It would not be hyperbole to label this semi-final as one of the most entertaining witnessed on Centre Court.
How often do you see a player turn to the Royal Box in selfcongratulation? How often does the semi-final victor fall to the turf in exhausted relief and then kiss the grass as if about to be proclaimed the new Wimbledon champion?
All the more curious then that the outcome was, after Novak Djokovic secured the first set, not really in doubt. This was memorable fare because almost every point stretched both players to their limit. That it was the Serb who kept having the last laugh is testament to his phenomenal fitness and concentration levels. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said he could have beaten anyone yesterday — except the “unbelievable” Djokovic.
He will become the world No 1 on Monday with his 7-6, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 victory over the Frenchman. It was a ruthless display in which his athleticism was tested by an opponent who, like Djokovic, has undergone a recent personal transformation.
The Serb embarked on a 43-match winning streak that ended at the semi-final stage of the French Open when he was defeated by Roger Federer. Djokovic was tantalisingly close to the record of 46 consecutive wins held by Guillermo Vilas but insisted that the end of his run was no bad thing, that it would give him time to rest and that he might need to do so was confirmed when he pulled out of Queen’s citing fatigue.
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That decision was a masterstroke. Djokovic had to be at his most alert, agile and relentless yesterday. And yet it all began so unpromisingly for the 24-year-old, with Tsonga emerging into the Centre Court sunlight as if he had been crowned, that very morning, the best grass-court player of all time. In the sixth game of the opening set there was an exchange that has to rank as the most fun-filled and delightful of these championships.
Both slipped, skidded and stretched with deadly accuracy, Tsonga emerging the victor to rapturous applause. He responded by turning to the Royal Box, holding out his arms in the style of Wayne Rooney after his scissor-kick goal at Old Trafford last season.
“I don’t remember everything,” Tsonga said when asked to pick his best shot of the match. In truth, there were too many to relate and he should, as he intimated he might, watch the DVD of the tie. Tsonga decided to split with Éric Winogradsky, his coach, in April and to take a more intuitive approach to his training, putting in the hours when he feels like it, resting when it suits him, leaving decisions to the morning they are needed rather than following a timetable.
By contrast, Djokovic has been taking his game more seriously. He has become more controlled and intense and less likely to wear his heart on his sleeve during a match.
Tsonga was undone in part by his decision-making, approaching the net on occasions when it was unsafe to do so and failing to punish his opponent’s second serve. Few watching wanted him to become more conservative, however; it was simply wonderful entertainment just as it was — even if the No 12 seed seemed doomed to heroic failure.
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Djokovic’s relentless ability to cover the court and hold his nerve was at the crux of his win. The Serb could have wrapped the tie up sooner when the incredibly tense third-set tie-break swerved from offering a match point to set point and back again, but Tsonga held firm much to the crowd’s delight. They had fallen for Tsonga the showman.
“I don’t have any problem with the crowds,” Tsonga said, “If you give to them, they give to you.” Even when 5-2 down in the fourth set and serving to stay in the match, the man who knocked out Federer in the previous round kept on giving. His lob under pressure kept the tie alive, briefly, and was an appropriate sign-off for a new Centre Court hero, albeit a gallant loser. At the net the two men embraced in acknowledgement of their respective efforts.
Djokovic’s camp went into an immediate huddle and jumped in unison with delight as their man at last let his emotions out. Djokovic is the new, improved, serious Serb, a hard man to beat. He has already worked out how to triumph in a grand-slam tournament, having won the Australian Open twice, but Wimbledon is the one he dreamt about when he was 4 years old.
“It’s the tournament I watched first,” he said. “I remember always Wimbledon being ‘the one’. And now he is soon to be No 1, and looking rather well placed to win it.