17 years ago, Tsonga crushed Nadal in the Australian Open semi-finals

Jules Hypolite

le 24/01/2025 à 21h51

2 min to read

Nadal Open d'Australie Tsonga

On this January 24, 2008, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Rafael Nadal meet in their first career semi-final in Melbourne.

Nadal, who had already won three French Open titles and was the world's No.2 player at the time, was the favorite going into this encounter, especially after the two men had met for the first time at the 2007 US Open, where he had won in three sets.

But Tsonga, ranked 38th in the world, arrives in fine form, having beaten the likes of Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny.

Unknown to the general public, the Manceau is set to reveal his talent on January 24, by dominating a Rafael Nadal disillusioned by his opponent's level of play.

Tsonga, never overtaken by the stakes in this match, gave the Majorcan no chance: 47 winners to just 25 unforced errors, 18 aces, 85% of points won behind his first serve and an insolent success at the net.

Nadal, for his part, was limited to just 12 winning shots throughout the match.

The result? A scathing 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 win in less than two hours. At the time, he was reaching his first (and only) Grand Slam final at the age of 22.

After the match, he said: "I feel like I couldn't miss out. The most incredible thing is to play a match of this quality at a time like this. I wasn't expecting that."

Beaten by Novak Djokovic (4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6), who went on to win his very first Grand Slam title, Tsonga went on to make a name for himself during this crazy 2008 epic, before establishing himself as one of the best French players of the last decade.