Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's true "arrival on the scene" is happening right now at the 2008 Australian Open. In fact, it already has happened. Tsonga may beat Novak Djokovic and win the Australian Open title, but by already beating Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet, Mikhail Youzhny and Rafael Nadal so convincingly, Tsonga has shown how brilliant his best tennis can be on a given day... or days... As Nadal said after losing to Tsonga, he is playing without pressure. True and not true... there is plenty of internal pressure that a player as talented as Tsonga feels when he has had so many injuries and not yet fulfilled the expectations that he and others have for him. In addition, there is always the pressure of "the opportunity", i.e. he is playing Djokovic and not Federer in the final so they are both playing for their first Grand Slam title. For Tsonga, a win would also be his first ATP tournament
title as well... wouldn't be a bad way to start a trophy collection! Even more important than whether Tsonga wins the Australian Open final against Djokovic, will be how well Tsonga follows up this impressive performance for the rest of the year. Will he reach the later rounds in the other Grand Slams? Can he stay healthy? Can he deal with the new pressure of being expected to beat lower-ranked players? Clearly, Tsonga has the talent and tennis game to be a champion and now the only question remaining is whether he can manage to achieve his potential.
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