Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulled his head out of the loop again against youngster Denis Shapovalov. Now comes the duel with local favorite Nick Kyrgios.
Ivo Karlovic’s post of senior president in men’s tennis is firmly in the hands of Ivo Karlovic, so it’s a good thing that the Croatian has celebrated his second-round match against Yuichi Sugita for more than four and a half hours to finally go with a never-at-risk 12:10 in the fifth set of Court 8. Dr. Ivo should not be written off, even if Andreas Seppi can look forward to the Friday’s match against Karlovic with a little bit of calmness. The South Tyrolean player lost to Kohlschreiber midfielder Yoshihito Nishioka in his three-set win against Kohlschreiber’s opponent Yoshihito Nishioka, leaving much less power than his 38-year-old opponent.
So Karlovic is twice as old as Denis Shapovalov (and twice as successful in Melbourne). The Canadian could have managed a rare double, namely two victories against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in two consecutive Grand Slam tournaments. It would not have been as smooth as in New York, where Shapovalov had won in three sets. But at 5:3 in the fifth set, the odds on a comeback of Tsongas were probably very high, the Frenchman did not seem to be able to come back again. Of course, Tsonga won the last four games of the match.
Ten years ago Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took the tennis world literally by storm. At the Australian Open, the meanwhile 32-year-old had registered a second home in the small field, followed by almost every ball in the semi-final against Rafael Nadal. That the final against Novak Djokovic went into the rush: given away. No less than the renaissance of the French Grand Slam successes was to be expected at that time, and since 1983 the fans of the L? Équipe Tricolore have been waiting for a successor to Yannick Noah. Amazingly enough, to this day.
Tsonga was never again as offensive as they were against Nadal, never again so close to a major victory. There is no doubt that this will not be easy in 2018. Tsonga only shone on a small stage last year, became a father and was unable to take advantage of the absence of some top talent.
In Vienna, for example, Tsonga fought his way into the final, but on the last scoring table. against Lucas Pouille. Tsonga seemed tired, uninspired.
If the match against Shapovalov showed one thing: the inspiration is back. And Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is fit. The fans are happy to see Nick Kyrgios at the tournament, but one of the few charismatic performers will lose the tournament already in week one.
One thing is clear: nobody ages better than Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. If he so wishes, the 32-year-old Swiss resident has a great film career ahead of him. Morgan Freeman can’t go on forever after all. Neither does Ivo Karlovic. The position of the seniors president would be something for Tsonga. Maybe honorary. It seems unlikely that Davis Cup winner last autumn will be the oldest player on the tour at some point.