Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has fought a lot of battles on the court, and picking out five great games from the player isn’t easy. Not stingy in the effort, the Manceau quickly hit champions, right out of Insep. The world of tennis then discovered the powerful and direct game of the winner of the 2003 US Open juniors.
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Carlos Moya in 55 minutes
The Spaniard concludes one of his last seasons with a good place of world number 5, in 2008. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, out of the qualifications, faces the seeded number 1 of the Beijing tournament in the first round. Surprise, the 19-year-old Frenchman out Moya 6-3 6-3 in 55 minutes and the public discovers the Manceau, launched in his very first ATP tournament.
The Spaniard was rather laconic after his defeat against the young Frenchman, 206e world player and winner of three Challenger tournaments: “Two things happened tonight: he played well and I did badly. »
Nadal cleared in three sets
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, installed in the ATP Top 50, started a promising Australian Open: he defeated Andy Murray, 9e world player, in the first round. After eliminating Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny in particular, Manceau crossed paths with Rafael Nadal.
The Spaniard in a tank top is world number 2, fishing to close the point gap that separates him from Roger Federer. But since his title at Roland-Garros in 2007, he has not won a tournament. In the Australian Grand Slam semi-final, Tsonga proved absolutely untouchable and settled his account in three sets (6-2 6-3 6-2) at Nadal, completely missing his match.
Everything seems too easy and the Frenchman passes eighteen aces, as well as 85% of points scored on his first serve… Statistics now regular for the young player, who was propelled from the 43e at the 6e place in the men’s world ranking, between the end of the 2007 season and the end of the 2008 season. The Australian Open final was won by Novak Djokovic.
And why not Federer
Wimbledon 2010 and 2011, two hard blows for Roger Federer. First eliminated in the quarter-finals against the Czech Tomàs Berdych, he fell at the same stage of the competition the following year, in favor of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
However, the French could not start worse and it may be that among the spectators, the television set was deserted when the Swiss led two sets to zero. He is on his way to a seventh title on grass, for sure. The Swiss has never lost a match with two sets in his pocket, until this one. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga put an end to 178 scenarios where the Swiss was invincible.
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While the slightest misstep was synonymous with condemnation, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dared to attack and be much more offensive. Eighteen aces, and overall a much more impactful first serve, allowed him to turn the game around. He had 37 winning ends, to arrive at the final score of 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. ” It was fabulous. I’m so happy, it’s crazy. He is the greatest champion of my sport. I’m so happy to beat him, especially on grass, his favorite surface.” he declared, before bowing to Novak Djokovic.
Facing his executioner
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Novak Djokovic have met 23 times. The Serb left only six victories to the French, and it is already very flattering. Their matches sum up the “drama” of the Sarthois’ career: the latter is a feared opponent of the Big Four, with several successes over them to his credit, but his efforts have never been crowned by a Grand Slam victory.
In 2012, in the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the height of frustration. He defeated Stanislas Wawrinka in the previous round, in five sets (6-4 7-6 3-6 3-6 6-4). The Swiss eliminated him from the tournament last year.
After more than four hours of a match where Tsonga takes two (lost) sets to start, the French number one lost 6-1 5-7 5-7 7-6 6-1 against the world number one, who went through a few bouts of sulking during the game. In the 4e set, Tsonga got four match points, two at 5-4 and two others at 6-5. But the Serb recovered. “It’s the most difficult defeat of my career, I haven’t lost that many matches where I had match points, it’s sure to stay,” testified Tsonga after his elimination. In fact, it stayed. Le Manceau fell on the Serb in the round of 16 of the Parisian tournament in 2014. Asked by the media 20 Minutes, he confided, with a smile, about his opponent: “ If anyone has ruined my career, it’s him. It would be great to be able to end the meal with a dessert and not with an old bitter marmalade this time. »
But the Serbian sent him the less tasty serve, breaking the Frenchman 6-1 6-4 6-1.
The longest tennis match of the Olympics
It was in 2012 on the London lawn. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had ended up snatching his qualification for the round of 16 of the Olympic tournament by winning the victory against the Canadian Milos Raonic, at the end of a match of 3:56. The longest of the Olympic tournament, since the reintroduction of tennis on the program of the Games in 1988. After two very conventional sets (6-3 3-6), the match ended with a score of 25 games to 23.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga offers himself Milos Raonic and a record in London. © Photo: Stefan Wermuth / Reuters
Delayed by bouts of rain, the grass game, punctuated by a large number of points quickly settled at the net, saw an intense fight between the 6e global and Raonic, then 23e global.
