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Three decades ago, Didier Tsonga crossed the Zaire River on a leaky ferry to watch one of the most fabled contests in world sport.
He arrived in Melbourne on Sunday by aeroplane to see his son take his first major step on what should become a fabled sporting career in itself.
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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost the Australian Open final to world No.3 Novak Djokovic in what was – for most of the four sets – as much a rumble as the Muhammad Ali-George Foreman fight his father witnessed in Zaire on October 30, 1974.
But after arriving from France at 7am on Sunday, a little more than 12 hours before his son took the Melbourne Park court, Didier and Evelyn Tsonga saw some Ali qualities in their son which, if harnessed, will take him on a long and successful career in tennis.
Not just the uncanny facial resemblance which has given the 22-year-old Frenchman the nickname Ali, but the heavyweight boxer’s shoulders, ground strokes with as much punch as the triple world champion and a crowd pleasing flair.
“It is somewhat odd,” Didier said of the fact he wrestled his way close to ringside to see Ali fight 33 years ago and now has a son who is likened to the great champion, albeit in a very different sport.
“It’s not just the physical resemblance and his physique, but it’s his temperament and the way he handles himself on court, he’s a showman, he likes the crowd.
“It’s a great honour that he is compared with Ali.
“We talk to Jo about this and it’s more than an honour because he wasn’t just a great sportsman but a great person and still is.”
Didier joked, however, any similarity is pure coincidence.
“We see the resemblance, but he has no parental link with Muhammad Ali,” he said after his son’s defeat.
As a 20-year-old in Congo’s steamy capital Brazzaville, the lure of seeing Ali and Foreman fight for the heavyweight title of the world only a couple of kilometres across the river in Kinshasa was irresistible.
“Everybody was crossing the river to see the fight,” Didier said.
“I got very close to the ring and could see Ali.”
Tsonga’s manager, Morgan Menaham, said he was now working on trying to arrange a meeting with Ali.
A few years after the rumble in the jungle, Didier, who played in Congo’s national handball team, left his homeland to study in France where he met Evelyn.
He and Evelyn are both school teachers in Le Mans and have no plans to join the ranks of travelling parents on the tennis tour. But they might just have to take a few more hastily arranged days off school over the next few years.
Evelyn, however, will ensure her boy does not get carried away with any comparisons to Ali.
“Jo stays who he is, he’s Jo, not Muhammad Ali,” she said.
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