The Last Word returns, and each weekday, starting on Monday, December 5, we'll give you our year-end thoughts about tennis' best players—this time focusing on the ATP and WTA Top 10. We'll alternate tours each day; here's who we've looked at so far.
Best of 2011
Tsonga’s come-from-behind win over Roger Federer at Wimbledon has made pretty much everyone’s “Best Matches of 2011” list, so who am I to argue? Tsonga lost the first two sets but was simply unstoppable over the last three, and that helped account for Federer’s curiously passive demeanor as the match wore on. It was just one of those days for Federer—and Tsonga.
Worst of 2011
Tsonga got that “what was I thinking?” match out of his system early, losing to Xavier Malisse in the second round of Indian Wells despite starting with a bye. But Malisse is about as dangerous a guy as you can find outside the Top 50 (he was No. 52 at the time), so that straight-sets loss couldn’t have bothered Tsonga one bit.
Year in Review
Tsonga won just two events, both of them ATP 250s: Metz and Vienna. Of the two, the latter was a more impressive feat. For one thing, it was on clay, where Tsonga’s firepower is somewhat neutralized. Tsonga avenged that Indian Wells loss to Malisse there, and took down Juan Martin del Potro in the final.
But even more important, Tsonga showed great consistency through most of the year, and he remained injury free—two things he couldn’t be counted on to do earlier in his career. Tsonga started out well, if not exactly on fire, and only got stronger as the year went on. He lost five-set matches in the third round at each of his first two majors (to Alexandr Dolgopolov in Melbourne and to Stanislas Wawrinka at Roland Garros), but made the semis at Wimbledon and the quarters at the U.S. Open (l. to Federer).
(That name, “Federer” popped up quite a few times on Tsonga’s dance card on the year—they played a whopping eight times. Tsonga won back-to-back meetings at Wimbledon and Montreal, but otherwise it was all Federer, and in straight sets until the very end of the year.)
Coming out of a so-so Euroclay season, Tsonga soared on grass. He played for the championship at Queens (l. to Andy Murray) and forced then-unstoppable Novak Djokovic to four sets (two of them tiebreakers) in the Wimbledon semis.
Sustaining his high level, Tsonga went on to have a great summer and fall, by the end of which he had been in 10 semifinals and six finals on the year. He capped it off with a nice run to the final of the ATP World Tour Finals, where he was once again beaten by Federer.
See for Yourself
If you have any doubts about the remarkable combination of power, mobility and feel that drives “Baby Dinosaur’s” game, check out these highlights from his match against that other big hitter, Tomas Berdych, at the recent World Tour Finals. Tsonga won the semi, 6-3, 7-5. Check out the touch half-volley Tsonga hits in the final game of the match.