Roger Federer may have lost his last two matches to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga including a five-set shocker at Wimbledon but that’s not discouraging the Swiss Maestro ahead of their quarter-final clash on Wednesday at the US Open in New York.
The Frenchman followed his Wimbledon triumph over Federer – who was up two sets to love before dropping the next three sets – with another win over the world No.3 in Montreal only a few weeks later. But neither defeat seems to have intimidated Federer, who still has a slender 4-3 edge over Tsonga in career meetings.
“It’s sure something I’m looking forward to,” said Federer of their looming last-eight showdown. “Look, I live for the big matches, live for playing a guy who is explosive, has got some firepower. I like to play those kind of players, especially now that we’re in the deeper stages of the tournament.”
The 16-time Major champion is also bolstered by sky-high confidence from his 82-minute straight-set thrashing of Juan Monaco in the fourth round but he doesn’t believe he has much of an advantage fitness-wise over Tsonga, who battled through five sets in the previous round against Mardy Fish.
“I don’t think Tsonga’s match with Fish was particularly long or particularly taxing. Sure, it’s a mental drag to go through five sets, but he’s got a day off. He finished somewhat early compared to what I did,” said Federer, who stepped on court for his match with Monaco only a little before midnight having had to wait out the three-set tussle between Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Meanwhile, 11th-seeded Tsonga, who will be playing his very first quarter-final in New York, views his previous wins over Federer as a double-edged sword. “It’s good to have some win against him because now Roger knows I’m able to beat him. But, you know, every day it’s another day.
"Even if I won, you know, two times, I know that the third time will be difficult – maybe more than the others because of that, because Roger knows I can beat him and he will do everything, you know, to win this time," said the 26-year-old from Le Mans. "The key for me is to play like I did the other time.”
