Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Rogers Cup Highlights 2014
Most tennis observers
were not completely surprised when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga emerged as the singles
champion at the Rogers Cup tennis championships
in Toronto
Many factors contributed
to his success. From his opening match against a fellow Frenchman, he clawed
his way through the competition. He eliminated Edouard Roger-Vasselin in
straight sets, a tie-breaker in the first, and 6-1 in the second. As a
thirteenth seed in the tournament, he realized that he would likely face the
best in the world to win. His second round match against Jeremy Chardy was also
a two set affair, and led to his match against the number one player in the
world, Novak Djokovic.
Naturally, Djokovic
is featured on the cover of the Rogers Cup
magazine, along with Roger Federer, Milos
Raonic, and Rafael Nadal. Nadal chose not to come to Toronto Canada ’s
greatest player ever, and had just won his first big tournament in Washington
Gael Monfils
Djokovic had disposed
of Gael Monfils in the second round, but with some difficulty. Monfils plays a
wild scrappy game, always entertaining. In his comments after the match,
Djokovic told me, “Monfils is an unpredictable opponent. At least when I will
play Tsonga in my next match, I will know what to expect.”
Djokovic, after the match.
He did know what to
expect, but Tsonga gave him more than he could handle, eliminating Djokovic
6-2, 6-2, in straight sets. Djokovic was asked about his preparation for the
match. “Well, I prepared for over two weeks. I played a lot of tennis on the
hard courts, and I arrived here early. Sometimes you can find a way to get out
of the trouble; sometimes you cannot. Today it wasn’t to be.” And he even
smiled, a little, when commenting upon the fact that he had won one, and lost
one match since his recent wedding. “Not bad, 50% of success,” he added.
Andy Murray entered
the quarter final the easy way, with a walkover from Richerd Gasquet who
retired with an abdominal strain. Tsonga won the first set, drilling a serve to
the outside line in the tie break. In the second set, Tsonga double faulted
when he was at 0-15, hit long to make it 0-40, and lost the set with a net
shot. At that point in the match, Murray
Federer moved through
the lower half of the draw to face Tsonga in the final. Federer’s play had
improved throughout the week, and the result almost seemed to be a foregone
conclusion; however, when Roger stroked a backhand shot into the net, Tsonga
realized that he has just won the Rogers Cup, and the $598 000 that goes with
the title. Not bad for a week’s work.
Tsonga became the
first player in 12 years to knock off four top ten players in a single Masters
1000 event. He will be a treat to watch next year.
James Hurst
Sportslices.blogspot.com
August 12, 2014
# posted by James Hurst @ 8:02 AM 
