Creature Vs Creature: Tsonga's Versatile Game Should Prevail

If any tennis matchup can send chills down your spine—at least during pronunciation—it has to be Ali versus Gonzo! The intimidation would easily carry over to the tennis court as these two players have the hardest hitting forehands, generating unusally high pace while hitting that shot. Make sure you have a handkerchief ready before imagining the fate of these poor tennis balls.

Introduction
Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Fernando Gonzalez have never met on a tennis court, but one player comes to mind as soon as their names are mentioned together—Rafael Nadal. Gonzo stopped Nadal in the Australian Open at 2007, while Tsonga repeated the feat in 2008.

Both players reached the finals of the AO in those respective years and managed to grab a spot in the top-10 for the first time. Both of them failed to repeat the feat the following year, and have intermittently struggled with injuries to have a relatively inconsistent career since their dream run.

They have a chance to repeat their performance as they now meet at the fourth round  of the U.S. Open 2009. Their free-flowing style of play is very error prone, which makes it difficult to predict their performance on a given day. However, one can be sure that the drama will be endless.

This article takes a look at Tsonga's chances of a QF place, while Leroy Watson will present the case in Gonzo's favor.

Will Win If
The Frenchman clearly has a more complete game than his Chilean opponent.

His serve is more consistent and his forehand is more effective than Gonzo, if not as powerful. Moreover, the big man has deft hands at the net and qualifies as one of the best volleyers in today's game.

Tsonga builds his game around his huge serve and uses his heavy forehand to take control of the point. He tries to end points early, and is always on the lookout to capture the net.

He has averaged more than 60 percent of first serves so far in this tournament, and unsurprisingly eased through in straight sets in all his matches. He needs to repeat this good form with his serve against the hard hitting Gonzo.

His next weapon would be to unsettle Gonzo, who is very fragile mentally and to keep trying different things during the match. Use some occasional serve-n-volley, and chip back Gonzo's serves to keep them low. Make sure to frustrate Gonzo. He will not get any clay to paint his backside red, but something similar would work equally well.

Most importantly, he should stick to his strengths. Tsonga should be aggressive, so he needs to stay close to the baseline and ends points quickly. Do not move ten feet back and rally with Gonzo, because Gonzo will stick to his position and go all out for winners regardless of the situation.

Will Lose If
The major limitation in Tsonga's game is his return of serve. He has the weakest return in the top 10. In Wimbledon, he simply gave up on Karlovic's huge serves and lost tamely in four sets.

Gonzo serve is nowhere as good as the Croats, but on his day his serve is very potent. If Tsonga cannot figure out a way to return them, he will simply lose his confidence and his game will fall apart.

Intangibles
The biggest intangible on either side will be the unpredictability of the showmen. Nobody knows which Tsonga will come on the court—the one who defeated Nadal or the one who lost tamely against Karlovic.

However, Tsonga is a crowd favorite and will especially enjoy New York. He will use his antics to work up the crowd in his favor.

Shots to look out for
Watch for Tsonga's all court game. Watch him rushing to the net after his big serve and ending the point with a deft volley. His backhand down the line is very dangerous and will be especially useful against Gonzo's inside out forehand.

Prediction
This match would be a nightmare for the bookies due to its unpredictability. However, Tsonga's more versatile game should give him a good edge over Gonzalez.

Tsonga winning in four tight sets.