Today at the French Open in Roland Garros, Paris, men's No. 2 Roger Federer will face his stiffest test yet at this year's tournament in No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The match can be live streamed here for free.
Federer is coming off an extremely tough match with No. 15 Gilles Simon, which he won 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. The victory marked the 36th consecutive time the 31-year-old has reached the final eight of a Grand Slam tournament.
Federer is not focused on his incredible achievement, however. He said gawking at his records are for a later date; right now he focused on topping Tsonga. "Records I will look back on when I'm not playing anymore, and go like, that was incredible that I was able to achieve this. Because this isn't just a one week thing or one year thing. This is such a long period of time that I had to fight through matches."
Tsonga will be a tough out for Federer, despite the world-No.2 having beaten him in 10 out of their last 13 matchups. Tsonga, a Frenchman, will have most of the French Open crowd pulling for him.
Federer said he looks forward to that extra hurdle, however. "I'm looking forward to the match against Jo Willy. It's a big challenge playing him here in Paris. He's a great friend of mine. I think we're both looking forward to this match."
Tsonga is aiming to become the first Frenchman to win the French Open since Yannick Noah was victorious in 1983. For much of the tournament's recent history, it has been dominated by Rafael Nadal, who has won seven of the last eight French Open championships. The only non-Nadal winner in that span was Tsonga's opponent today, Federer.
The only time Tsonga and Federer have faced each other on clay was in 2011, when Tsonga dropped the match in straight sets.
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