Tsonga: The new king of France

Only time will decide how Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's efforts will be remembered in future years, but it was hard yesterday not to conclude that the 15,000 crowd in Rod Laver Arena had witnessed one of the great displays in tennis history. The 22-year-old Frenchman had already announced his arrival as a major player by beating Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny in earlier rounds, but his extraordinary 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 semi-final victory here over Rafael Nadal was on a different level.

Nadal, the world No 2, was swept off the court by an awesome show of power, athleticism, touch and self-belief. The Spaniard is the game's most resilient player, a fighter who repeatedly comes off the ropes to land winning punches, but he was knocked out by Tsonga's dazzling array of winning shots as the 14-stone Frenchman lived up to his billing as a Muhammad Ali lookalike. It equalled Nadal's heaviest defeat in a Grand Slam tournament, against Andy Roddick at the US Open four years ago, when he was a raw 18-year-old.

Tsonga, whose performance made a mockery of his No 38 world ranking, served 17 aces at speeds of up to 221km per hour (26km per hour faster than Nadal), hit 49 winners (to Nadal's 13), converted five of his seven break points (Nadal converted none out of three) and won the point on 30 of the 40 occasions he ventured to the net.

If the French No 5 – the rankings, incredibly, say he has four countrymen better than him – can maintain his form on Sunday against the winner of today's second semi-final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, we may well be looking at the first Grand Slam champion other than Federer or Nadal since Marat Safin won the title here three years ago.

Attacking from the very first game, Tsonga kept Nadal on the back foot, forcing him ever deeper with the sheer weight of his shots. His forehand in particular, struck with enormous power, was a formidable weapon, while his touch at the net was a delight. Nadal repeatedly tried to pass the Frenchman, who would leave his opponent stranded with exquisitely timed stop volleys. On the rare occasions when Nadal took the upper hand, he had great difficulty finishing off the points as the wonderfully athletic Tsonga chased down his best efforts and responded with crashing passing shots of his own.

"He played unbelievably," a bemused Nadal said afterwards. "He hit the ball very hard every time and served unbelievably. He didn't miss one backhand and every time he hit a forehand it was a winner. I was in a good rhythm and playing fine, but he was just better than me. It was very difficult to stop a guy playing at that kind of level.

"I tried to slow the game down a bit, I tried to play a bit faster, I tried to play more inside the court and I tried to play behind the court. But no chance. Not today."

With its place so early in the tennis calendar, the Australian Open has a history of throwing up unlikely heroes. Since the turn of the century Safin (world No 86), Marcos Baghdatis (No 54), Rainer Schüttler (No 36) and Arnaud Clément (No 18) have all reached the final, while Thomas Johansson (No 18) went one better by winning the title six years ago.

The emergence of Tsonga, however, outdoes all those achievements. He has never reached a singles final on the main tour, let alone won a title, and was world No 212 only a year ago. After showing some early promise – he was world junior No 2 and won the US Open boys' title in 2003 – his career had stalled after serious

injuries to his back, shoulders and knees.

"As soon as I arrived in Australia this year I thought something special might happen," Tsonga said. "I said to myself: 'This is the first time I've arrived here without some sort of injury. Maybe that's a sign.'

"Everything tonight was perfect. My backhand worked a lot, my serve, my forehand, my volley, my drop shots, everything. I was moving on the court like I never have before. It's ridiculous, because I think it's the first time I've played this level and it's here in a semi-final of the Australian Open.

"I don't know how to explain it. Maybe the difference is the fact that I've never been able to practise like this over the winter before. I knew that I could play unbelievable tennis, but my body was not ready for that until now."

Tsonga went for broke from the start, charging into the net behind his thunderous approach shots. A lovely volley earned the first break at 2-0 and the first set was secured after 32 minutes when he broke to love with a forehand winner down the line. The second set was closer, but at 4-3 Tsonga made the break, finishing off the game with a smash after pounding Nadal with two huge ground strokes.

Nadal was broken again in the third and seventh games of the third set, which Tsonga finished off in emphatic fashion. A crunching forehand behind a big serve created set point, which was converted with an ace. The Frenchman, whose contagious smile has endeared him to the crowd here, approached the net meekly, apparently unsure how to react, but after shaking hands with Nadal he danced around the court in sheer joy.

Tsonga has been speaking on the phone to his parents, brother and sister every evening. "They've been watching all my matches on television," he said. "I've been getting great text messages from them. Things like: 'You're making us weep with joy.' My brother said: 'Go all the way – you can win this tournament'."

The family home is in Le Mans. Tsonga's father, Didier, who was born in Congo, came to live in the Sarthé department while studying for a chemistry degree in the late 1970s. He met his future wife, Evelyne, and Jo-Wilfried was born in 1985. They are a sporting family. Didier, who is now a science teacher, was a handball international, while Enzo, Jo-Wilfried's 17-year-old brother, is a basketball player. Charles N'Zogbia, the Newcastle United midfielder, is a second cousin.

"From my mother I've inherited my coolness and my serenity," Tsonga said. "From my father I've inherited respect for the rules and respect for the people around me. I also thank him for the physical qualities that I've inherited from him.

"I actually thank my father for my serve. It's the one shot that comes totally naturally to me. Of course I've worked on it, but I often say to my coach that I could go for four days without serving and I'd pick it up again straight away on the fifth. At home there's an amazing photograph of me when I was only one. I was having my picture taken and the photographer gave me a ball. Straight away I threw the ball up in the air and raised my other arm as if to serve. And I was only one year old!"

Didier took his son to play on the local tennis courts when he was eight and his ability was soon evident. At 13 he joined a tennis academy in Poitiers and in 1999 he became national champion in his age group. Since 2002 he has been based at the French federation's academy at Roland Garros, where he is coached by Eric Winogradsky. In 2004 he won his first Futures and Challenger tournaments and beat Carlos Moya, then the world No 6, in Beijing. The following year, however, injuries struck and he endured two seasons of frustration.

Tsonga took Roddick to four sets here 12 months ago after winning an epic first set tie-break 20-18, but did not feel comfortable in such elite company. "I was only playing because I had a wild card through an agreement between the French and Australian federations," he said. "In the locker room I kept saying 'excuse me' every 30 seconds."

It was his form on grass in England in the summer that convinced Tsonga that he could be a top player. He qualified to play in the Artois Championships at Queen's by winning two matches in one morning before sprinting across London to win his semi-final in the Surbiton Challenger tournament, which he won the following day, completing a run of five victories in six tournaments, by beating Ivo Karlovic. At Queen's he beat Lleyton Hewitt before losing to Marin Cilic and he won three rounds at Wimbledon before going out to Gasquet.

"I feel that I was made to play in big matches on the biggest stages," Tsonga said. "I've earned my place among the top players. This is only my fifth Grand Slam tournament, but I never think that I'm making up for lost time. I was never jealous when I was watching Richard Gasquet and Gaël Monfils enjoying their successes. I just said it was destiny, for them and for me.

"When I was lying in my hospital bed and I thought about tennis my legs trembled. It was then that I decided three things: that I loved tennis, that I wanted to achieve great things – and that I could do it."

Unseeded Australian Open finalists

2006 Marcos Baghdatis (lost to Roger Federer)

2004 Marat Safin (lost to Roger Federer)

1999 Thomas Enqvist (lost to Yevgeny Kafelnikov)

1997 Carlos Moya (lost to Pete Sampras)

1981 Steve Denton (lost to Johan Kriek)

1978 John Marks (lost to Guillermo Vilas)

1976 Mark Edmondson (beat John Newcombe)