Unfulfilled Potential?

As the world of tennis get over the hangover of Wimbledon and readies for the Olympic Games in London and the US Open at Flushing Meadows in September, majority of the tennis fans have few questions in their minds.

And while some of these questions are very obvious, one that would need a good answer is whether Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga can actually break into the top 4 of men’s tennis, currently occupied by world number one Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Spaniard Rafael Nadal and Scotsman Andy Murray.

The very first time the world of tennis was witness to the outrageous talents of Tsonga was almost 4 years back when he stormed into the final of the Australian Open, losing to Novak Djokovic in four sets. And en route to the final, the youngster had overcome both Nadal and Murray.

With that in mind, many people were having online bets on Tsonga getting to the final again this year, but sadly it wasn’t to be.

Injuries have been a hindrance to the progress of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as he almost disappeared from the circuit after that Grand Slam, but since 2011, he has been playing better tennis and looks a lot fitter and healthier than he ever was.

He defeated Roger Federer in the quarter finals of Wimbledon in 2011, in one of the most thrilling live tennis matches of the tournament, and won two ATP Tour titles, but his world ranking of 6 is still a far cry from all the potential he has in him. If talent was the measurement for the ranking of a player, then David Ferrer wouldn’t have made it to the top 30 and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga would have been a regular fixture at the top 5, but it is not. And the youngster still needs to get things right in terms of his mental attributes if he really is serious about mounting a serious threat to the players above him and stake his claim for the biggest prizes that are available in men’s tennis.