Sunday’s men’s final of the 2008 Australian Open will provide a glimpse of the future. Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who meet for the first time, are the two most exciting young prospects to have emerged on the world scene this past year.

In Friday’s semi-final Djokovic, who rose last year from 16 to three in the rankings, at last overcame his inhibitions to beat the world number one and two-time defending champion Roger Federer at a major championship. His 7-5 6-3 7-6 win spanning 2hrs 28 minutes was ample consolation for the disappointing loss to the Swiss in last year’s US Open final, in which the Serb squandered chances in the first two sets as he went down 7-6 7-6 6-4.