Tsonga

There is a time when the top players look invincible. They play at a level that seems far above the norm. Even the occasional interloper who manages to play even makes enough mistakes that the occasional advantage won is offset by the silly errors, a case of one step forward, two steps back.

Such an event happened to James Blake who has had no success beating world number 1, Roger Federer. Blake has improved his game a bit, but he relies on the ability to overpower his opponent. No doubt, he was able to get a few good winning shots, especially his newfound down-the-line backhand which gave Federer all kinds of problems. Just not enough for Blake to win. Missed first serves compounded the issue.

Blake has been around for a few years now, and so people are looking to see if he can make that leap up. He's made gradual improvements, but it's tough at his level.

People often say that the players that beat Federer or Nadal will come from the junior ranks. They will learn to hit harder, to hit more bizarre shots, to have more mental resolve. They will draw inspiration from the best, and learn to beat the best. And, at the very least, the human body falters as it ages, and so youth may be served. Witness the surge of one Novak "Nole" Djokovic. Buried in the epic meetings of Nadal vs. Federer at the French and at Wimbledon was Djokovic making the semifinals of both, showing his versatility as well. Again, Djokovic is in the semifinals, and at the age of 20, may be the one that breaks through.

Occasionally, you get someone like Courier. In his case, he had a powerful game, on the same league as Agassi, but he was intense, had to hit all-out, and when things got bad, he hit harder, and missed more spectacularly. It took Jose Higueras to calm him down to harness that energy, so he could play his best.

Such players need time. It's usually more effective to harness a player that has wild talent than for a player who lacks talent to become a better hitter. Easier to teach smarts and fitness than to teach physical coordination and talent.

So it goes with Jo Wilifried Tsonga of France. The last Afro-French player of great note was Yannick Noah, who was mostly seen supporting his son, Joachim, a 7 foot tall NBA player, after his career in reggae singing. He won his one and only Grand Slam title at the French, his home country, and while he continued to play well, his game, for the big man he was, was not enough to challenge the best players of the day.

Tsonga is said to be distinctly Gallic, showing the flair of Noah or perhaps Henri Leconte, another talented Gaul whose inconsistent brilliance was never fully harnessed. With the decline of serve-and-volley, Tsonga's game of sneak and volley might be the modern day replacement.

Tsonga hits powerfully from the baseline and serves with enough power that Nadal found himself being outdueled from the backcourt. But rather than hang with Nadal when he was in trouble, Tsonga would head to the net, and time after time, show his delicate touch. Drop volleys so short that you might as well call them stop volleys.

Or as Bud Collins used to say "Eyedropper". Nadal had had his way with the best Finnish player ever, Jarkko Nieminen, which I suppose is like calling someone the best American soccer player ever. It's good, but still not the best. Where Nieminen managed to use his quickness and hustle to confound Kohlschreiber, the German youth that knocked out Roddick, he was being dealt body blows from Nadal, who pushed him around at will.

Nadal, on the other hand, was barely able to contain Tsonga. When Tsonga would rip an inside out forehand to Nadal's forehand (Nadal, a lefty), Nadal might discover, on his wild attempt to reach the ball, that Tsonga had reached the net, and was volleying his shot out of reach.

It's said that fitness training has made the difference. Tsonga used to rush into the net on a prayer. With stamina, he can now trade rallies, set up, and come in on his own terms.

To be fair, Nadal has never been that comfortable on hard courts, but no one expected Tsonga to play so well. Now he's in the final. Can he handle Federer or Djokovic? Or has this Frenchman made such strides that the question we should be asking is: can they handle Tsonga?