Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has provided the first French victory at the Paris Masters event in seven years.
The 23-year-old from Le Mans, who burst onto the world stage in January by reaching the Australian Open final, defeated defending champion David Nalbandian, from Argentina, 6-3 4-6 6-4 on the back of an outstanding service game that produced 25 aces.
The win ensured Tsonga grabbed the last of the eight slots for the season-closing Masters Cup and left Nalbandian to concentrate on the Davis Cup final against Spain in Mar del Plata.
“This comes at the end of a season that has been so full of good things for me and the cherry on the cake is that I am going to Shanghai instead of just watching it on the television,” he said.
Tsonga reached the final by defeating three top tenners in Novak Djokovic, to whom he lost in the Australian Open final, Andy Roddick, in a three-set thriller, and James Blake in a semi-final blow out.
Raphael Nadal has pulled out of the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai on Monday, citing fatigue after a long season and the need to prepare for the Davis Cup final.
It is good to see that Nadal is putting more emphasis on the Davis Cup final, especially considering he has already clinched the season ending world number one spot.
The world’s top-ranked player made the announcement on his Web site, describing his withdrawal as “one of the most difficult decisions in my career.”
2008 has been a great year for Nadal, winning two Grand Slam titles and an Olympic Gold Medal.
“It has been a long and difficult year where I managed to obtain great results, both on a professional and on a personal level,” he said. “I have mentioned on various occasions that the tennis calendar has been extremely hard with practically all weeks playing and where it forces players to compete week in, week out, making it impossible for a top level player to be 100 percent” for each event.
“On a personal level I had as one of my goals to become No. 1 during this year and competing at so many events might have harmed, especially at the end of the season, my physical condition, taking away the freshness needed to play at the top level of the game in these last events,” Nadal said.
