Former
world No. 5
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga showered
Novak Djokovic with praise, describing
him as "the one with the most guns on his asset."
The retired
French tennis player was one of the prominent contenders on the ATP Tour,
particularly during the era dominated by the Big-3, approximately 15 years ago.
Tsonga accumulated an impressive tally of 18 ATP titles, including 2 Masters
1000 titles. He reached the final of the 2008 Australian Open and secured four
Grand Slam semifinals, featuring Wimbledon (2011, 2012) and the French Open
(2013 and 2015).
In the
Australian Open final, Tsonga fell to the then-world No. 3 Novak Djokovic,
being the sole player in the tournament to take a set from the Serbian, who
ultimately claimed his first Grand Slam. Tsonga holds a head-to-head record of
6-15 against 'Nole' and is one of the six players who have defeated Djokovic at
least 5 times.
Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga recently responded to a fan's question on his Instagram story, where the
fan asked him to choose between
Jannik Sinner and Djokovic:
“I’m rather
from ‘Djoko’ school because I’ve been around him for many years. I think he is
the most complete player on the circuit,” the 38-year-old wrote.
“He is the
one with the most guns on his asset. And he proved again this year that the
level at which he evolved has not yet been reached,” Jo-Wilfried Tsonga added.
World No. 4
Jannik Sinner and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic ended the year building a
compelling rivalry with three encounters in less than two weeks. Initially, the
Italian secured a victory during the round-robin stage of the ATP Finals, but
in their subsequent meeting in the final, it was Djokovic who prevailed,
claiming the trophy.
Just a week
later, Sinner and Djokovic crossed paths again in the semifinals of the Davis
Cup. 'Nole' had three match points that could have sent Serbia to the
tournament final, but Sinner saved them and secured the win, ultimately
eliminating the Serbians and, three days later, clinching the title for Italy.