The King of Grass Federer Falls to Tsonga at Wimbledon
After today’s daring performance on the grass courts of SW19, Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be known as the man who rocked the tennis world by defeating the king of grass and six-time Wimbledon champion, Roger Federer. This is the second, consecutive year that the Swiss, tennis legend has been defeated in the quarterfinal round, having lost to Czech’s Tomas Berdych in last year’s tournament. However, what makes today’s match historic is that Tsonga came back from two sets down to win the match 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. This is the first time in Federer’s career that he was defeated in a Grand Slam match after leading by two sets.
The start of the match was closely contested with both players matching each other’s level of play. However, a lack of concentration in crucial moments from the Frenchman gave Federer the golden opportunities to close out the first two sets and take the substantial lead in the match. After losing the second set tiebreaker with exemplary serving from Federer, a dejected Tsonga called for the trainer to treat a sting on his wrist. No one could have anticipated what was about to happen next.
At the start of the third set, Tsonga forced early errors from the Swiss to give him break point opportunities. At first, these were taken lightly by the crowd since Federer was in the perfect position to win the match. However, once Tsonga broke Federer’s serve to lead 5-4 in the set, the crowd was ecstatically cheering, encouraging a fourth set. An ace from the Frenchman sealed the third set and gave Tsonga the match momentum at the start of the fourth set.
The final, two sets were all-Tsonga affairs with the Frenchman fist pumping and roaring in jubilation with every winner hit. It only took one well -structured point, ending with a drop volley to seal the deal and to propel Tsonga into the semifinals of Wimbledon 2011 where he will take on Serbian superman, Novak Djokovic who dispatched Australian youngster, Bernard Tomic 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Second-seeded Djokovic has had the best year of his life where tennis is concerned having only lost one match this season. Today’s match was an impressive attempt by Australian qualifier, Tomic to halt the Serb’s win streak. But, Djokovic is on a mission to become the next world number one and the Aussie’s fight was not enough to stop him. If the Serb wins his semifinal encounter against Tsonga, he will overtake Rafael Nadal as the new world number one. However, will he be able to handle the pressure of the situation? According to a confident Djokovic, the key is to play it match by match. "I’m aware of the importance of every match that I play. I’m very close to reaching the No.1, but I try not to think about that too much."
British hopes for a Wimbledon crown will lie in the outcome of the other semifinals encounter between British, fourth-seeded Andy Murray and the defending champion and world number one, Spain’s Rafael Nadal. Murray defeated Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in the quarterfinals in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Nadal overcame American Mardy Fish in four sets, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
Day 10 of the Championships will feature the women’s semifinals. The fourth seed, Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka will play eighth- seeded Czech, Petra Kvitova. This match will be followed by the encounter between fifth -seeded Russian, Maria Sharapova and German wildcard, Sabine Lisicki.
Summary of men’s quarterfinals:
►Rafael Nadal (ESP)[1] defeated Mardy Fish (USA)[10] 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
►Andy Murray (GBR)[4] defeated Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
►Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(FRA)[12] defeated Roger Federer(SUI)[3] 3-6, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
►Novak Djokovic (SRB)[2] defeated Bernard Tomic (AUS) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
