The Kid Looking Strong
Warming up to the season with the Rome Masters is a particularly magnificent way to begin, and for Tsonga, April has been a good month. This will be especially fortuitous as preparations are already underway for Roland Garros, and there are still many questions about which way things will go. It’s that time of year, when the threads of these players lives start to come together, and spectators and fans start trying to make connections before anything’s really been decided. Welcome to the French Open 2010 , where the world looks on in wonder, thinking that if history would repeat itself, it would have done so by now.
His Ali resemblance precedes him, or gets woven into the very threads that make up his professional reputation. But Jo-Wlifried Tsonga wears the mantle very well, taking the attitude that he may look a little like the heavyweight champion of the world, but there are still many barriers to break through before any such title can be earned. The showing has been very good so far, and it’s been a rather remarkable climb these past two years. Between health problems, with shoulder injuries and stomach ailments, he’s seemed to have gotten stronger through the adversity, and is really swinging like a champion. The forehand is consistently breathless.
Fans keep watching, however, for signs of weakness. The clay court has never been a natural fit, but he’s starting to show some real progress, enough to suggest he might be at home here in a month. France is his birthplace, after all, and that’s one very key reason the eyes are on him, and he’s the number one player in the country.
This, in part, is why the eyes are also on Nadal, because Tsonga has had some brilliant moments playing against this key figure, and their matches have lead to big turns in his career. So the anticipation is here, and it’s set for a slow but sure boil, leaving the world wondering how things will turn out, and how the Wimbledon schedule might reflect mighty changes coming very soon.
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