Wimbledon Tip: Tsonga V Djokovic

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga caused the shock of the tournament when he dumped out six-times champion Roger Federer having been two sets down. Can he cause another sensation in Friday’s semi-final? Not surprisingly, having backed Djokovic from day one, I’m not going to lose faith in my man at this late stage. The psychological impact of winning a career-defining match as Tsonga did on Wednesday cannot be underestimated. He will be full of confidence, but the draining effect on his energy levels may be more detrimental. If we look at the women’s competition it’s easy to see how one massive win over a superstar doesn’t always lead to further progress. Tsvetana Pironkova destroyed Venus Williams in round four but was found wanting against Petra Kvitova. Marion Bartoli got the better of defending champion Serena Williams but swiftly lost to wildcard Sabine Lisicki straight after that.

Both those ladies lost to so-called lesser lights after beating a Williams sister. For Tsonga the task is even greater because, and let’s be emphatic about this, Djokovic is a better player than Roger Federer in 2011. The Serbian’s career is on a sharp incline while the Swiss star is struggling to live up to former glories. ‘The Joker’ has won 46 out of 47 matches this calender year; he is all set to officially become the world’s number one player in the rankings. He has never gone beyond the semi-final stage at Wimbledon and there’s a sense that this is his time. The defeat of Federer may have been a massive boon for Tsonga, but make no mistake, Djokovic will have been lifted to see the favourite shunted out of his way too.

The Australian Open champion showed the resolve that has characterised his game this year when he saw off the considerable threat of Bernard Tomic in his quarter-final. There was a time when he might have panicked, feeling that a game he should win was slipping away. Not these days. Tsonga is likely to have periods in the match when his serve is untouchable but the Serbian can cope with that now. He has a winner’s mentality and at odds of 16/5 with sportingbet, a three sets to one victory for Djokovic looks about right.