For a guy who missed the first 11 weeks of the season with an arm injury, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is sure looking comfortable on the court these days. Following an impressive 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 win over a resurgent Rafael Nadal at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, the Frenchman is into his second final in a span of three weeks.

Credit Tsonga’s ability to stay mostly healthy since returning to the ATP World Tour in March. That and a renewed sense of confidence.

“I’m really happy to work hard because I know I can count on my body,” said Tsonga, who’s into his 22^nd tour-level final (12-9). “It’s something great for me because it was not always like this. Today I’m a lot stronger than I was maybe a few years ago.”

The Metz champion has indeed had his fair share of injuries since his pro debut in 2004. In 2006, he was limited to eight events due to back and abdominal issues. Not long after reaching the one and only Grand Slam final of his career, at the 2008 Australian Open (l. to Novak Djokovic), the 6-foot-2 right-hander seemed to battle one ailment after another. A right knee injury later that year would sideline him for three months and require surgery. There have since been hip, back and knee injuries. But for the moment Tsonga has put all that behind him, his sole focus now winning the 13^th ATP World Tour title of his career.

“He’s a very enthusiastic player. He feeds on the energy of the crowd a lot. He’s very powerful, big serve,” said Djokovic, the man who stands between Tsonga and his second title of 2015. “I think his game heavily relies on the serve. If he has a high first‑serve percentage, he’s managing to get some free points there. Then he’s dangerous.”

Tsonga, now 30-13 on the abbreviated year, makes no secret of the fact that he likes the speedy hard courts at the Qizhong Tennis Center, where he has twice reached the semi-finals or better.

“This surface is one of my favorites,” he said. “I know I’m able to play good tennis.”

If he’s going to upset the World No. 1 Djokovic, a player against whom he’s 6-13 in FedEx ATP Head2Head matchups, and one who has yet to drop a set this week, he’ll need to pull out all the stops. But as he showed against Nadal in his fifth Top-10 win of 2015, he’ll put his body on the line if he has to. During the third set of that semi-final showdown, Tsonga executed an acrobatic diving volley to set up his first match point.

“For me, it was today or never,” he reflected on the play. “At the moment you see the ball a little bit far. You know it’s going to be difficult to stay on your feet. You just go. You don’t think about anything at this moment. Just to try to catch the ball. That’s what I did. It worked.”

By reaching the Shanghai final, Tsonga has jumped from No. 15 to No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Race to London. With a title, he would add 400 more points and move within 545 points of No. 8 David Ferrer. The Top 8 players on Nov. 9 move on to the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London, Nov. 15-22.