[MacArthur]

There is less than a week now from the second slam of the season for Jo.

Just a reminder :

Tournaments of preparation : None

Days of training : 14 days at best

Physical Shape : Unknown


So make your gamble

I shall say that a second or third round appearance would already be a great satisfaction.

[Bobble]

I agree, hopefully we can expect him to go deep(er) in Madrid and Paris

[Turquoise]

The major hurdle will be the first round match. Obviously, he's had very little preparation and will be quite rusty, as training is a far cry from actual competitive matches. Furthermore, he has to test his knee and not take too many risks, therefore restricting his movement initially. I guess he's going to have to rely on his big serves and try to finish points quickly, which is a do-or-die strategy.

Luckily, he's seeded - it's amazing that he's still in top 20 after such a long injury lay-off! Hope he has a "beatable" opponent in first round so that he can build up his confidence and form and progress deeper.

Just to see him back on the courts again is great for me. I will celebrate every win and commend him for his effort if he loses. All the best of luck, Tsonga! Take a bite of the Big Apple.

[Truc]

Benoît is back!
Back in style, I love your little reminder.

I'll just add that when he finally resumed the training 2 weeks ago, his team said he's only allowed to play twice 30 minutes a day and to add 10 minutes every 4 days. Still a long way to go since he needs to be able to play at least 2-3 hours in a row by the time the USO starts...
And according to an old interview of Wino, he was also supposed to start practicing on clay because it's much less stressful on the knee.

So there's a BIG question mark about his preparation for 5 sets matches on hardcourt, to say the least.

Is anybody here going to the USO, by any chance?

[martine2]

Originally Posted by MacArthur

There is less than a week now from the second slam of the season for Jo.

Just a reminder :

Tournaments of preparation : None

Days of training : 14 days at best

Physical Shape : Unknown


So make your gamble

I shall say that a second or third round appearance would already be a great satisfaction.

As long as the knee is ok, any result will do for me

[Pepi.]

I hope he is OK, and if he wins 2 rounds or 1 its OK, I only want to see him again

[lilibel13]

i cross the fingers for him too

[Alex.]

Good luck. As long as he comes out of the tournament unscathed I will be happy. A win or two will be a plus.

[Richardgm]

Where's the offical note that he's definitely gonna enter?

[Truc]

He can still pull out in last minute if he has problems during his last week of training, of course.
But he's training in NYC and definitely wants to play so far.

[Truc]

Here is for example the official website of the FFT (Jo is at the FFT, so they're quite reliable for this kind of informations):
http://www.fft.fr/usopen/2008/

[2moretogo]

Just want him to take it slow. This will be the first match play he's had in a while, so I have no expectations whatsoever.

[SelvenluvJo]

ummmmmmmm,I believe that Jo could have a good seed.
I'm very very excited to see him,I can't wait that!!

[amdany]

Jo is facing Santiago Ventura in the 1st round

[Alex.]

It depends on Jo's knee. Could have gotten a much tougher first round opponent though, so that's nice.