Emmanuel LANGELLIER, Media365: published on Sunday December 21, 2025 at 3:50 p.m.
Former world number 5, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (40 years old) has not played for 3 and a half years.
Since May 24, 2022, we no longer see him on the courts. That day, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost to the Norwegian Casper Ruud, then seeded number 8, after a fierce fight (7-6, 6-7, 2-6, 6-7) on the Philippe-Chatrier court in the first round of Roland-Garros. And it was over at 37 for the finalist of the 2008 Australian Open where he masterfully stunned Rafael Nadal (6-2, 6-3, 6-2) in less than 2 hours in the semi-finals.
Into entrepreneurship after struggling
Tsonga is today a very busy man with the management of his company “All In Groupe” which he owns with his partner and former trainer Thierry Ascione. A path in entrepreneurship that he had drawn up before the end of his career and towards which he moved “easily”. “It’s simplicity!” he says, laughing, to La Provence. It’s simpler than going back to 5 or 6 years of studies and getting a diploma, it seemed quite logical to me in the end to go this route simply because I was a little lazy…”
After putting away his rackets, the former world number 5 with 18 titles (including 2 Masters 1000) had a bit of trouble for “a year to a year and a half”. “It’s the lot of all athletes, it creates a void, that’s a certainty. We still live at 100 miles an hour, our program is always very punctual. There is no room for the unknown or boredom. Sometimes I thought, “What am I going to do?” You have to reinvent yourself, become, in a certain way, another person. »
“I watch more tennis than when I was a player”
Retired from tennis, the 40-year-old from Sarthois, who could have become captain of the French Davis Cup team at the end of 2023, enjoys following the new generation of the little yellow ball. “Strangely, I watch more tennis than when I was a player,” admits Tsonga. What excites me is seeing new faces, as a fan of this sport, it’s quite cool to discover. »
