Tsonga!

If you didn’t catch the Jo-Wilfried Tsonga-Rafael Nadal match Thursday night you missed the birth of a new star. Catch a replay if you can. You won’t see tennis in all aspects played any better.

With a Congolese father and French mother, French journalists are already likening him to 1983 Roland Garros champ Yannick Noah, whose father was also born in Africa (Cameroon). Word is the daily French sports paper L’Equipe was planning to run covers on him for an unprecedented four consecutive days.

As I watched the 22-year-old Muhammad Ali look-alike blow Nadal off the court 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, I kept asking myself: How does this guy ever lose? I have rarely if ever seen a healthy Nadal dismantled, but Tsonga did it – with flair. He kept bashing serves. He mashed forehands. He crunched backhands. He took the net and hit feathery, backward-spinning drop volleys off Nadal’s laser passing shots. He won 30 of 40 (75%) of his net approaches against the best defender in the game.

The common sports mantra is that good defense beats good offense. But Tsonga showed convincingly that great offense beats great defense, if it can be sustained. Nadal played well and kept waiting for Tsonga to cool but he never did, and the flurry of winners carried on. Consider that the man from Le Mans hit 49 winners to the Spaniard’s 13 and out-aced him 17 to two.

This tournament has seen its share of red-hot players making runs to the final Sunday in recent years, including Fernando Gonzalez (2007), Marcos Baghdatis (2006) and Thomas Johansson (2002), who won the title. None has been to another major final since. Will Tsonga, now ranked No. 38 but projected to jump into the top 20 on Monday, break the mold and steal the title from Federer or Djokovic, who play later tonight? More interesting still will be watching him the next few months as he navigates the tour with the newfound expectations that come with his newfound game. Either way, it should be fun to watch.

By the way, for some background on Tsonga, read my colleague Tom Perrotta’s New York Sun piece from last summer.

Tooting My Own Horn

For those of you who read my first blog or two, you’ll see that I boldly or perhaps foolishly picked Maria Sharapova to beat Ana Ivanovic in the final (you can go back and check if you don't believe me). Kudos to myself. Now, if I’d just put some money on my choices when I was recently in Las Vegas….But of course we don’t bet in tennis!

I’ll stick to my pre-tournament pick for Saturday’s final. Sharapova has looked devastating through six rounds, losing an average of just 3.3 games per match. She made Justine Henin look inconsequential in the quarterfinals and I can’t see how the 20-year-old Russian won’t add a third major to her 2004 Wimbledon and 2006 U.S.Open crowns. Soon-to-be No. 2 Ivanovic will need a great day to upend the fifth-ranked Sharapova, and she could do it if the Russian somehow falters. But Ivanovic's game is still evolving - she loses her way at times - and I'm not convinced she's a big-match competitor yet. Plus, I'm not sure she’s ready to knock off such a steely and determined opponent who is so on form. Sharapova is clearly back. She’ll win in straights.