Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga commented that a final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz at the
US Open would not be his 'dream final.'
The former
French tennis player instead favored the surprising semifinalist,
Ben Shelton,
as one of the players who should be in the final. The 20-year-old American
quietly advanced through the main draw and is the last hope for North America
in the men's bracket.
He defeated
two of his compatriots, Tommy Paul (14th seed) and Frances Tiafoe (10th seed),
on his way.
Former
world No. 5 Tsonga revealed that Shelton is his favorite player to advance to
the final.
“It’s not
that he impresses me, but I like it a lot. I really like the style, I like the
boy who expresses himself, I like his punchy side,” declared the Frenchman.
“I find
myself in this young [player] who plays different tennis. My dream is not
Alcaraz [against] Djokovic, but that Ben Shelton is in the final and possibly
that he goes for a title.”
Tsonga
emphasized the challenge of facing the 23-time Grand Slam champion in the US
Open semifinals, especially considering that it's Shelton's first time reaching
this stage, while Djokovic has an impressive record of 47 Grand Slam
semifinals:
“Yeah,
definitely a tough challenge. I think that whenever you play somebody for the
first time and someone who has been in this situation so many times and come
out victorious so many times, that’s in the back of your head,” explained the
20-year-old.
“You just
know how, you know, rock solid the guy is and how mentally tough, how
physically tough. So that’s definitely something that I have to game-plan for.
I also think that, you know, it’s an advantage with my game style playing
someone who’s never played me before.
“I think
that I can bring some things to the table that maybe you don’t see in your
normal match that you play on the ATP Tour. So I’m definitely going to try to
bring some things to the table that are different and hopefully disruptive on
Friday.”
Shelton and
Djokovic will kick off the semifinals on Friday, September 8th, in the first
match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
