2013 French Open QF: Federer vs. Tsonga

[Front242]

When he's in the the zone it doesn't matter what surface it is. Tsonga becomes an absolute animal. Who can forget the performance against Nadal at the AO '08 or the comeback from 2 sets down against Federer at Wimbledon. He can clearly play that well anywhere, it's just a question of which Tsonga shows up on the day. Today it was super Tsonga and flat Fed from what I've read (missed the whole match) which isn't a winning combination for Fed. Delighted for Tsonga doing so well at his home slam as I like his game very much but also disappointed for Fed for at least not making it a fight.

Worth noting that no one predicted Tsonga in 3 also.

 

[the AntiPusher]

When he's in the the zone it doesn't matter what surface it is. Tsonga becomes an absolute animal. Who can forgot the performance against Nadal at the AO '08 or the comeback from 2 sets down against Federer at Wimbledon. He can clearly play that well anywhere, it's just a question of which Tsonga shows up on the day. Today it was super Tsonga and flat Fed from what I've read (missed the whole match) which isn't a winning combination for Fed. Delighted for Tsonga doing so well at his home slam as I like his game very much but also disappointed for Fed for at least not making it a fight.

Worth noting that no one predicted Tsonga in 3 also.

You would bring up the time he manhandled my top Dawg , Rafa.. jeezz .. I hope JoWillieTs makes it to the finals and if he can pull off winning the French then he is one deserving dude.

 

[Front242]

I'd love to see Tsonga the whole thing too but he has his work cut out beating Ferrer. PS: he man handled Fed at Wimbledon too so don't feel too bad.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

Federer covered the clay with his hot vomit..

the sick flew off his disgusted racquet...Tsonga puked on the decaying flames of wogers 2013 clay campaign.

but someone in the crowd still farted, and someone else readjusted a bra..strange days.

 

[Mog]

Congrates to Tsonga. Wish he gets his first GS at Home ground, though it is a tough road but possible.

 

[Mastoor]

The Meister went down in straight sets?
Meister is just too old...

Seems like that but how many times did we send the same Meister to retirement in last 4 years?

Also, how you get too old not even a year after winning Wimbledon and getting back to number one, not to mention some of his accomplishments since?

 

[Mog]

The Meister went down in straight sets?
Meister is just too old...

Seems like that but how many times did we send the same Meister to retirement in last 4 years?

Also, how you get too old not even a year after winning Wimbledon and getting back to number one, not to mention some of his accomplishments since?

Well said, Mastoor. I think it was not worth responding to such posts.

 

[Moxie]

The Meister went down in straight sets?
Meister is just too old...

Seems like that but how many times did we send the same Meister to retirement in last 4 years?

Also, how you get too old not even a year after winning Wimbledon and getting back to number one, not to mention some of his accomplishments since?

Well said, Mastoor. I think it was not worth responding to such posts.

Ditto...good point, Mastoor. While his most incomparably fine tennis may be behind him, he's still better than most of the field. It seems silly to right off a guy who won a Slam less than a year ago, and was recently #1.

 

[lindseywagners]

Fed has officially entered the 2001-2002 Sampras part of his career. Complete shell of himself and will suffer a lot of bad losses even in slams. To me the question remains how will it end. Will he have one last great run at SW19 or New York. And is he actually serious about playing until 2016? With more losses like today I'd bet the house he pulls the plug before that.

How do you figure that he has reached Sampras stage of his career.. Fed won Wimbledon last year, was number ranked and made RG finals 2 years ago..

Fed was clearly jaded afterwards of his struggle with Simon, that's all. Fed still has the goods.. he wasn't moving well and ran into an INFORM JowillieTS this afternoon.. that's all
Pete was barely on the radar when he won his last US Open

DarthFed, don't give up on your dude.. A few upsets or injuries and Fed will be left there to clean up the carcasses

Sampras won Wimbledon in 2000 and then went 2 years without a title, in between that he did reach 2 USO finals but had a lot of bad losses in other slams before winning his last tournament at 2002 USO. It might be too early to say with Fed, but this is his worst 11 months of tennis since 2002 and he isn't getting younger. You will be seeing losses like this which when you factor everything in, is his worst loss at a slam since 2003 IMO. The Tsongas of the world have occasionally beat him at slams the past few years but not in total blowout fashion like this.

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Fed has officially entered the 2001-2002 Sampras part of his career. Complete shell of himself and will suffer a lot of bad losses even in slams. To me the question remains how will it end. Will he have one last great run at SW19 or New York. And is he actually serious about playing until 2016? With more losses like today I'd bet the house he pulls the plug before that.

I didn't really follow Sampras' career like I do Roger's, but I don't think your comparison is accurate. Federer consistently is in contention at Slams and so "one last great run" right now for him wouldn't be the same as Sampras' final U.S. Open win. Roger is already playing deep in every GS, so it wouldn't really be a "run" to make it to a final or win it.

QF is not "going deep" in a tournament. Roger will still reach most QF's until he retires. The question is does he still have it in him to make a real run.

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I'd argue that a QF berth is certainly considered "deep" into a tournament. After all, the 36-straight is one of his great career accomplishments.

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I'd argue that it isn't. It is a large number but let's be honest here, it is a shocking upset if one of the top 4 loses before the QF. That qualifies as a horrendous tournament for any of them and you very rarely see it these days. Roger's 36 straight means he has avoided any outrageous upsets for 9 years which shows he has always maintained a high level.

But QF's are a far cry from the title and therefore I don't call them deep. QF's are usually the first time a top player is meeting a good/great player. Semis are a fairly deep run. 23 straight semis is more impressive to me than 60 QF's would be because the QF match can be a tough one. Making it through 23 straight QF's is more impressive to me than making 36 straight runs beating the qualifiers, journeymen and average players in the first 4 rounds.

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Yeah, your standards are pretty high, which is fine, but I think you're solely basing them off of Federer when he made it to 10 straight finals. As you said, the only way someone makes a deep run is if they make it to the final, because a semi is only a "fairly deep run."

I agree that the semi streak is more impressive, but I wouldn't discount the the QF one too much because it's still a testament to consistency.

 

[Mog]

If 36 consecutive wins reaching QFs at Grand Slams is not that impressive and not considererd "Deep Run" then how no one has come close to it (Connors has 27) and then no one else seems close to break that record. I agree reaching Semi and Finals are much more impressive but paying no respect to QFs is beyond ?

 

[El Dude]

I'd say a QF is a deep run. Its only 8 players of 128, not including the qualifications rounds. What is the total, 150? To make it to the QF you have to beat four players, three of whom beat at least one other player, two of whom beat two others, and one of whom beat three players. No easy task and it means that you can't have a truly crappy match.

One interesting side point is that all of the three greats playing now - Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic - have been very consistent at getting to at least the QFs, with only a few earlier exits by Nadal and Djokovic. Most greats had a weak venue or two that they somewhat regularly lost in the 4R or earlier (e.g. Sampras at Roland-Garros). Lendl's 1982-91 span was very impressive, but he lost in the 4R of a Slam four times before losing in the 3R of the '91 Wimbledon. I don't know if this points to the greatness of the current three, or if it is a matter of a different game and more diverse courts.

 

[Ricardo]

Wow Tsonga really impressed, if playing to his potential the next two matches i can see the first French winner at RG in 30 years. Like Fed said, he was better than him in every area... in a pretty straight forward victory.

Maybe Roger is a good coach? the other Roger of course....

 

[BalaryKar]

I am shocked, but only at the straight-sets thing. Tsonga is a damn good player and here is to wish him luck for the entire FO. I get a feeling that if Tsonga wins his first GS, he will be more confident and take out the Top 3 (Fed exlcuded) on a more regular basis.

I also believe that Fed would be just fine and will now get more time to rest before the defense at Wimby.

 

[DarthFed]

If 36 consecutive wins reaching QFs at Grand Slams is not that impressive and not considererd "Deep Run" then how no one has come close to it (Connors has 27) and then no one else seems close to break that record. I agree reaching Semi and Finals are much more impressive but paying no respect to QFs is beyond ?

It's very impressive but I don't consider it one of his greater records or achievements. Having such a crazy streak of semis is a whole new ballgame. You make the semi and you are right there in contention at the business end of the tournament.

When we think of someone losing in the QF I just don't consider that being close to the GS title, we can say that player wasn't really a contender at that event. For great players such as Roger, Rafa, Nole and even Murray a loss at the QF is a very poor result. Of course for 99% of players it is an outstanding achievement just to reach one but we are talking about the elite players with 2 all time greats and one well on his way.

A couple other points about the QF record is that most players don't even play 36 straight slams. The record shows how durable Roger has been and also that he has avoided a huge upset for 9 years at slams (he has not been Rosoled for instance). Of course it's impressive.

 

[crystalfire]

so saw the first set and after that i was pretty sure tsonga was going to pull it out. to be completely honest anything fed does these days is ok with me. anything he wins is a bonus. i will still be rooting for him but i guess from now on QFs and SFs are most i can hope from him. like darth mentioned he seems to be on the downslide.

 

[Riotbeard]

If Djokovic makes it to the final, Go Ferrer. If nadal makes it, Go Tsonga!

 

[Ricardo]

If Djokovic makes it to the final, Go Ferrer. If nadal makes it, Go Tsonga!

so whatever it takes for Djoker to win?

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so saw the first set and after that i was pretty sure tsonga was going to pull it out. to be completely honest anything fed does these days is ok with me. anything he wins is a bonus. i will still be rooting for him but i guess from now on QFs and SFs are most i can hope from him. like darth mentioned he seems to be on the downslide.

i think it's not so bad, RG is Fed's worst slam and I still see him doing better at Wimbledon and USO for the very foreseeable future. I agree that on clay it's much harder now for him with decreased movement, stamina and defense ability but another win at Wimbledon or USO wouldn't really be shocking....

 

[herios]

Let's now see how he does at Sw19. Last time he got ousted in QF at the french, in 2010, he also lost in QF at Wimby too. This time around it would be a blow for his ranking, because back in 2010 he was carrying a win at the AO.

Our local late night sport news started with "Fedexpress today was a choo-choo..."

 

[Johnsteinbeck]

Wow Tsonga really impressed, if playing to his potential the next two matches i can see the first French winner at RG in 30 years. Like Fed said, he was better than him in every area... in a pretty straight forward victory.

Maybe Roger is a good coach? the other Roger of course....

Rasheed is a wonderful coach imo. and we haven't seen Jo's stamina tested yet, but i'd be shocked if RR hasn't prepared him very well on that side as well, by now. i do remember being a bit disappointed by how spent JWT was in the late stages of their AO QF, but i'm optimistic that that's improved (plus, AO tennis is so much slower, more dragging and energy-sapping than clay is; weird, but true).

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If Djokovic makes it to the final, Go Ferrer. If nadal makes it, Go Tsonga!

so whatever it takes for Djoker to win?

fair call, no? there's been sooo many posts and chat lines in the past days hoping for "whatever it takes for Djoker (or sometimes: Nadal) to lose", i wouldn't be surprised or offended by any of that

 

[coban]

When he's in the the zone it doesn't matter what surface it is. Tsonga becomes an absolute animal. Who can forgot the performance against Nadal at the AO '08 or the comeback from 2 sets down against Federer at Wimbledon. He can clearly play that well anywhere, it's just a question of which Tsonga shows up on the day. Today it was super Tsonga and flat Fed from what I've read (missed the whole match) which isn't a winning combination for Fed. Delighted for Tsonga doing so well at his home slam as I like his game very much but also disappointed for Fed for at least not making it a fight.

Worth noting that no one predicted Tsonga in 3 also.

You would bring up the time he manhandled my top Dawg , Rafa.. jeezz .. I hope JoWillieTs makes it to the finals and if he can pull off winning the French then he is one deserving dude.

That game is probably one of the greatest games of tennis ever played. Period. (Tsonga)