Even in defeat, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gave every impression he was better placed than ever to break his grand slam duck some time soon.

Tsonga was left “in a bit of a bad mood” in the immediate aftermath of his thrilling five-set loss to Roger Federer in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

But with more time to mull over how close he came to again taking down the great Swiss, the French powerhouse will surely look ahead to the immediate future with plenty of optimism.

Former Australian Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald certainly thinks so, noting in commentary that Tsonga has a golden two-year window to become a major winner.

Another Australian, Tsonga’s new coach Roger Rasheed, is also a firm believer.

“Running down the right road is always exciting. Yes we are shattered, but fueled also,” tweeted Rasheed.

Tsonga’s only appearance in a grand slam final remains his thrilling run at the 2008 Australian Open, where he lost the title match to Novak Djokovic.

But significantly, he is the only active player to have taken down each member of the ‘Fab Four’ (Djokovic, Federer, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal) at a major.

“I think I’m more solid,” said the 27-year-old Tsonga when asked to compare how he felt in 2008 to the 2013 model.

“Sometimes you play two weeks unbelievable and you don’t know why.

“But it stays two weeks and, for a few months after that, you lose everything.

“Now I’m a better player for sure.”

Federer is well placed to comment on Tsonga’s ability to lift on the sport’s biggest stages, especially as the Frenchman is the only man to recover from a two-set deficit to beat him at a major.

That scarcely believable feat came two years ago in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

“The whole match was tough. Any set could have gone either way,” said Federer after scraping home 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-3 late on Wednesday night to set up a huge Australian Open semi-final against Murray.

“You never know what Jo’s going to come up with.

“It was a pleasure to come through.

“I felt like I played some great tennis but Jo played great tennis too.”