Jo-Wilfried Tsonga might have lost the Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic, but he has taken giant strides over the past fortnight and said Sunday he was a proud man.
MELBOURNE: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga might have lost the Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic, but he has taken giant strides over the past fortnight and said Sunday he was a proud man.
The unseeded Frenchman went down in four sets but his ranking will climb to 18 from 38 courtesy of his giantkilling run in Melbourne where he claimed four seeded scalps.
"I'm very proud of myself. I'm also happy for Novak, because he played unbelievable today. I don't know if I have to be sad or happy of this final, but I feel great," said the 22-year-old.
He said he wasn't unsettled by big-match nerves but rather it was Djokovic's game that made the difference.
"I was okay. Like every day, very relaxed," he said.
"When you have a match, you have one player and one opponent, and you don't know who's going to win. At the end, all the time you have a winner. So today was Novak."
"But it was just unbelievable out there. A lot of noise, I had goosebumps, It was crazy."
Despite his best efforts, Tsonga was unable to take his chance to become the first French winner in Australia since Jean Borotra in 1928 and the first men's Grand Slam champion from France since Yannick Noah in 1983.
Nevertheless, the Le Mans-native has been propelled into the spotlight with his unbelievable spell in Melbourne and said he hoped to continue his form through the year.
"Not everybody can beat players who I beat. So I know Richard (Gasquet) or (Mikhail) Youzhny or Rafael (Nadal), they are very good players. And to beat them, it's very difficult, and I did it, so I'm confident now."
While accepting Djokovic was the better player on the night, he also criticised the Serb for the amount of time he took bouncing balls between serves, which Tsonga said was offputting.
"Sometimes when you have to return, you are like ready. When your opponent takes a lot of time, you are like this (back and forth)," he said.
"It's very difficult. Between points you have like 25 seconds for play. When it's 40 seconds, the umpire has to say something."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}