After his questionable retirement to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of Montreal while trailing 4-6 0-3, Jo Wilfried Tsonga had some, well, interesting things to say about his opponent afterwards:
“He plays incredible tennis but he’s not an alien. In fact, what he does is doing everything better than the others … He doesn’t hit harder, he doesn’t hit the ball earlier. But he’s always there.
“He does not have the best return on the tour, but on every return, he returns well, and he’s always there. So what does it is his consistency, and he has no weaknesses.”
Needless to say, that is complete rubbish. Sour grapes? I don’t know, but you just don’t achieve what Djokovic has achieved over the last year by simply being consistent player. And if it was actually true, it would be embarrassing for Tsonga and co to let an apparent jack of all trades dominate the tour as he has in 2011 with a 52-1 W-L record and two Grand Slams in tow.
In reality Djokovic is by far the best returner in the world, and he is also armed with the best backhand, best defence, sturdiest mental strength and he is the best at redirecting his opponents pace against them. If Tsonga truly believes what he said, it would do him a world of good to open his eyes and stop underestimating the Serb, or else Djokovic will simply continue to toy with him in future meetings and Tsonga will have no idea why.
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In some ways I actually agree with him. I watched Djokovic’s matches against Nadal and Federer this year. I must not know tennis but it seems to me that what has improved dramatically in Novak is his speed and consistency. He does not miss. He is always there. I don’t know whether it is anticipation or what, but I am not seeing anything new in terms of shotmaking ability. It is like when you look at Nadal, when he unleashes that forehand you know he means business, with Fed the same thing. The point is being set up. With Novak, he is just being consistent until he gets a chance to hit a winner on his backhand side. Maybe I too like Tsonga are wrong and I am willing to be set straight on this point. As someone said recently he is like a more improved version of Hewitt.
I don’t see how saying someone has no weaknesses is underestimating them???!!! I echoed the poster above, and what Tsonga said, he is winning because he is primarily very consistent; no shame in that. does he have the best FH, BH, serve,net game on tour : Hell to the no!!! but he is the most consistent even more than Nadal right now.