Jo-Wilfried Tsonga awful season vs Top-10’s.

– Throughout the course of the years, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has been regarded as one of the most dangerous players for the Top-5 out there, among with Soderling, Berdych or Nalbandian & Davydenko on their prime, but he was also tagged as a player who could lose to nearly anyone on a bad day. But this changed radically this season, as he has been awful vs Top-10 players all year long ( a record of 1/15!) , but his consistency vs lesser players has made him stay in the Top-10 ( he has only been defeated 10 times by a non Top-10 player). Now we’ll some stastics from him vs Top-10’s.

Overall record by season vs Top-10’s:

2012: 1/15 [ 6,25%].
2011: 10/13 [ 43,47%].
2010: 1/5 [ 16,66%].
2009: 5/5 [ 50%].
2008: 8/5 [ 61,53%]
2007: 0/3 [ 0%].
Previously to 2007: 1/1 [ 50%].

Overall record: 26/47 [ 35,61%].

Losses not to Top-10 players this season:

1- #26 Nishikori- Australian Open R4.
2- #74 Nalbandian- Indian Wells R4.
3- #11 Isner- Davis Cup QF’s.
4- #15 Simon- Monte-Carlo QF.
5- #134 Haas- Munich R2.
6- #20 Dolgopolov- Madrid R3.
7- #69 Dodig- Queens R3.
8- #47 Chardy- Toronto R2.
9- #52 Klizan- US Open R2.
10- #58 Malisse- Valencia R1.

Losses not to Top-10 players on his Top-20 seasons:

2011: 11.
2010: 11 ( though he missed half of the season).
2009: 15.
2008: 8 ( missed again half of the season).

Top-10 players he has lost this year to:

1. Djokovic- 5 times ( Masters Cup RR, Beijing F, Olympics QF, Roland Garros QF & Rome QF).
2- Berdych- 3 times ( Masters Cup RR, Stockholm F & Shangai QF).
3- Del Potro- 2 times ( Dubai QF & Marseille SF).
4- Murray- 2 times ( Masters Cup RR & Wimbledon SF).
5- Ferrer- 1 time ( Paris QF).
6- Nadal- 1 time ( Miami QF).
7- Isner- 1 time ( Winstom Salem SF).

Took two sets off Djokovic in RG ( even had two MP’s), a set off Berdych in Stockholm, a set off Murray in Wimbledon SF, a set off Nadal in Miami & a set off Isner in Winston Salem.

Also, he had the same wins on tour this year as in 2011, 55.

Let’s see how he fares vs Top-10 players on 2013, he has got a coach after nearly two years without one ( he hired Roger Rasheed, former coach of Hewitt & Monfils), I think we all wish the frenchman gets back to his best level, in which he was a real trouble for the Top-4’s.

Toronto: The Master of Opportunities

– Toronto seemed already like a very open Masters-1000 with the withdrawals of Federer, Nadal ( sidelined with knee injury since Wimbledon R2), Ferrer, Almagro, Verdasco, Roddick.., and with the early results of the tournament ( Tsonga, Del Potro, Simon and Nishikori were out early) the draw became very weak, and it got even worse when Murray withdrew before playing his R3 match vs Milos Raonic, seeded for the first time on a Masters 1000.

Del Potro vs Federer: An Atypical Rivalry

– After their epic match at Olympic SF this week ( 19:17 for Roger in the 3rd after more than 4 hours), we can say that the rivalry between the pair is, at least interesting. Even though Federer leads easily the head to head by 13-2 the Tandil native usually makes Roger work hard. The Swiss has been preventing Juan Martin from getting better this year, as he has won 6 times vs him, all the clashes coming on the latest stages of the bigger tournaments ( Australia, Rotterdam, Dubai, Indian Wells, Roland Garros and now the Olympics).

One Sided Rivalries on Active Tennis [ Part 2]

– We will continue to analyse one sided rivalries between active players. We started with Ferrer-Federer, Roddick-Federer and Troicki-Djokovic. We’ll continue with three more one sided rivalries on active tennis:

Mikhail Youzhny: Finally a QF in Wimbledon!

Prepare yourself Roger- The Colonel is coming

– For the first time in his career Mikhail Youzhny will be playing the quarterfinals of Wimbledon after beating Uzbek Denis Istomin in 5 sets.

Big John slumping

– Suddenly everything seemed perfect for Isner after Davis Cup in MC: he was American #1, he had carried USA to Davis Cup SF winning in clay over Switzerland and France, he had broken into Top-10, and he had proven he could beat top players ( Djokovic @ Indian Wells & Federer @ Davis Cup).

Stanislas Wawrinka Head to Head vs Top-3 players

– Stanislas Wawrinka is considered a very talented player ( decent serve, spectacular backhand and very solid forehand, apart from having decent volleys and movement, especially on clay). The only thing that keeps Stan off Top-10 is his mentality, and results vs Top-3 players, whom against he always has chances but never capitalizes. We will see his H2H vs current Top-3 players: