Saturday 2 July 2011

A new number one - now the chance to justify !

The nature of ranking points now has Novak Djokovic as World number one at the conclusion of Wimbledon irrespective of the outcome of Sunday's final. No one would dispute his entitlement to the top dog tag if he can claim to have won two of the first three grand slam titles, made the semis in the other, and won everything else entered for this year including four Masters finals against Rafa Nadal.

Why are we speculating in this fashion. It is because of what happened on men's semi finals day at 2011 Wimbledon.

First combatants on Centre Court were Swiss killer Jo-Wilfried Tsonga attempting to do another shock assassination on the most successful player so far this year Serbian Novak Djokovic. The brilliance with which the Frenchman disposed of Federer over the final three sets of their quarter final was still stirring within the strings of his racquet in the opening stanza of the semi final and Novak suffered a service break early, in fact his very first attempt. From that point he felt a similar frustration to that suffered by Roger - unable to dent the French serve.

Not until Smokin' Jo actually served for the set did the doubts begin to appear, and the canny Serbian seized on these and returned everything possible to place immense pressure on Tsonga, a quantity to much for him to absorb, and the break of serve materialised. 5-5 and it may have been chance gone for Tsonga.

However, the two reached a compromise and the terms included completing a tie break to determine the first set result. With the French serve, who knows what a lottery this would be?
The Serbian serve held strong throughout and the consistent Djokovic, who had yet to unleash the supreme form of his 2011 season in the match so far, managed to escape with the first set which for the most part "belonged" to Tsonga.

The ll of a first set coming his way and being stolen at the last breath seemed to be a weight as heavy as London's peak hour traffic around poor Jo-Wilfried's neck. The second set was a mere walk through Kensington Park for Novak, as he'd grown tired of wandering the golf course at Wimbledon during the early rounds. Jubilation displayed by Tsonga, a rejoice only too happily shared in by his fans, turned quickly to regular bouts of desolation, precipitated by inaccuracy and injudicious shot selection from the French player.

Two sets to love, and the memory wound back 48 hours to the Federer comeback, but dismissed it as a mere one-off and not a possible precedent given Tsonga's current state of misery. 7-6 6-2, and Novak assured, it seemed of a debut final on the hallowed grass. More so once the break in the fourth set came, this time on the back of a woeful service game from Tsonga. No revival anywhere in neighboring villages to be cited let alone near Centre Court where the weather change was required most.

Still the French player could stun with some magical tennis and at 4-3 as Djokovic was serving for the second last time, he assumed, Tsonga ripped through a pretty ordinary game from the Serb and it was 4-4. Serves were held and then Tsonga reverted to his lesser self in order for Djokovic to achieve a break and serve for the match and the final at 6-5.

Once more, he tightened, and some free hitting from the excited and exciting Tsonga led to a tie break. This eventually became one of the most exhilarating tie breaks of the tournament lasting twenty points and giving match points to Djokovic and set points to Tsonga, many saved with brilliance and rallies of length and class. The last element of class belonged to the Frenchman who stole the set just as he might feel he had had set one stolen from him.

We now had a match with Tsonga starting his quest for a repeat of the Federer conquest.

The utterly undisguised manner with which Tsonga showed his delight at winning set three may have proven a little too much and premature. Ever consistent and confident, if not a little annoyed at letting a chance slip, Djokovic simply went back to the hard work of winning games, and began with the first three of set four, effectively placing the match beyond the reach of a gallant Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

7-6 6-2 6-7 6-3, and the crowd was entertained because both players were willing to go for everything, and sometimes the impossible worked. Rallies reached fever pitch at times given the increasing velocity with which the balls were rebounding off both racquets and the variable directions they were taking.

If Tsonga can ever introduce some consistency to his raw talent, he can be a giant at the very top of the men's game, while Djokovic could very well win Wimbledon at least once and maybe even this year.

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