatis (2006) and Thomas Johansson (2002, who won), although he is not so much Cinderella as brutal gatecrasher.

While he carries the nickname "Ali", due to his resemblance to history's most famed boxer, Tsonga's performance - in which he gave Nadal, the clear world No. 2, the greatest hiding of his career - will have the tennis cognoscenti searching for comparisons. One could say that "Ali" conquered "Mr Clay", given that his victim was the winner of the past three French Opens.

It is no exaggeration to say that Tsonga's performance was Samprasian in terms of his controlled power and authority. It was redolent of Pete Sampras in the 1990 US Open final, when he crushed Andre Agassi - a display that marked Sampras as a future great and prompted Agassi to suggest that Sampras should hit the tables at Las Vegas because he couldn't miss.

No one is suggesting Tsonga has that kind of future, but it was clear last night he is a special talent. He hit a staggering 49 winners to Nadal's 13. Perhaps the most revealing, remarkable statistic from the match was this: that Nadal, the backcourt master and ruler of the claycourt, made only four unforced errors in the first two sets.

Put another way, Nadal didn't do much wrong. But Tsonga's aggression did expose the fundamental weakness of any player, even one as outstanding as Nadal, who plays almost exclusively a counter-punching game; sometimes, you get hit and don't get an opportunity to throw one back.

Nadal's best hope was that the level of Tsonga's tennis would prove unsustainable, and that the world No. 2 would grind it out, and prolong the rallies and turn the match into the kind of sweaty, exhaustive battle that he normally wins. Nadal, remember, had weathered a Federer onslaught in the 2006 French Open, wearing the champ down with his relentless consistency and power from the backcourt. Such a game couldn't work last night because Tsonga never dropped off. He just kept hitting winners.

The crowd was stunned, and so was Nadal, who at times wore a bemused expression when Tsonga pulled off an improbable shot. The most audacious shots were touch volleys, in which he blunted Nadal's potent topspin and deftly placed it in spots Rafa had no hope of reaching.

Nadal made no excuses, saying his opponent had played "unbelievable" and that he had not been in the match. "I didn't have chances in this match . . . can't believe some volleys."

Asked what had worked in his game, Tsonga said: "Everything. Everything was in and my backhand worked a lot and my serve also, my forehand, my volley, my drop shot, everything . . . I was moving on the court like I never move."

Tsonga will take that carefree spirit to the final, in which, despite that performance, he is certain to be the underdog - less pronounced in the event than Djokovic, who was defeated by Federer in the US Open final last September (his first grand slam tournament final). His opponent, he said, would have "two legs and two arms like me".

© 2008 The Age

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