Novak Djokovic Wins Australian open 2008 Final
Novak Djokovic has carved his name into tennis folklore with a watershed victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in an enthralling Australian Open final at Melbourne Park.
Djokovic repelled Tsonga's early challenge to prevail 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-2) in three hours and six minutes and become the first-ever Serbian to hoist a grand slam singles trophy.
In doing so, Djokovic also delivered on his year-long promise to end Roger Federer's and Rafael Nadal's 12-slam dominance of the sport's four annual majors and stamp himself as a likely future world No.1.
"
I'm so proud," Djokovic said.
"First of all, before I thank everybody in this world, I would like to thank everybody in my box who supported me all the way through, not just these two weeks, all the way in my life.
"Thank you very much. I love you.
"Secondly, Jo, unbelievable tournament and you should be proud of yourself. (He had) fantastic results and, if he won, it would be absolutely deserved."
Having clubbed Nadal into submission to reach the final, the unseeded Tsonga had been bidding to become the first Frenchman in a quarter of a century to experience grand slam glory - and the second-lowest-ranked Open champion in history.
Alas, the 22-year-old Muhammad Ali-lookalike - contesting only his fifth slam after a career ravaged by injury - was unable to repeat his semi-final heroics, finally hitting the canvas after a succession of improbable conquests over far more-fancied opponents.
Not that he failed to put up a fight.
In the first major final not featuring either Federer or Nadal since Marat Safin overcame Australia's own "Rocky" Lleyton Hewitt in the Open's 2005 title match in Melbourne, Djokovic had to withstand a fierce early barrage from the big-bitting Tsonga.
Two-time Open champion Jim Courier had described the opening stages of the grand slam decider as an "extra terrestrial, out-of-body experience" and it must have seemed that way for the two nervy combatants as they traded service breaks in the first two games of the match.
But it was Tsonga - a virtual ATP tour novice without a solitary title under his belt - who landed the first real body blow, snatching the opening set with an audacious, loopy forehand pass.
His Congolese-born father Didier had been ringside for boxing's famous Rumble in the Jungle between Ali and George Foreman in Zaire back in 1974 and looked to be reliving the experience courtside at Rod Laver Arena as he pumped his fist in jubilation when Tsonga junior seized the early initiative.
In stark contrast, Djokovic's father Srdjan was ordering Open officials to remove nearby French fans from the venue for apparent over-zealousness as his son's shoulders began to slump.
Djokovic squandered seven set points in succumbing to Federer in the US Open final last September and his temperament under pressure had been the one big question mark next to the 20-year-old's name heading into Sunday night's showdown.
But the third seed emphatically answered the challenge, digging in to break Tsonga in the seventh game of the second set for a 4-3 lead before acing the Frenchman to level up the match.
When Tsonga pulled a forehand wide to hand Djokovic another break in the third game of the third set, momentum was clearly with the Serb.
Tsonga gallantly fended off a further seven break points serving at 3-5 before finally dumping a forehand volley into the bottom of the net to have Djokovic skipping to the changeover with a two-sets-to-one advantage.
Staring defeat in the face, Tsonga refused to surrender in a tension-filled fourth but was left to rue a massive missed opportunity to break a briefly-rattled Djokovic at 5-5.
Djokovic appeared to be tightening up when he pleaded with Portuguese chair umpire Carlos Ramos to quieten the mostly pro-Tsonga crowd when serving at 30-40, but the Serb gambled and guessed right to cut off an attempted pass to escape peril.
Tsonga was unable to recover from his near miss and Djokovic ran away with the tiebreaker, triumphing when his opponent fired a forehand wide on the first match point.
Djokovic was rewarded for his grand slam breakthrough with a monster cheque for $1,370,000, while Tsonga was left to console himself with a $600,000 pay day - more than doubling his career prize money - as well as a dramatically improved ranking of No.18 in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment