Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's Power Makes This French Hercules an Elite Player

When you first see Tsonga play, you don't think he is a very skilled player, and you are right. But, if you think he is not a very good player, you are wrong.

Tsonga plays a bruising style of tennis, like world No. 2 Rafael Nadal. His pure power and unwillingness to give up are what makes him known as "Hercule" or, in English, Hercules.

Let's begin with his serve, which he has rode to many wins in his career, most notably his win in the 2008 Australian Open semifinal against Rafael Nadal. That win catapulted him from a little-known muscular man to a No. 9 ranked player in the world.

He has lost a little, but not much since then. In the French Open, in the third round, he was up against a 5'7'' but very skilled man from Belgium, Christopher Rochus. He dominated him and advanced to the fourth round, where he lost to fifth seeded Juan Martin Del Potro.

His great tournament in Australia makes him one of the top players in contention for a title in the US Open. He has not had statistical success previously at Flushing Meadows, but against Rafael Nadal in 2007, as a little known player, he gave Nadal one of the toughest battles that he has ever had.

Unlike Rafa, his rough play has not really taken toll on him, most likely because he has not played in as many tournaments in a short period of time as Nadal.

His serve and his forehand are well above average, and his volley is one of the game's best. His backhand is a bit below average, but not a liability.

The thing that separates him from players like Nadal and Roger Federer, is his movement and his strategy. He relies only on his power, nothing else, and he is almost a liability when it comes to his footwork.

He played his second ever Roland Garros, and played a style of tennis that we have never seen him play before, making his opponents move from corner to corner, while he relaxed at the baseline. Nobody figured it out until the Argentine, Del Potro made Tsonga run like a mad man.

Then, once again until the fourth round of Wimbledon did somebody find out to stop a new Tsonga style, the serve and volley, used rarely by power players. Ivo Karlovic changed that by holding easily on serve and using his energy on Tsonga's serve, leading him to a win.

I think despite his ranking at No.9, Tsonga is one of the top five players, behind, Federer, Nadal, Andy Murray, Juan Martin Del Potro, and Fernando Verdasco.

He is better than the other players ahead of him. Andy Roddick has also a great serve and powerful forehand, and his movement is a lot better than Tsonga's but there are a few things that separate them.

Tsonga's backhand is better than Roddick's, which is considered as one of the worst shots of a top-20 player. Also, he is a more physical player than Andy, and his stamina is wonderful compared to that of Roddick.

Besides backhand and movement, Tsonga has, by a long shot, a better game then Novak Djokovic (look at my article Choke-Ovic: the rise and fall of Novak Djokovic).

And I really don't think Gilles Simon is a top 10 or twenty player, he just plays well in small tournaments.

The only player who might be better than him who is ranked below him is Robin Soderling. Soderling has a great serve and a wonderful backhand. He can play with the best on all surfaces, which he showed by beating then No. 1 and Four-time champ Rafa Nadal in the fourth round.

Well, a whole lot of people might disagree with this article and think it's wrong. But, I think it's all right, and that Tsonga will be some tough competition in the US Open and in Grand Slams in years to come.

Sooner or later, Tsonga will be in the top five. This is only the beginning for Hercules.