Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will bring ‘wow’ factor to Mubadala tennis in Abu Dhabi

UAE fans will be on the edge of their seats if the Frenchman is on his game this week, writes Ahmed Rizvi.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is expected to bring some magic to the tennis courts of Abu Dhabi when he comes to play in the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. Antonie Robertson / The National

As the year draws to a close, pundits and fans have been busy drawing up lists of their favourite hotshots of 2015.

The usual suspects abound, but there is one shot, without any disrespect to the others, that just makes you go WOW!

You are forced to click on the replay, for it just comes out of the blue, out of nowhere. But if you have followed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s career, you know he is anything but predictable.

Drubbed 6-0 in the second set of their Shanghai Masters by Rafael Nadal after winning the first 6-4, the Frenchman, serving at 6-5, 30-all in the third, put his life and limb on the line with a stunning diving volley to set up match point and reach the fourth Masters final of his career.

Tsonga was in the air, dropping after a brief flight with his right elbow inches away from crashing into the ground, when, arms desperately outstretched, he managed to put the ball across the net. And then he got up quickly to finish the point with his next shot.

The look on Nadal’s face was priceless. Incredulous, he almost seemed a bit disgusted by the audacity of his opponent as well.

Now, there were plenty of “tweeners” – between-the-legs shots – on display in 2015, but this was different.

Tweeners are great to watch, but this was spectacular, a lot like the bouncer in cricket – whizzing past the startled batsman and thudding into the wicketkeeper’s glove. You can hear the gasps in the stands.

Spin is magical, yes, and spinners do boast bagful of bewitching tricks. But brute pace keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Remember Australia paceman Mitchell Johnson? Or Wahab Riaz’s spell for Pakistan against Australia at the 2015 Cricket World Cup?

Tsonga, 30, is capable of providing similar edge-of-the-seat entertainment on the tennis court.

Nicknamed Muhammad Ali for his resemblance to the boxer in his youth, he is one of the most exciting athletes in the sport with talent that can make even the Big Four, let alone lesser mortals, feel inadequate.

Also from the Mubadala World Tennis Championship

When he is on, his untrammelled power and nonchalance leaves you in awe. The problem is, on many days, when his mental gremlins and self-doubts creep out, Tsonga can look absolutely ordinary as well.

Injuries, of course, have not helped his cause and his professional career, which started in 2004, almost ended before it had begun with a series of issues – a herniated disc, two consecutive shoulder injuries, and abdominal troubles – in 2005.

Less than three years later, however, Tsonga, world No 38 at the time, was in the final of the Australian Open, defeating Andy Murray, Sam Warburg, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Richard Gasquet, Mikhail Youzhny and Rafael Nadal along the way before becoming the only man to take a set off Novak Djokovic that fortnight at Melbourne.

Since then, the world has been buzzing about his talent. Or rather, discussing his potential because, sadly, Tsonga has not made it to another major final. Djokovic, in that same period, has played 16 major finals and won nine.

“Basically, there is always a war within me,” Tsonga told French sports newspaper L’Equipe once. “To be No 10 in the world, for me, is not good. I do not tell myself, ‘It’s fine, continue to work, one day you’ll get there’. No, what I hear from myself is that I am a wasted talent.”

Wasted talent perhaps, but fans around the globe still keep hoping and praying to see the real Tsonga on court, the one who beat four top-10 players – including Djokovic, Murray and Roger Federer – to win the 2014 Toronto Masters.

His fans at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship here in Abu Dhabi will be hoping for the same, too. It is long due, for Tsonga has only one win from five matches in the Capital.

But this time, the Frenchman is keen to “get the new season off to a good start in Abu Dhabi and show the fans that I appreciate their support”.

The trip to the Zayed Sports City’s International Tennis Centre this week, then, could be worth it for the mercurial Frenchman alone.

For that one, possible ‘WOW!’ moment.

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