Jan 26, 2008 5 min read

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – One Australian Open finalist is a Muhammad Ali lookalike who has dazzled the crowds with his enthusiasm and his ability to change the pace of a match. The other is best known for his fan-pleasing on-court antics such as impersonating Maria Sharapova.

And, surprisingly, neither is No. 1-ranked Roger Federer, who was finally stopped one match short of making an 11th straight Grand Slam final.

Instead, Sunday’s final will feature Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, an oft-injured Frenchman who ousted No. 2 Rafael Nadal, against Novak Djokovic, who upset two-time defending champion Federer on Friday.

A final without Federer? What will that be like?

“It means a lot to see some new faces in the finals,” said Djokovic, a 20-year-old Serb now considered the favorite against the unseeded Tsonga. “The dominance of Federer and Nadal was just amazing the last couple of years. So I think it’s great for tennis lovers all around the world to see something new.”

And one of them will emerge with a Grand Slam title.

The 22-year-old Tsonga, with a French mother and a father who was a team handball player for Congo, showed an aggressive style as he advanced through the field in Melbourne.

He defeated No. 9 Andy Murray in the first round, No. 8 Richard Gasquet in the fourth, No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny in the quarterfinals and Nadal in three sets in the semis.

How out-of-nowhere is this performance? Tsonga entered the Australian Open with a career 5-4 record at Grand Slam tournaments, but is 6-0 over the past two weeks. And not only has he never won a major title – he’s never won any tour event.

Tsonga’s resemblance to a young Ali has been noted by many, and his bravado certainly matches that of the boxer.

Asked to predict how he might react in the final if things get tight in a fifth set, Tsonga replied with a smile: “If I win in three sets, I don’t need to worry.”

The well-built, 6-foot-2 Tsonga certainly is capable of shots that float like butterflies and sting like bees.

“I saw him play against Gasquet and I just loved the way he changed the pace of the ball up,” said two-time U.S. Open champion Pat Rafter. “He did a lot of slow, sort of looping, balls. I thought he could play from all court – baseline, at the net, big serve, big athlete, big kid.

“But these days you never see anyone change the pace of the game up. No one does the slice backhands or the loopy stuff anymore and he does that,” Rafter added.

Tsonga is playing for the first time in his short career without the pain of injuries.

“I knew that I could play … but my body was not ready,” he says in English, a language he’s not entirely comfortable speaking. “Now it is ready, so I do it.”

In late 2004, the injuries began – a herniated disk that caused him to miss five months from November of that year through March 2005. Then he had two right shoulder injuries later in 2005, back and abdominal ailments from October 2005 to February 2006, and another abdominal injury at the end of 2006.

He played only eight tournaments in each of 2005 and 2006. In 2007, he slowly began his comeback with a combination of ATP and Challenger tournaments, moving into the top 50 for the first time.

If Tsonga is new to a Grand Slam final, Djokovic has proved he deserves to be there.

The Serbian is appearing in his second straight Grand Slam final after losing to Federer at the U.S. Open. He was in the semifinals at last year’s French Open and Wimbledon, giving him a streak of four straight majors where he has made the semis or better.

Djokovic has made crowds laugh by doing impersonations of Sharapova, Federer, Nadal and others, and they have been replayed on YouTube.

At one point in Melbourne, he was persuaded by a TV commentator to imitate Sharapova, and he obliged – giving a perfect representation of the Russian player’s tendency to brush strands of her long blonde hair over her ears.

But he was just as perfect as himself – winning 18 straight sets, while Tsonga is 18-2. Djokovic spent 9 hours, 2 minutes on court in those wins, an average of 2:02 per match, while Tsonga should be more weary after spending 14:35 on court, an average of 2:26.

Djokovic said he’ll play Tsonga the same way he played Federer.

“I knew I had to believe in myself, be positive on the court, not be nervous, stay with him all the time and be aggressive,” he said.

Djokovic is ranked No. 3 and Tsonga is No. 38, a career high, but the Serbian player said that counts for little.

“Looking at the rankings, I will be the favorite,” he said. “But it’s the finals, and anything can happen.”

Copyright Associated Press 2008