In the Zone with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried—Who?
At the start of 2008 I thought I knew all the competitive male players of African descent, and they could be counted on the fingers of one hand. There was James Blake and Donald Young. Oh yeah, there was that skinny French kid, who looked like the Lost Child of Don King.
Wilfried? What kind of a name is that? The only Wilfred I know is a character in a 200-year old book called "Ivanhoe." As an African-American myself, I would sarcastically tell members of my family that only a black person would name their kid "Wilfried."
I was at my get-away spot in rural Oregon along the slopes of Mt. Hood. It was January, and throughout the rainy afternoon, the snow-line—the cold-front that, by converting rain to snow, converted the nominally green pine forest outside my window into spikey white sticks, threatened to descend the slope of the mountain. I kept my eye on it from my vantage point—horizontal on the couch.
Thank God the Australian Open was on. There was no telling in advance what sort of tennis would be accessible in this remote but lovely spot called Welches, Oregon.
I was interested in a different kid—a Spanish player who I'd heard had won a couple of French Opens.
But not only that, he was pretty good, the kind of player you wanted to keep your eye on. Pictures of this Spanish kid were amazing. He had an incredible on-court presence, despite the weird-looking pants, that I was very interested in seeing first hand.
“We drink the beaker,” said he, “to Wilfred, Knight of Ivanhoe, champion of this passage of arms ....”
-Sir Walter Scott [1814]
Tsonga’s resemblance to Muhammad Ali was intriguing. One wondered if he had the spirit and the athleticism to go with the looks.
The commentators warmed us up by telling the audience about Jo-Wilfred's many injuries. He had a herniated disc in 2004; right shoulder injuries in 2005; back and abdominal ailments early in 2006, and a re-injured abdominal muscle at the end of 2006.
Tsonga began 2007 ranked 212 in the world, but finished 2007 ranked No. 43—a climb of 169 ranking points in a single year. So he came into the 2008 Australian Open brimming with confidence, ready to take on the tour.
Rafa, meanwhile, was on form, and looking good on the hard courts [Plexicushion]. He was looking to go deep at this tournament, if not win it outright, as he had ambitions of improving his game and succeeding at tennis majors other than Roland Garros. He was healthy, which he often is not for the USO [the USO is played on DecoTurf].
We would learn, as time marched along, a certain formula for beating Rafa: tall men, of superior athleticism, who can flatten out their forehands and push Rafa back with powerful groundstrokes, then come forward to cut off the court.
Jo-Wilfried, at 6' 2'' is taller than Rafa by one inch; at 200 lbs Tsonga has terrific power on the forehand, mastery of a variety of shots, great hands at net, and—what took us all by surprise - quickness on the court. His footwork and movement were exemplary.
Jo-Willy started out right away moving Rafa from side to side, well beyond the doubles alley, with serves out wide. Then, using his speed he would rush the net.
Rafa Is an excellent passer. Superior hand-eye coordination is required on the part of an opponent to anticipate and return those passing shots. Early in the match, Jo-Willy's ability to cut off the court, AND return the passing shot, gave Jo-Willy the early break in the first set, even wrong-footing Rafa so that he stumbled on-court.
I was surprised by the performance of both men as this match got underway. They were all over the court. Not only side to side and deep into the corners, beyond the doubles alley, but front and back, sometimes with twisting contortions to retrieve a ball as it whizzed by.
Jo-Willy was able to volley with exceptional feel, with sufficient poise that he softly placed his volleys in the open court, and didn’t go for too much.
In the middle of the first set, Rafa tried to use his athleticism to run the legs off of Jo-Willy, but Tsonga came right back with the same strategy.
So we were privileged to games of powerful groundstroke exchanges, end to end, with full-body twisting, torque-inducing, I-really-mean-this, kiss-this-ball-and-die-sucka, this ball is going to pass you so fast there will be a sonic boom.
It became clear that Jo-Willy didn’t need a sleeveless shirt to impose a physical presence on the court, and that his physical presence was not confined to a stretch of road along the baseline.
The champions thus encountered each other with the utmost fury...The splendid armor of the combatants was now defaced with dust and blood. All that was beautiful and graceful in the marital array had disappeared, and what was now visible was calculated to awake either terror or compassion.
-Sir Walter Scott [1814]
The second set contains one of my favorite points of all the tennis I’ve ever seen. Rafa placed a shot low to Tsonga’s feet and Tsonga picked it up with about an inch to spare, and placed it, with a delicate volley close to the net on the other side. Rafa tried to run it down and didn’t make it.
Rafa’s face as he marched back to the baseline recorded, with an expressive grimace of irritation, his appreciation for the athleticism exhibited by Tsonga.
His facial expression was better than a gracious bit of applause for an opponent’s well-placed shot, it was better than a jolly 'I say, nice shot!"; it was the acknowledgement by a fighter, by a contender, that he’d been out done, and the audience laughed when it re-played on the big screen.
In another favorite shot, Tsonga raced down a drop shot from well behind the baseline, and placed with with sublime delicacy after all the power we'd seen, into a lob right over Rafa's head. A fantastic exhibition of poise and control.
In yet a third favorite shot from this match, Tsonga dove for a ball, and again placed a volley with a backhand (his back to the net, the way a backhand overhead smash would look, only he was diving to the ground, not reaching over his head) delicately just over the net and out of Rafa's reach.
In the third set Tsonga got the wrong end of a bad call (overrule by the chair umpire), argued with the chair, then came back with an ace when the point had to be re-played.
In these days of Hawk-eye, we don't often have to see bad calls that throw off a player's rhythm. In the middle of a burst of momentum by Nadal, this was an exceptional bit of poise.
There aren’t many men who can hang with Rafa for multiple sets at a time, and out-hit, and out-volley, and out-pass, make every shot just a little better, and make Rafa suck wind, drop his racket, and fall on the court (multiple times).
There aren't many men who can wrest control of a point from Rafa once he's gotten a rally underway, or illicit a sense of panic from Rafa as the match starts to close out.
There are not many men who can handle Rafa’s high bouncing serve, the left-hander to the right-handed player at shoulder height [read: Roger Federer]. It was a match that forced Rafa to exhibit more variety of game, adjustments and strategy changes.
It was a sublime exhibition of tennis. Very few UFEs (four UFEs from Nadal in the match). A combination of power and delicacy that you only see when a player is on fire and in The Zone.
Two-three-two. Rafa was thoroughly outplayed in a way he has been only one other time since—when he lost to Robin Soderling at Roland Garros, but Robin didn't display as great a degree of deft net control and creativity.
Rafa didn't lose this match with bad play, he was comprehensively beaten when he was giving it everything he had.
And when the first moments of surprise were over, Wilfred, of Ivanhoe, demanded of the Grand Master, as judge of the field, whether he had manfully and rightfully done his duty in the field of combat?
-Sir Walter Scott [1814]
This AO match changed my life. I thought I was a tennis junkie before because I would religiously get up for Breakfast at Wimbledon every year. After this match I was a permanent junkie. I couldn't get enough of either player.
A few weeks later, Rafa would win a tough and tense re-match on hardcourts [Plexipave] in the semi-finals at Indian Wells. The score would be much closer but the match not nearly as good.
A particularly telling turning point took place early in the second set, when Jo-Willy lost concentration in the hot sun, became testy and irritable, his athleticism seemed to desert him, he lost a break, and went on to lose the match [7-6(4), 6-7(3), 5-7].
Jo-Willy would never beat Rafa again, and would not seemingly play such an out of-his-mind, in The Zone match like this again, though he has successfully taken on some of the best in the sport, such as Novak Djokovic, who he beat for the Bangkok Title late in 2008.
Jo-Willy also became the first person of African descent to win a tournament in Johannesburg [South African Open, early 2009]. Take a look at this picture of a thrilled group of African kids posing with the Champion (scroll for it).
He made a believer out of me with this single match. He's my champion.
“And now for my boon,” said the King ...” receive to thy paternal affection the good knight Wilfred, of Ivanhoe...”
-Sir Walter Scott [1814]
