Similarities between Tsonga and Roddick

[djokovic2008]

I believe these two have similar games but at the moment different success. Roddick has gotten away from what tsonga is doing at the moment therefore his decline. Tsonga likes to hammer his Forehand, his backhand is not a weapon and he knows this as he likes to run round it. The thing is that with TWO monster weapons like his serve and forehand he can still be very successful. Roddick had a better serve than tsonga maybe not better forehand but it still caused damage, tsonga is good at the net fair enough. Next year Roddick just needs to apply this simple one two punch game that tsonga does and things will improve for him big time.

 

[TopFH]

Roddick had a fierce forehand some time ago.

 

[wy2sl0]

Funny you mention this, every time I see them both, they look the same. Young Roddick is very similar to Tsonga, except T has a better backhand and R has a better serve.

 

[fuzz nation]

Hmm... I don't think I've ever thought of Andy as the same sort of imposing athlete as Tsonga. Both are big strong dudes with some similar weapons I suppose, but Andy was never much of an all-court player until he went back to the drawing board a few years ago. I'd bet that if he grew up learning that dimension of the game along the way, his epic Wimbledon final against Roger would have been a different story.

Tsonga still seems to be realizing his potential to me and has always appeared to have the capacity to hit big from the baseline, move forward quite effectively, and also play surprisingly strong defense for such a big guy. Hard to tell though, just how much of that potential will be developed before he's done.

Roddick spent a lot of years with the same surf 'n turf game; big serve and big forehand (and not much else). I absolutely respect just how much work he put toward reinventing himself in more recent years, but his career seems much more based in a rather narrow skill set that's been extremely well developed.

They both play with Babolat gear, so there's that...

 

[TTMR]

Tsonga nothing like ARod......JoWilly much better at net and has been a solid doubles player - ARods backhand has always been a liability, JoWillys much more solid. The net play alone sets them apart.

Agreed. Also, Tsonga's serve is nowhere near the calibre of Roddick's, particularly the second serve. Roddick had a huge forehand when he was young, but it was very error-prone on off days. Tsonga's is powerful, but much more reliable. His backhand is far superior to Roddick's. He seems to be a much better anticipator, so he defends well and can create better angles and power on the run. He is a better mover and has better footwork; he can serve and volley and has great net skill.

The above shows how crucial the serve is. Roddick is inferior in almost every other aspect of the game, but he is one of the best servers ever, and it has thus far carried him much further than Tsonga's well-rounded game has, though Tsonga still has some time to make up ground.

 

[bullfan]

I think the biggest difference between Tsonga and Roddick is the "utter dependence" upon serve. I saw someone post something about part of Roddick's problem being his win at an early age, that kept him from working on the entire game. I agree with that. Tsonga has more weapons than Roddick in my book. Tsonga's biggest problem is staying in the moment, and staying focused.

 

[bullfan]

Tsonga also a much better mover and has tonnes more touch. Their games have nothing in common really -

By the way Isner was ON today and really was pushing JoWilly around.

Isner did look good, but seemed to wear out in the later part of the 3rd set. He needs to work on his form. Of course, he could have let the pressure of the crowds get to him, but, I'm leaning towards the improving form.

 

[glazkovss]

Tsonga is more athletic, can play one-handed backhand when stretched and has better volleys. Roddick has a bigger serve and long time ago had a bigger forehand. Don't think they are similar.

 

[Shaolin]

Their games are nothing alike.

 

[djokovic2008]

Agreed. Also, Tsonga's serve is nowhere near the calibre of Roddick's, particularly the second serve. Roddick had a huge forehand when he was young, but it was very error-prone on off days. Tsonga's is powerful, but much more reliable. His backhand is far superior to Roddick's. He seems to be a much better anticipator, so he defends well and can create better angles and power on the run. He is a better mover and has better footwork; he can serve and volley and has great net skill.

The above shows how crucial the serve is. Roddick is inferior in almost every other aspect of the game, but he is one of the best servers ever, and it has thus far carried him much further than Tsonga's well-rounded game has, though Tsonga still has some time to make up ground.

Tsonga's backhand is a weakness I can't pull out many clips of errors on that. His movement touch and feel is better no doubt but his game is primarily built around brute force with the serve and forehand being at the forefront of that, those are where he gets the MAJORITY of his points. This was the same with early roddick with the serve and forehand but these weapons have been severely blunted.

 

[djokovic2008]

Tsonga is more athletic, can play one-handed backhand when stretched and has better volleys. Roddick has a bigger serve and long time ago had a bigger forehand. Don't think they are similar.

Tsonga plays a one handed backhand twice a match maximum so that's no even a factor.

 

[glazkovss]

Tsonga plays a one handed backhand twice a match maximum so that's no even a factor.

Even those two times can be deciding. It almost turned out to be so versus Isner as he made a one-handed backhand pass to go ahead 40-0 on Isneer's serve at 4-4 in the 3rd set.

 

[djokovic2008]

Funny you mention this, every time I see them both, they look the same. Young Roddick is very similar to Tsonga, except T has a better backhand and R has a better serve.

In today's semi the commentary said that you have two guys in isner and tsonga who have big serves and forehands and were just trying to find each others backhands. Shows you how far you can get with two weapons.

 

[glazkovss]

In today's semi the commentary said that you have two guys in isner and tsonga who have big serves and forehands and were just trying to find each others backhands. Shows you how far you can get with two weapons.

Do you believe it? Have you watched the match or just listened to the commies?

 

[Sid_Vicious]

Tsonga's backhand is a weakness I can't pull out many clips of errors on that. His movement touch and feel is better no doubt but his game is primarily built around brute force with the serve and forehand being at the forefront of that, those are where he gets the MAJORITY of his points. This was the same with early roddick with the serve and forehand but these weapons have been severely blunted.

I agree with you observations, Djokovic 2008. Tsonga's backhand is certainly not "way better' than Roddick's. Neither of them can do anything creative off that wing like someone with a great 2hbh like Nalby or Djokovic. Tsonga's DTL backhand sucks just like Roddick's. Just like Roddick in 2003, Tsonga runs 10 feet in the opposite direction just to crank a forehand. Tsonga is definitely better than Roddick at the net though.

I also don't consider Tsonga to be a great mover. His court positioning is awful. He loves to stand way behind the baseline and expends twice the effort chasing down a ball that a great mover like Djokovic would get to without breaking a sweat.

 

[Sid_Vicious]

Tsonga nothing like ARod......JoWilly much better at net and has been a solid doubles player - ARods backhand has always been a liability, JoWillys much more solid. The net play alone sets them apart.

That is such a 2011 statement. People have forgotten all about Roddick in his prime. Here is what Marat Safin had to say about Roddick after beating him in a 5 set epic during the 2004 AO QF.

"He serves so well, his backhand is great and his forehand is one of the best in tennis and it is tough to hold it on the baseline with him.

 

[Rjtennis]

I have never seen Arod hit a FH with the same amount of pace as Tsonga. Roddick hits more of a spinny forehand while Joe Willy can do pretty much anything on that side. Roddicks fh does very little damage on the tour today. That cant be said for Tsonga.

 

[Joseph L. Barrow]

To the people touting Tsonga's superior over Roddick, I wish to point out that Roddick has won a Grand Slam title, Tsonga none, Roddick has a career-high ranking of one, Tsonga seven, Roddick has been to five Grand Slam finals, Tsonga one, and Roddick has won 30 career titles, Tsonga seven. Tsonga is younger than Roddick, but it would take a positively freakish uptick in the quality of his results for him to even come close to touching Roddick. This is not a coincidence; on the whole, Roddick is clearly a superior tennis player to Tsonga.

Furthermore, were Roddick "all serve," he would have had a career like that of Ivo Karlovic, who has an even better serve than Roddick, but has only won four career titles and has never ranked in the top 10. The fact is that people tend to caricature Roddick by acknowledging the greatness of his serve, then devaluing his other attributes in a plainly unreasonable fashion. At least when fit and in-form (he was well below his historical standard this season), Roddick is a very good defender (it is no coincidence he's been a regular in the Mercedes-Benz plays of the week over the years) and is capable of outrallying the vast majority of ATP professionals from the baseline (that this is often through extremely conservative play with very few winners DOES NOT nullify this fact). In his early days, he was also a tremendous power player from the back-court, regularly delivering 100-mile-per-hour or faster forehands and showing the ability to overpower most anyone from the back of the court- see the first set of the 2004 Wimbledon final for a good demonstration. Even in the latter portion of his career, he has shown the ability on rare occasions to snap out of his defensive mindset and deliver compelling aggression, as in his win over Nadal last year at Miami.

Tsonga is a very flamboyant and spectacular player, and while locked in, he can look positively tremendous in every aspect of the game, but his style is unsustainable; he tends to alternate between passages of dominating play and runs of ugly, losing play which gifts opponents sets and matches.

 

[Joseph L. Barrow]

Anyhow, as for his career moving forward, I agree that Roddick needs to play much more aggressively, particularly because he seems to have slowed down this season (his repeated training injuries seem to have prevented him from maintaining the kind of conditioning he's accustomed to), meaning that the grinding style he had adapted well enough to maintain a top 10 ranking for the last several years is no longer so effective as it used to be. If he wants to regain a spot in the top 10 next year, he needs to revert to a less movement-based game-plan and swing freely for winners from the early-going.

 

[monique s]

THE RESULTS....that's what count. Tsonga is almost 27 yrs.old and he has only 7 titles. If he was better than Andy, his results would be different. Let us not forget that Andy is only 2-1/2 yrs.older than Tsonga and he has 1 slam, 6 Masters titles and 3o titles in all. But I can never understand all the criticisms Andy received during his career.Even by the American commies, they are the worst.Who can say that they were in 5 slams final vs Federer. In the long run, that stays in your head and hurt you.And how many semis and 1/4's and finals Andy was in.A lot. You cannot win every tournament. This is a most difficult task. But people sitting behind their computer can say how he must play, that's so easy to do. It's like they are all tennis experts. I suspect there are some jealous of nice career and money making.Andy has been winning an average of one tourney every year, the only active player with fed to do that.Andy is not 21 anymore, he is 29, so things change.

 

[monique s]

To the people touting Tsonga's superior over Roddick, I wish to point out that Roddick has won a Grand Slam title, Tsonga none, Roddick has a career-high ranking of one, Tsonga seven, Roddick has been to five Grand Slam finals, Tsonga one, and Roddick has won 30 career titles, Tsonga seven. Tsonga is younger than Roddick, but it would take a positively freakish uptick in the quality of his results for him to even come close to touching Roddick. This is not a coincidence; on the whole, Roddick is clearly a superior tennis player to Tsonga.

Furthermore, were Roddick "all serve," he would have had a career like that of Ivo Karlovic, who has an even better serve than Roddick, but has only won four career titles and has never ranked in the top 10. The fact is that people tend to caricature Roddick by acknowledging the greatness of his serve, then devaluing his other attributes in a plainly unreasonable fashion. At least when fit and in-form (he was well below his historical standard this season), Roddick is a very good defender (it is no coincidence he's been a regular in the Mercedes-Benz plays of the week over the years) and is capable of outrallying the vast majority of ATP professionals from the baseline (that this is often through extremely conservative play with very few winners DOES NOT nullify this fact). In his early days, he was also a tremendous power player from the back-court, regularly delivering 100-mile-per-hour or faster forehands and showing the ability to overpower most anyone from the back of the court- see the first set of the 2004 Wimbledon final for a good demonstration. Even in the latter portion of his career, he has shown the ability on rare occasions to snap out of his defensive mindset and deliver compelling aggression, as in his win over Nadal last year at Miami.

Tsonga is a very flamboyant and spectacular player, and while he locked in, he can look positively tremendous in every aspect of the game, but this style is unsustainable, and he tends to alternate between dominating performance and ugly, losing play which gifts opponents sets and matches.

Andy's coming back vs Nadal was awesome.Nadal was lost, did not know what to do.I still have it on tape and watch it every chance I have.

 

[Sid_Vicious]

I have never seen Arod hit a FH with the same amount of pace as Tsonga. Roddick hits more of a spinny forehand while Joe Willy can do pretty much anything on that side. Roddicks fh does very little damage on the tour today. That cant be said for Tsonga.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=f9qTIcn4PeE#t=139s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=f9qTIcn4PeE#t=203s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=LbvJZ6KmCy8#t=142s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vceGJOSH7uE#t=107s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gyqQanGABqw#t=211s

110 Mph in 2010. Even after the glory days he can crank it up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AcBI5pECkVU#t=288s

 

[djokovic2008]

Do you believe it? Have you watched the match or just listened to the commies?

I watched the match live and yes I believe that piece of commentary.

 

[adamX012]

OP, are you kidding me? Both players are soooo different though...

 

[djokovic2008]

OP, are you kidding me? Both players are soooo different though...

Different right now but when roddick was younger they had similar philosophy and game styles.

 

[kishnabe]

Funny Tsonga has a better h2h against Federer than Roddick!

 

[aceX]

Funny Tsonga has a better h2h against Federer than Roddick!

Tsonga has improved his backhand recently

 

[Deleted member 307496]

Tsonga has improved his backhand recently

What does that have to do with anything? Roddick would blast current Federer off the court if there were time capsules and prime Roddick could make a comeback on the tour today.

 

[Federer20042006]

I would take Roddick's backhand over Tsonga's. Roddick takes too much heat for his backhand. It wasn't a bad shot at all, and he hit more winners with it than most players. His problem was he couldn't move well enough, especially in his later years, and his return of serve was lousy.