Tsonga

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a former Australian Open runner-up and world No 5, said he "couldn't have asked for a better script" as he bid an emotional goodbye to ...

"Well, it's a moment that is going to be in my memory, but it's so quick when you're in it. But I thought, 'I'm going to stay on the court and finish off this match.' I didn't really know where to go." "I couldn't have asked for something better. "It was pure madness today. "When I was about to serve and I realized I couldn't put my arm up, then I called for the physio.

Amid rousing cheers and tearful tributes, France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retires after nearly toppling 8th-seed Casper Ruud in his French Open finale.

It was a testament to Tsonga the man, more so than the tennis player, that when the French tennis federation invited his former coaches to attend, seemingly everyone did. But like his compatriot Monfils, a 2008 French Open semifinalist, Tsonga had the misfortune of peaking in the same era as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, who have 61 Grand Slam singles titles among them. In the trophy presentation that followed, Ruud said he didn’t want to speak about himself. But the tears kept falling, and his face contorted with emotion. Tsonga couldn’t mount a credible effort in the fourth-set tiebreaker. He called for the trainer, and the crowd fell silent.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga enjoyed a tribute ceremony to celebrate his career on Tuesday at Roland Garros.

I think the most important thing for me was to live this with people around me, to be able to share the sadness sometimes [and] the happiness. They said, ‘Would you like to do something after the match?’ I said [to] bug off,” said Tsonga. “You don’t know if this is going to be my final match.” I didn't really know where to go.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga heads to retirement with a French Open first-round loss, the first of the Four Musketeers to bow out. French tennis eyes reinforcements.

He played for the 2008 Australian Open title, becoming the first of nine players to lose to Novak Djokovic in a final in Melbourne. I hope it will be the same for the French future.” Most of the other French players ranked in the top 100 are veterans who had their chances to make deep major runs. He also lost to them 17 times combined at the Slams. If not a golden generation, it proved to be an unforgettable one, with another memory added Tuesday. “There would have been no second match, because I left everything on the court today,” said Tsonga, who last week said his mind and body were telling him it’s time to stop playing. And now there is no more Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a leading French player for years who lost in the first round of his farewell tournament. Gasquet won Tuesday, setting up a second round match with American Seb Korda, who is 14 years younger. He is the lone Frenchman to make a major final in the last 21 years. But that broad shoulder, which helped carry Tsonga to No. 5 in the world a decade ago, could not bear any more. In a way I finish like I want to finish.” Tsonga injured his right shoulder on an otherwise climactic point, breaking Ruud’s serve to go up 6-5 in the fourth.

While Tsonga lost to Casper Ruud in his final singles match, the 37-year-old will play doubles with Richard Gasquet one last time before retiring for good.

Tsonga departs having built a wonderful career defined by his athleticism, his delicate touch at the net and his instincts. Along with his charisma, it made him an idol for so many, such as Félix Auger-Aliassime, who was present at the stadium as Tsonga battled. He has suffered through numerous injuries in his final years, with his movement and his athleticism disintegrating as a result. No longer able to compete, Tsonga lost 11 of the final 12 points of his career. As Tsonga tearfully lost 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (0), one of the standout, most enjoyable tennis careers of the past 15 years came to an end. He banged his chest and rallied the crowd.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has retired from tennis after a first-round loss at the French Open, marking the end of a generation of his countrymen.

As a new documentary makes clear, he remains an enduring source of fascination in France and did his part through the years as Davis Cup captain and French federation consultant to inspire his successors. Tsonga, who once boarded inside the stadium complex as an aspiring junior, is the first of the new Musketeers to retire, although he will soon have company. At the time, with his foot speed, forehand and youth, it seemed self-evident that Tsonga would experience more such occasions. But thousands more French fans eventually found their seats and rose to the occasion, in part because Tsonga rose to it himself, even in defeat. Djokovic was the first: defeating him in Tsonga’s only Grand Slam singles final at the 2008 Australian Open. But with Tuesday as a target, he found inspiration, and though logic suggested that he had no business pushing Ruud to the limit, he came surprisingly, poignantly close. He was not alone in the tears. “I’m proud of myself,” he confirmed. The grand and renovated stadium was barely half full when Tsonga walked onto the red clay in the early afternoon after wiping tears from his eyes in the tunnel. There is no exiting the arena gracefully through substitution, no convincing manner to mask the erosion of skills and speed. Part of the professional game’s Darwinian appeal is that there is no place to hide. Though he has beaten them all multiple times on the strength of his huge serve and forehand and attacking skills, they all have, more often than not, stolen his thunder through the years, exploiting his much weaker backhand wing.

PARIS: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gave Norway's eighth-seeded Casper Ruud a run for his money in a tight French Open first round battle but predictably headed into ...

I've never looked back but now is the time to do it," Tsonga told the crowd. Advertisement Advertisement