Black Tennis Pros

It's been a dream ride for Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but he had to wake up at some point, and tonight's final was it. Tsonga was defeated by world no. 3 Serbian Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).

With his father Didier and mother Evenlyne looking endearingly on, Tsonga came out strong in the first set, won it, and looked as if he was ready to take this tournament on to the finish line. In sets two, three and four, Tsonga had bursts of that blazing speed and produced some of those amazing shots, but you could see that he was fatigued and a bit rattled by that incessant ball bouncing of Djokovic's. He complained to the umpire several times, but to no avail.

The electricity that preceded this final had a lot more voltage, and with good reason. Both of these young men have fought long and hard to reach this point and they have taken a lot of wear and tear. Djokovic took an injury timeout and received treatment. Regardless, they continued to put as much into this final as they had left to give, and it was worth seeing.

In accepting his trophy Tsonga apologized for his English and said "I am sorry for my English, I think I play better than my English." Tsonga also thanked Djokovic and said "for me it was a good moment." He ended speaking to the fans, and to a rousing applause, "and the last one is you, thank you very much. See you next year."

The Australian Open comes to an end and the dream run of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at this grand slam is over. At the same time, it is only the beginning of the 2008 tennis season, which means that we will be seeing a lot more of the magnificent Tsonga.