Black Tennis Pros

Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated first-time finalist Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 7-6(5) in an all-French final at the SA Tennis Open on Sunday to win his third ATP World Tour title. Courtesy of winning the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Johannesburg, Tsonga collects 250 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points and $79,000.

World No. 14 Tsonga was contesting his fourth ATP World Tour final. The Le Mans native reached his first final at the 2008 Australian Open, where he lost out to No. 3 Novak Djokovic. However, he was able to avenge that defeat later in the season by defeating the Serbian to capture his first ATP World Tour title at Bangkok. One month later in November he won his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament in Paris (d. Nalbandian) to clinch his spot at Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai.

“Every time I play [ATP World Tour] finals now my level is going up and I play great, so it is good,” said Tsonga afterwards. “I think for the first edition it was just amazing,” added the Frenchman about the inaugural tournament. “Everything was fine, I have nothing negative to say. The court was perfect.”

The 23-year-old Tsonga, who raced to the Johannesburg title without the loss of a set, made a strong start to his 2009 ATP World Tour campaign by reaching three consecutive quarter-finals at Brisbane (l. to Gasquet), Sydney (withdrew due to back injury against Nieminen) and the Australian Open (l. to Verdasco). However, his South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings dropped from No. 7 to No. 14 after his 2008 Australian Open final points dropped off.

In the first all-French ATP World Tour final since Casablanca in May 2008, Tsonga was able to secure a one-set lead after breaking through in the 10th game to seal it 6-4. A fifth double fault from the right-hander gave Chardy a triple break-point chance at the start of the second set, however he was able to recover and hold for 1-0. Tsonga was presented with his first match point with Chardy serving at 4-5, but he failed to convert and the set went to a tie-break – which the older Frenchman won 7-5 after one hour and 48 minutes to improve to a 12-2 match record on the season. After his customary post-match celebration, Tsonga dropped to his hands and knees and kissed the court in jubilation.

“I think he played well today because it was really tough,” said Tsonga. “I played a great match, I served very well and I think his inexperience was evident at 5-4 in the first set when he missed some easy shots. But now he has some experience and I hope he’s going to do well next time.”

Tsonga, who saved all eight break points that he faced in the final, lost serve only twice in 48 service games in his five matches at the SA Tennis Open. He served 16 aces in Sunday’s championship match and lost only six points behind his first serve.

“I think it’s the best part of my game,” said the Frenchman. “I improved it a lot last year and now I’m really confident on important points.”

Photo by © SATO/Reg Caldecott

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Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga eased past Frederico Gil 6-3, 6-4 at the SA Tennis Open on Saturday to set up an all-French final at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament at the Montecasino in northern Johannesburg. Earlier, fifth seed Jeremy Chardy (pictured) had saved three match points as he defeated World No. 13 David Ferrer 1-6, 7-6(9), 7-6(4).

It is the first all-French final on the ATP World Tour since Gilles Simon defeated Julien Benneteau in the Casablanca final in May 2008. It will be the first meeting between Tsonga and Chardy.

World No. 14 Tsonga advanced to his fourth ATP World Tour final after breaking serve three times from four opportunities in his 64-minute victory over first-time semi-finalist Gil. The right-hander, who has yet to drop a set this week, reached his first ATP World Tour final at the 2008 Australian Open (l. to Djokovic) and later that year captured his first two ATP World Tour titles at Bangkok (d. Djokovic) and the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis event in Paris (d. Nalbandian).

Despite missing three months of the 2008 ATP World Tour season with a knee injury, the Le Mans native finished inside the Top 10 at No. 6 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings and qualified for Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai (now re-named the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to be held at London’s O2 Arena in November).

Baroness Thatcher and her daughter Carol in the Royal Box at The Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, London. Photo: PA

The daughter of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher has lost her job on the BBC One programme after making the comment backstage to presenter Adrian Chiles and guest Jo Brand.

She was discussing the Australian Open, in which Tsonga lost to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals.

Tsonga, 23, shot to international attention last year when, as an unseeded player, he reached the Australian Open final, beating Andy Murray along the way. He scored a stunning 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Rafael Nadal in the semi-final, eventually losing to Novak Djokovic.

Fans have long pointed out his resemblance to boxer Muhammad Ali. He was marked out as a promising talent when he won the US Open junior title in 2003, only for injury to put him out of the game for the next two years.

He is mixed race, born in Le Mans to a white French mother, Evelyne, and a black Congolese father, Didier. Sporting talent runs in the family - his father, who moved to France in the 1970s to study for a chemistry degree, was a handball international and his younger brother, Enzo, is a basketball player.

Asked in a recent interview if he had ever experienced racism in the tennis world, he replied: "I cannot say I have. However, I have seen on many occasions, especially in soccer, expressions of racism. At the end of the day, stupidity cannot be controlled. You can only hope to contain it."

Tsonga is known on the circuit as a polite, serious man devoted to his family. He has said of his upbringing: "From my mother I've inherited my coolness and my serenity. From my father I've inherited respect for the rules and respect for the people around me."

His second cousin is Charles N'Zogbia, the Premiership footballer recently embroiled in his own controversy over "offensive" remarks. He refused to play for his club, Newcastle United, after manager Joe Kinnear called him "Insomnia" during a television interview. He signed for Wigan Athletic on Monday.

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In an interview Blake said, "Monday's going to be a lot of fun. I did an exhibition with him last year, and we had a really good match. He's obviously one of the great champions we've ever had in the sport if not the greatest. It's a lot of fun being around someone like that, a great tennis mind. Someone who can still teach you plenty.

You know, it's not really pressure packed, we're just having fun. He still obviously has the game that he can compete, you know, for one match or two matches at a time. I think what's gotten him the most is he wasn't able to do the grind all year, playing three out of five sets every other day and playing match after match and getting on the practice court and putting in the time. But on a given day, he can put up a pretty good fight."