French Davis Cup captain Guy Forget believes Australian Open sensation Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is a lethal mixture of game greats Boris Becker and Yannick Noah.
MELBOURNE: French Davis Cup captain Guy Forget believes Australian Open sensation Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is a lethal mixture of game greats Boris Becker and Yannick Noah.
Unseeded Tsonga is bidding to become the first French men's Grand Slam winner since Noah at Roland Garros 25 years ago after blasting his way into Sunday's Australian Open final.
In the stunning upset of the season-opening major 22-year-old Tsonga playing just his fifth Grand Slam hammered second seed Rafael Nadal in straight sets on Thursday for his fourth seeded scalp at the tournament.
Forget sat in Tsonga's player box courtside and said Friday on he couldn't help but think he was witnessing a combination of Becker and Noah in full flight.
He said the way the Grand Slam rookie dispatched the triple French Open champion in an awesome display of power and precision was reminiscent of the way an 18-year-old Becker took apart Sweden's Mats Wilander in the 1985 Davis Cup final.
"Becker killed Wilander in Davis Cup when Wilander was number two in the world," Forget said.
"And he (Tsonga) reminded me of Boris Becker at moments. He was serving very, very big and the way he was coming to the net, the way he was solid from from the baseline."
There are strong comparisons between Tsonga and Noah. Both are French of African descent and outstanding natural athletes.
Tsonga is the son of a former Congolese national handball star, while Noah's father was a former Cameroon football star and his mother an ex-captain of the French national women's basketball team.
Forget said the powerfully-built Tsonga may yet develop into a better player than crowd-pleaser Noah.
"He reminds me of Yannick Noah but bigger in size and the way he tries to get to the point at the net," Forget said.
"But his return is much bigger, his returns from the baseline are more powerful and he goes to the net less but, when he does, he can spring.
"He is so powerful that he can make some very difficult stretch volleys.
"He has the same kind of kick serve and it feels like he has the same connection with the crowd like Yannick had, and that is something from birth. It is in your blood." Should Tsonga join Noah as a major winner in Sunday's final, it will come in only his fifth slam.
When Becker won the first of his three Wimbledon crowns at 17 in 1985, the German was contesting his fourth major.
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