SHARE
COPY LINK

TENNIS

Tsonga loss ends French Roland Garros hopes

For long-suffering French tennis fans, the agonising wait for a male champion at the French Open goes on, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga the latest to succumb to the Roland Garros jinx.

Tsonga loss ends French Roland Garros hopes
Photo: Thomas Coex/AFP

The 28-year old from the car-race town of Le Mans had motored smoothly into the last four without dropping a set and hopes were sent sky-high that at last Yannick Noah's iconic win in Paris 30 years ago would be matched.

But on a sultry June evening with the shadows lengthening on the Philippe Chatrier centre court, Tsonga went the way of so many of his compatriots before him, unable to produce the goods when it mattered at the temple of claycourt tennis.

Tsonga had looked every bit a winner after his straight sets demolition of Roger Federer in the quarter-finals and his matchup with David Ferrer had been hotly anticipated throughout France, leading TV news bulletins and fronting the widely-read L'Equipe newspaper.

But to start with, scheduling got in the way as the Tsonga-Ferrer match was placed second up after the other semi-final bout between defending champion Rafael Nadal and top seed Novak Djokovic.

That turned out to be a five set epic, won by Nadal, lasting 4 hours and 37 minutes which left the centre court faithful needing to take a breather before turning their attentions to the second of the last four games.

When Tsonga and Ferrer marched out to do battle, the court was half-empty and there was little electricity left in the air. Tsonga could not help but notice.

"It was a bit strange, you see, because there were half of the seats that were empty. This was a bit weird," he said.

However, Tsonga insisted that after such a classic match between the two top seeds, it was normal that there was some down-time.

What surprised him more was the play of 31-year-old Ferrer – a player who had failed to reach a Grand Slam final in 41 previous attempts and who only had his never-say-die attitude and superb fitness to put up against the big serves and thumping groundstrokes of his opponent.

"What surprised me was that he was even faster than usual," said Tsonga.

"Sometimes I thought he would be put off balance. Whenever I was hitting good points he was a good defender and could play as well as a defender."

"He was not just hitting back. He would destabilize me, putting me off my position. So each time I wanted to use my serve machine, he returned so well. Sometimes I served at 210 (kilometres an hour), but he returned really strongly."

The desire to do well with so much expectations placed on his shoulders, he insisted was not a factor in his defeat.

"Frankly, I was feeling good. I was feeling really good and I was not stressed. I was not too stressed."

"Well, of course, there's a little stress, but I must say I had more stress during the first round than today. Now I'm disappointed because I didn't enjoy this match as much as I wanted because this was a semi-final."

It will come as little consolation to the French public that they are not alone in enduring a long wait to celebrate a home winner of their Grand Slam event.

The last British winner of Wimbledon was Fred Perry way back in 1936, the last Australian to win on home soil was Mark Edmondson in 1976 and the last American winner in New York was Andy Roddick in 2003.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

ROGER FEDERER

Is this the end of the road for Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer?

Roger Federer is talking optimistically about returning to his "highest level" after knee surgery, but does tennis have to start adjusting to a future without the Swiss star?

Is this the end of the road for Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer?
Is it the end of the line for Roger? Photo: Martin BUREAU / AFP

The 20-time Grand Slam winner announced on Wednesday that he would be sidelined until 2021 after his second operation in a matter of months.

Federer remains upbeat, tweeting: “I plan to take the necessary time to be 100 percent ready to play at my highest level.”

In some ways 2020 is a good season to miss after the coronavirus ravaged the tennis schedule. Writing Federer off in the past has proved dangerous.

He returned from a six-month injury lay-off to claim the Australian Open in 2017, winning his eighth Wimbledon crown later that year.

But he will be 40 in 2021 and is now heading into uncharted territory.

Despite his groaning trophy cabinet, there are two factors that will motivate Federer to keep going — the risk of losing his grip on the men's Grand Slam title record and a missing Olympics singles gold medal.

Rafael Nadal has 19 majors, just one shy of Federer's mark and Djokovic has 17.

Spain's Nadal will be fancied to draw level with Federer at the French Open, rescheduled for September, while few would bet against Djokovic winning in New York weeks earlier.

In April, Federer said he was “devastated” when Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II. Last year he fell agonisingly short at the All England Club, failing to convert two championship points on his own serve against Djokovic.

The Wimbledon grass probably remains his best chance of adding to his Grand Slam collection — he has not won the US Open since 2008 and his only title at Roland Garros came in 2009.

Even though Federer has slipped from the very pinnacle of the game, he is still a major threat to Nadal and Djokovic.

'Golden' ambitions

Last year, the world number four had a 53-10 win-loss record and he reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open in January in his only tournament this year.

Federer, who is still six ATP titles short of Jimmy Connors' all-time record of 109, has one glaring omission from his CV — the Olympic title.

The Swiss won doubles gold in Beijing in 2008 with compatriot Stan Wawrinka but lost in the singles final to Andy Murray in London four years later.

The postponed Tokyo Games will almost certainly be Federer's last opportunity to complete a career “golden” Grand Slam — he will turn 40 on the day of the closing ceremony next year.

Tennis will feel the loss of the elegant Federer keenly when he walks off the court for the last time.

Djokovic and Nadal have been the dominant forces in recent years but the Swiss remains the biggest draw and last month topped Forbes' list of the world's highest-earning athletes.

His last appearance on court was in front of nearly 52,000 fans — touted by organisers as a world record for tennis — at a charity match against Nadal in Cape Town in February.

Federer is nearly always the crowd favourite wherever he plays and has proved a perfect ambassador for the sport since he won his first Grand Slam title in 2003.

He certainly expects to be back and competitive next year.

“I will be missing my fans and the tour dearly but I will look forward to seeing everyone back on tour at the start of the 2021 season,” he tweeted.

The avalanche of support from his adoring fans showed they would miss him too, but they will have to get used to a time when he is gone for good.

SHOW COMMENTS