PARIS (AP) — As much as she wanted to hold back her tears, it just couldn’t.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga later said that he was aware that this could happen. So he didn’t keep his feelings to himself during the climactic moments of his match at the French Open, with which he bid farewell to professional tennis.
She wiped away her tears with her left wristband.
He was not crying because of the pain in his right shoulder, so intense that it prevented him from properly swinging the racket towards the end of Tuesday’s match, a 6-7 (8), 7-6 (4), 6-2 loss. 7-6 (0) against Casper Ruud (8th seed) at Phillippe Chatrier court.
Rather, the crying stemmed from the fact that Tsonga knew he was done trying to win matches, win the crowd’s cheers, weather the ups and downs of a tennis career that included a fifth-ranked finish, an Australian Open final in 2008 and France’s first Davis Cup title in 16 years.
In the face of these achievements, Tsonga’s career was also marked by a series of injuries.
He has been limited to a total of 18 matches since the start of 2021. He turned 37 last month, has a family now and knew this trip to Roland Garros would be the perfect way to say goodbye.
O “farewell”.
“Today was crazy, one of the best atmospheres I’ve seen in my career for my last game. I couldn’t have asked for a better height,” Tsonga said. “I couldn’t have come up with a better script, except for the fact that I wish I had won.”
The encounter was the most emotional moment of the third day of the tournament, which also included a first round victory for Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev, champion of the United States Open acknowledged that “it is very strange” that he could become the number 1 in the world without playing Wimbledon.
The Russian, second in the ranking behind Novak Djokovic, would be affected by the decision at the All England Club to prohibit the participation of tennis players from that country and Belarusian in Wimbledon due to the invasion of Ukraine.
In response to the ban, the ATP and WTA announced that they will not award ranking points to any player for results at Wimbledon.
This means players who scored units at Wimbledon in 2021 — Djokovic won the maximum of 2,000 as champion — will see their points removed from the record as part of the 52-week system that aggregates players’ best 19 tournaments over that span.
Djokovic is 680 points ahead of Medvedev, but the Serb could lose points in the standings if he does not win the title in France.
Wimbledon starts on June 27.
“Very strange,” Medvedev said of the situation, after beating Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. “I have to be honest. But like I said last time, I’d be happy to play Wimbledon. If I can’t, I’ll prepare for the next tournament.”
Medvedev, 26, is playing his second match after returning from hernia surgery. Last year he reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
Also Tuesday, Danish teenager Holger Rune upset and beat 14th-seeded Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (4) in the first round.
Jelena Ostapenko, champion in France in 2017, defeated Lucia Bronzetti 6-1, 6-4. Eighth seed Karolina Pliskova recovered to beat Tessah Andrianjafitrimo 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. The ninth seed Danielle Collins easily beat Viktoriya Tomova 6-0, 6-4.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
