© Getty Images/AFP Getty
By Kamakshi Tandon

MELBOURNE, Australia—It may be a sea change or it may be a blip but in at least one sense, it is the end of an era in men’s tennis. For the first time in three years, a Grand Slam title will be won by a player not named Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. 

The last time that happened was the 2005 Australian Open, when Marat Safin defeated Lleyton Hewitt in the final – an apt matchup, because in many ways Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfired Tsonga are Safin and Hewitt 2.0, respectively.

Also aptly, Djokovic and Tsonga are the two who took down Federer and Nadal at this year’s tournament, both winning their semifinal matchups against the world’s top two with astonishing ease. Djokovic proved far too solid for a sluggish Federer while Tsonga demolished Nadal with a performance that stunned everyone – even the man across the net.

After stealthily posting upset after upset, Tsonga exploded into this Australian Open on Thursday night with his dominant 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 win over Nadal.

He had already defeated several players who were expected go deep into the event – Andy Murray in the first round, Richard Gasquet in the fourth round, and Mikhail Youzhny in the quarterfinals.

The bemused Spaniard could only shake his head when asked what had happened to him. “Nothing,” he said. “We have to accept today. He played unbelievable.”

Other than three break chances in the second game of the third set, Nadal’s role in the contest was merely setting up winners for his opponent to hit from every area of the court. Even Tsonga himself had never seen anything like it.

“It’s hard to beat him because it’s hard to get past him, but today with every shot I felt I was putting him in difficulty. It was like a video game,” he told French reporters after the match. “I played the kind of tennis people dream about all their lives, that I dreamed about also.”

The question in everyone’s mind is, can he reproduce such tennis in the final? Nadal was doubtful. After all, the 22-year-old Frenchman has never reached any final at the ATP level before and would be the biggest surprise champion since Gustavo Kuerten came from nowhere to win the French Open in 1997.

Five years ago, Tsonga was playing in the Australian Open juniors, losing to none other than – Marcos Baghdatis, who also made a surprise run to the finals here in 2005. Like Baghdatis, he has captured the crowd with the joy he’s taken in his performances and his expressive displays of emotion on court, some of which recall the sporting icon to whom he bears a strong resemblance, Muhammad Ali.

But back, shoulder and abdominal injuries set in in 2004, and it was only last season that Tsonga made a full return to the tour. He made his presence felt right away by taking a 20-18 tiebreak against Andy Roddick in the first round at Melbourne in 2007, then went on to win 33 of 35 matches in futures, challengers, qualifying and ATP events during the summer.

But this is a whole new level, and whatever happens from here, his career will forever be viewed in a different context. Tsonga’s parents are making a hurried trip Down Under to watch him contest the match.

Djokovic’s parents, on the other hand, have been here throughout, accompanied by his two younger tennis-playing brothers. The family is renting an apartment in Melbourne and Djokovic appears to be thriving from a change to the usual hotel lifestyle.

After going a break down in the first set, Djokovic was in command of his encounter with Federer, finding incredible angles and taking advantage of Federer’s forehand errors and subpar movement.

The brasher side of his nature, on display less frequently now than when he was younger, re-emerged a little after his win – even before leaving the court, the 20-year-old remarked that the majority of crowd had been against him and he felt he had been facing two opponents.

He’ll need to have his chin out during the final, because the pressure is squarely on him to live up to the billing of the next big thing in men’s tennis.

Not surprisingly, nerves are expected to play a significant role in this match. Djokovic has admitted to getting tight on big occasions before, but has usually managed to fight through them. It will also be interesting to see how Tsonga deals with the pressure and whether he can produce free-flowing, relaxed tennis on such a big occasion.

The tennis itself will be a match-up between Djokovic’s all-around baseline game and Tsonga’s big serving and shotmaking, from both his more solid backhand and more spectacular forehand wing. The Frenchman also frequently attacked the net agains Nadal, producing some spectacular volleys. He’ll likely need to do the same to get past the laser-like counterpunching of Djokovic.

Whatever the result, men’s tennis will have been shaken up significantly by the time the match is over. And Djokovic, for one, is looking forward to it, “I think every sport is waiting to have some new faces on the tour,” he said. “It's going to be interesting very much to see, you know, young players playing against each other.”