By Nick Georgandis
Photo Credit: Mark Peterson

When Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's father Didier was growing up in the Congo in the 1970s, he was one of thousands who crossed the Congo River into neighboring Zaire to attend the legendary "Rumble in the Jungle" boxing match between heavyweight champion George Foreman and challenger Muhammad Ali.
What he and the rest of the world saw that night were the mechinations of a tactical genius.

Ali was 32 at the time of the fight, at the end of his prime and no longer the dazzling combination of speed and strength that made him the self-proclaimed "Greatest of All Time."
Foreman was 25, 6-feet, 3-inches and a powerful, vicious champion, a far cry from the cuddly pitchman for grills, pants and mufflers he would become two decades later.
Ali had irked Foreman for weeks leading up to the fight, regaling anyone who would listen that he had a "secret plan" to regain the heavyweight crown.  Instead of trying to dance around the ring and dazzle Foreman with athleticsm, Ali clung to the ropes and kept his hands in front of his face, so Foreman could only hit his arms, not land debilitating blows to his body or face.

After several rounds, Foreman tired and Ali pounced, knocking Foreman down in the eighth round, at which point he was counted out and Ali declared the winner. Ali called the strategy "the rope a dope".

Novak Djokovic is no such dope. But that doesn't mean that Tsonga can't win their semifinal match on Friday. But Tsonga must learn the lesson that Ali set forth 37 years ago, and force Djokovic out of his element. Tsonga needs a strategy that plays to his strengths, exposes Djokovic's very few weaknesses and he must stick to it from the opening serve so that he doesn't waste the tremendous opportunity that his historic upset of Roger Federer is now affording him.

Although Djokovic has been largely razor-sharp in his 46-1 start to the season, but Bernard Tomic took a set off him on Wednesday. A big serve can do wonders against even the quickest of defensive players, and Tsonga had 18 in his win over Federer on Wednesday.

Tsonga's best weapon might be that the attention is largely on the other three players in the final four. Poll most tennis fans outside of France and they'll tell you that they want to see Nadal and Djokovic in the final, something the prior two Grand Slams have denied them. Those in the United Kingdom would obviously prefer the final to be Djokovic against Andy Murray, who is seeking to become the first Brit to reach the final since 1938, and the first to win it since 1936.

Perhaps even more impressive is that Tsonga has gotten the better of Djokovic in his career, winning five of seven matches. All of those have been on hard court, with Tsonga taking the last meeting, a quarterfinal victory in 2010.

It's been a dramatic return to form these past 10 days for Tsonga, who looked on his way into the Top 5 as recently as the end of 2008, when he peaked at No. 6 and reached the finals of the Australian Open.

If he's to reach his second Grand Slam final, he'll need to steal a page from the legendary boxer he so remarkably resembles.