Thierry Henry cheers Federer as he guns down Tsonga in final match – Tennis News
Former Arsenal captain, French Thierry Henry supported the Swiss Ace, Roger Federer at his opening round robin match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2011, a final ATP event taking place between top eight players of the season
in London, England. The Swiss battled past Henry’s countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a three set thriller on Sunday.
The record goal scorer of Arsenal and France, Henry was one of the several celebrities who came to watch the epic battle between the Swiss number one and the French number one in the opening day of the ATP World Tour Finals. Russian-born
Andrei Arshavin, a rising star Gunner, was present along with many Bollywood celebrities including an actress Archana Puran Singh and a film director Parmeet Sethi.
The tournament began with a bang with a house full of 35,000 people, 17,500 watched the afternoon session spotlighted by high spirited Federer and the Frenchman. The Swiss took almost one and half hour to tumble over Tsonga on
their tenth meeting. He not only inched towards winning the finals for the sixth time but also extended lead in the head-to-head series by 7-3 against the French star.
30-year-old Swiss failed to save both breakpoints faced but cashed in three out of five breakpoint opportunities to his advantage, sealing the deal with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 success. He clobbered a better first serve share of 66 percent
as compared to Tsonga’s 54 percent and registered a fascinating 77 percent win on it.
The classy French footballer Henry gave full support to the former world number one, Federer and paid him a visit after the match. Federer declared that the legendary French footballer approved his performance.
"He wasn't crying when I came into the locker room," the Swiss Masters said with a smile. "We're good friends. He's just happy to come and see me play once in a while. We missed each other in New York even though we were both there,
so it was nice again to catch up with him."
Henry is currently playing with New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer (USA). Henry became a top footballer with his spell in Arsenal. Initially struggling in the Premier League, Henry emerged as Gunners’ top goal scorer in
almost every season there. 34-year-old became Arsenal’s all time leading scorer in all competitions after firing 226 spectacular goals. He won two league titles and three FA cups with the red army (Arsenal) and led them to the final at UEFA Champions League
in 2006 as a captain.
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