Impenetrable Service Games Contributed to Tsonga's Win Against Federer

COMMENTARY | Wednesday at the Wimbledon 2011 quarterfinal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took out six-time champion Roger Federer in a grueling five-set match. The final score was 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4, and 6-4.

The match began with what looked to be another routine Federer beat-down. Federer converted the early break in Tsonga's first service game before taking the first set. The second set was decided by a tie-break. Tsonga played a few loose points at the beginning of the tie-break, giving Federer the opportunity to decisively close out the second set.

Tsonga went on to take the following two sets, forcing the decider. At the beginning of the fifth, Tsonga continued his momentum by taking the early break and holding serve for the remainder of the match.

A major factor in Tsonga's Wimbledon quarterfinal victory was his ability to defend his service games. In terms of the serve itself, both players had relatively similar statistics.

Tsonga served 18 aces and four double faults compared to Federer's 17 aces and one double fault. Tsonga won 73 percent of his first service points and 67 percent on his second serve compared to Federer's 78 percent on first serve and 71 percent on second serve.

Yet break point chances made the difference in this match. Tsonga was able to convert 3/9 break points against Federer. Yet he only gave Federer one break point change (on which he capitalized).

This is not to say that Tsonga's serve itself was not impressive. His fastest serve of the match was a lethal 135 mph.

The ESPN commentators kept reminding viewers that Federer had a 178-0 record in matches where he had won the first set. This was the first time that anyone has ever overcome a two-set deficit against Federer.

Tsonga's next opponent will be Novak Djokovic. With a 5-2 record against Djokovic, Tsonga seems to have the advantage. However, in the majors they are even at 1-1. Tsonga defeated Djokovic at the 2010 Australian Open quarterfinal, but Djokovic defeated Tsonga to win the Australian Open in 2008.

Djokovic has a lot on the line, seeking his first Wimbledon title and the No. 1 ranking. If Tsonga can serve the way he did against Federer, he could give Djokovic a difficult time. I'm thinking we could have another five-set classic between Tsonga and Djokovic in the Wimbledon semifinal.