Sport

Djokovic wins first major title

PHOTO: AFP

MAKING HISTORY: Twenty-year-old Novak Djokovic (right) became the first Serb to win a Grand Slam when he triumphed over unseeded 22-year-old Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final of the Australian Open at Melbourne on Sunday. Djokovic won the thrilling slugfest 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6.

Melbourne: Drawing from seemingly inexhaustible reserves of willpower, Novak Djokovic tamed a raging typhoon called Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(2) in an absorbing thrill-a-minute men’s singles final of the Australian Open championship on Sunday.

Djokovic, seeded three, is the first ever Serbian to win a Grand Slam title and, at age 20, the youngest male champion to lay his hands on the silverware that matters at Melbourne Park.

In a match that lasted six minutes over three hours, Djokovic displayed superb tactical nous and his greater experience in the climactic phase of a Grand Slam event certainly helped him through tight situations.

Tsonga, world ranked 38 and playing in the second week of a Grand Slam event for the first time in his career, put on a remarkably nerveless display of attacking tennis but, in the end, the Frenchman’s relative lack of experience on the big stage made a huge difference.“If he [Tsonga] had won tonight, he would have absolutely deserved it,” said Djokovic after receiving the trophy. We are a small country. This is a great achievement for us,” he said.

Like high rollers in a Las Vegas casino, the players were unafraid to take risks and went for low percentage shots that stole your breath when they came off but cost them dearly when they did not.

This was particularly true of Tsonga who, after a tremulous start where he lost his opening service game, went after his Serbian opponent not so much like great master of the sweet science — Muhammad Ali — but like Jake La Motta raging against the dying of the light in his twilight years.

After breaking back in the fourth game with a crosscourt backhand that brought his supporters — including mother Evelyne and father Didier who flew in this morning to witness the final to their feet, Tsonga was very much on song.

With Djokovic serving to stay in the first set in the 10th game, the 22-year old Frenchman conjured a pair of winners that Roger Federer would not have minded claiming authorship for — a forehand pass that was a riposte to a Djokovic overhead followed by a magically hewn lob.

For a while the third best player in the world — a man who had not lost a set in six matches going into the final and one who mastered the world champion in straight sets in the semifinals — looked shell-shocked.

But then, Djokovic quickly regrouped, broke to 4-3 in the second set, closed it out without fuss and found an early opening in the third, a set in which Tsonga fought off six setpoints in the ninth game before surrendering.

In the fourth set, after Djokovic had called in a trainer early to attend to a hamstring problem, it was Tsonga who looked the stronger and the more determined of the two as the Serb seemed to be tiring.

What is more, in the 11th game, on Djokovic’s serve, Tsonga had a setpoint.

When the big question was asked of him, the Serb answered it like a champion — a drop followed by a spectacular crosscourt volley. Perhaps that took the wind out of the Frenchman’s sail and Tsonga was outplayed in the tie-break.

— Photo: AP

THAT HEADY FEELING! Novak Djokovic exults after winning the men’s singles final.

In a wonderfully entertaining contest, Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia and Tiantian Sun of China edged India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza 7-6(4), 6-4 in the mixed doubles final. Sania was not even sure if she would make it to the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday. Struggling with a hamstring injury — an MRI examination revealed a 5cm tear — in her right leg, Asia’s highest ranked player finally decided to play only because it was a Grand Slam final.

Hobbled as she was, Sania still managed to compete with tremendous commitment even as Bhupathi did the best he could to cover for his partner.

“Only last night we decided to give it a shot. We needed a bit of luck today,” said Bhupathi. “It was just a few points here and there. Our goal is to win one of the majors this year.”

Sun, on the other hand, was shining right through and her Serbian partner used his big serve very well. The pair combined superbly to stay marginally ahead most of the time in the contest.

Seeded five, Zimonjic and Sun began confidently as they broke Sania’s serve in the fourth game but the Indian struck back on Sun’s serve in the seventh and the set inevitably went into a tie-break.

It was here that the Indians had their best chance of taking control of the match as the opened up a 3-0 lead. But Zimonjic and Sun won the next six points, four of them on serve and two on Sania’s serves. Soon, the set was theirs.

In the second, Zimonjic and Sun broke Bhupathi’s serve to get ahead early. Then, in the ninth game, the Indians fought off three championship points on Bhupathi’s serve before Zimonjic served out the match on the fifth championship point.

Sania said that while she was not going to pull out of the Federation Cup tournament in Bangkok, she was still keeping her fingers crossed about playing.

“I am flying to Bangkok tonight. I will have to wait and see,” she said.

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