Tsonga's Lack of Killer Instinct Killed Him Today

I watched patches of the fourth set today through a choppy, delayed stream on LSH. I didn't see the 3rd and the 4th MPs Tsonga had, but I saw the first two. The first one was the match. Unless, my stream was worse than I thought, wasn't that an almost-sitter bh pass that Tsonga had. Why did he aim it down the line over the highest part of the net? Djokovic guessed right and lightly re-directed his fh volley cc. It's match frickin' point! Why doesn't Tsonga drive that ball low and hard right at Nole over the lowest part of the net, aiming it right at him, making him the "target"? I just don't understand. I know it's a gentleman's game and all, but when I was learning how to play tennis in the late eighties, I was taught that that was always a good play when the person has standing right in the middle. Hit it right at them, low, handcuff them. I'm not saying try to hurt someone, aim for their head, etc. But why make it harder for yourself and try to hit an extreme angle cc, or a difficult dtl?

Tsonga guided it; the shot had no heat to it, and the point was over. Is this fall-out from the Amalgro/Berdych flap at the AO? Do players just not aim at each other anymore? Is it not "sporting"? I ask because I never see that play anymore: right at the guy standing in the center of the court, not giving him room to make a fh or bh volley? Does anyone know if this is just a "new" unwritten rule--"Don't aim at your opponent" and I'm just stuck in the stone ages?

On a separate note, Nole has just got ice-water in his veins. 8 MPs saved in three different GS. Wow.

Tsonga is a mental midget and always will be. Even when he went up 2 sets to one I knew he would still lose. You can set your watch by this stuff it's so inevitable.

He was so close to taking the match in the 4th set. But when he failed to convert any of his 4/5 match points, I had a sinking feeling for him. I thought that if it went to a 5th, Djokovic would romp it and so it proved!

Djokovic won the stamina battle in the end...both physically and mentally. That's why he's #1 and Tsonga is still #5.

So bitterly disappointed with the loss; I dared to believe that he was really going to reach the semis. And after four match points, he should have. I knew he had to win the fourth otherwise he'd be routed in the fifth. And that's exactly what happened.

It's obviously a mental problem, Tsonga has the game but not the head. Maybe he needs a coach now? There is still plenty which is encouraging; his performance from the second set to the very end of the fourth was incredible. He was absolutely bossing Djokovic from the baseline most rallies - and this is against Djokovic 2.0 on clay. There were absolute flashes of brilliance which brought back memories of Tsonga's legendary form at the 2008 Australian Open, and we see flashes of this form time to time (like last year's Wimbledon).

It must be awful for him to lose, but he can go into the grass court season with many reasons to be optimistic, so long as he can find some consistency and mental toughness from somewhere.

Tsonga played a great great match. To bad he couldn't shut the door, but it's not like he choked this one away. If he keeps this up he will be even more dangerous at wimbledon

He unfortunately looked up at the French flags, and remembered where he was, then visions of white flags distracted him.

As it turned out, the first MP was the only point blank chance Tsonga got to win the match, but it's unfair to criticise him when you consider he created a further two chances and Djokovic just proved too brave to be denied. And it's not as if Tsonga was playing in his comfort zone in the fourth -he was playing out of his skin to stay on serve with those phenomenally deep forehands, and even saved some set points in the TB before he lost it.

The problem is that EVEN IF Tsonga had won this match, he likely would've taken a big dump on Friday against Federer because Tsonga has not put together a string of quality wins against top players in a Slam EVER!
Look how great he looks in one match and how horrendous he looks in the next. He's a streaky player, hot and cold day to day.
We wanted Federer vs Djokovic in a Slam semifinal. That's the match we all want. You know it!

Tsonga vs Nadal at Wimbledon = EPIC!!!!
Based on the improvements in Tsonga's backhand going along with his booming serve and destructive forehand, he and Nadal would be a really awesome match I think at Wimbledon.

I'm quite sure he lost the first match-point by missing an 'easy' second serve return with his backhand.
On the second one, he had the opportunity to pass Djokovic at the net.
And it was the 3rd of 4th where he had a real good shot to win the rally after he drove Djokovic in the corner before netting his forehand, just trying to be a little too aggressive imho.

Well, I picked Tsonga for the champ, there goes my bracket :lol:

I gave up after Tsonga went a set and a break down playing like Wozniacki, woke up to see here that he had played an epic, held match points, lost them and got destroyed, as inevitable in the situation, in the 5th.

Such a bitter bitter loss

Hate to post it cause I do like Tsonga. If he got pass the King, he would've went out in a whimper against Federer.

There goes the mens side after the last interesting, for me, player is gone, as usual. Congratulations to Swoosh and the Nadal Girls, er, I mean, tennis fans, who will get their "Classic Fedal" final :roll: they've been fervently hoping for.

I saw from the 4th set when ESPN picked up the coverage at 1 EST (at 4-5 I think), and my impression wasn't that Tsonga clammed up. Instead, I think he was almost trying to slap the ball a little TOO much on the big points instead of opening up the court.

I know he ran around one forehand pretty well, and took a nice big cut at it, but it was just kind of a slap down the line without much angle.

Well don't blame the poor guy. He played heck of a match on his least preferred surface. As far as the match points are concerned, I really think he had a great chance at 3rd mp where he tried to be the aggressor and hit a flat inside in FH only to net it unfortunately because had it cleared the net, it would have put Djokovic in serious trouble as he was way out of position. Call it luck, call it clutch but seriously its never easy when you are facing the "King of Match Points"

Mainad said:

He was so close to taking the match in the 4th set. But when he failed to convert any of his 4/5 match points, I had a sinking feeling for him. I thought that if it went to a 5th, Djokovic would romp it and so it proved!

Djokovic won the stamina battle in the end...both physically and mentally. That's why he's #1 and Tsonga is still #5.

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To be fair, Ali really only had a shot on one of them -- he had it on his forehand, got tight, and plunked it into the net.

With the Big 3, you have to capitalize on your chance once you get it, because you won't get another.

Killed by his inability to kill

Swissv2 said:

He unfortunately looked up at the French flags, and remembered where he was, then visions of white flags distracted him.

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Hahahahahahha, brilliant!

Any links to youtube videos of the MPs?

sportsfan1 said:

Any links to youtube videos of the MPs?

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Some of them here:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8012997
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLq5H_bZM4E

Will Tsonga's career be destroyed by this loss ? that is the question

Nostradamus said:

Will Tsonga's career be destroyed by this loss ? that is the question

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On the contrary, I think it should give him confidence that he came so close to beating the world #1 on clay, his least favourite surface.

Tsonga would rather be fishing than winning.

Nobody's come close to answering my questions, which tells me that A) no one here plays tennis B) no one here knows how to read C) I posted in the wrong forum