Background and career
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (French pronunciation: [ʒo wilfʁid tsɔŋɡa]; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on the ATP Tour, including two Masters 1000 titles, and reached a major final at the 2008 Australian Open.
In his early career, Tsonga won the 2003 US Open junior singles title and was the ATP Newcomer of the Year for 2007. He rose to fame by reaching the 2008 Australian Open final as an unseeded player, defeating four seeded players (including world No. 2 Rafael Nadal) en route. He followed by winning his first Masters title at the 2008 Paris Masters, and reached the final of the 2011 ATP Finals. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Tsonga won the silver medal in men's doubles partnering Michaël Llodra. He claimed his second Masters title at the 2014 Canadian Open, defeating four top-ten players en route. Tsonga also reached the final of the 2011 Paris Masters and the 2015 Shanghai Masters. In doubles, he won the 2009 Shanghai Masters doubles title partnering Julien Benneteau. In 2017, Tsonga helped France to the Davis Cup crown, after being runner-up in 2014. He retired from the sport at the 2022 French Open. Tsonga is one of only three players (the others being Tomáš Berdych and Stan Wawrinka) to have defeated each of the Big Four at majors. He is a member of the Tennis Club de Paris.
Tsonga was born on 17 April 1985 in Le Mans to a Congolese father, Didier Tsonga, a handball player, and a French mother, Évelyne Tsonga. His father moved to France during the 1970s to fulfill his dreams of becoming a handball professional player. In France he eventually met Évelyne and they married. Tsonga is nicknamed Ali because of his facial resemblance to boxing legend Muhammad Ali. His cousin is footballer Maël Lépicier who plays for Congo. Tsonga had a career-high ITF junior singles ranking of world No. 2, attained on 13 October 2003. He won the 2003 US Open boys' singles title. He reached four other singles semifinals of junior Grand Slam events. Marcos Baghdatis was a major rival of Tsonga on the junior tour. Tsonga started dating Noura El Shwekh in late 2014 Their first child, a boy, was born on 17 March 2017. Tsonga and El Shwekh married on 21 July 2018.
Tsonga played his first junior match in July 2000 at the age of 15 at a grade 2 tournament in the Netherlands. He had a very successful junior career; he won the US Open boys' singles title in 2003 by defeating Marcos Baghdatis in the final and he was a losing boys' singles semifinalist in the other three Grand Slam events in the same year. Tsonga reached his career-high boys' singles ranking of world no. 2 on 13 October 2003. Junior Grand Slam results – Singles: Australian Open: SF (2002, 2003) French Open: SF (2003) Wimbledon: SF (2003) US Open: W (2003) Tsonga turned pro in 2004. He won three singles qualifying matches at the 2004 China Open held in September of that year to reach the singles main draw of an ATP Tour tournament for the first time in his career; in the main draw, he upset former French Open singles champion, former No. 1 and the top seed Carlos Moyá in the first round, before losing to Lee Hyung-taik in the second round. Tsonga suffered a string of injuries beginning late in 2004, with a herniated disc that caused him to be out of action until March 2005. Then came two right shoulder injuries later in 2005, back and abdominal ailments from October 2005 to February 2006, and the recurrence of an abdominal injury at the end of 2006. In all, he played (only the singles events of) just eight ATP Tour tournaments from August 2004 to November 2006.
In January 2007, then ranked No. 212 in the world, Tsonga received a wild card entry into the 2007 Australian Open, where in only his second senior Grand Slam tournament match, he met sixth seed Andy Roddick for the second time in his career. What followed was the longest tiebreak in Australian Open history in the first set, which he went on to win (20–18). Tsonga forced a tiebreak in the second set, as well. However, he went on to lose the match in four sets. He was just 21 at the time. In 2007, Tsonga won four Challenger titles in Tallahassee, Mexico City, Lanzarote, and Surbiton. Tsonga qualified for the 2007 Queen's Club Championships, while at the same time playing in the Surbiton Challenger, which he won. Between the two events, he won five matches during the course of two days. In the second round of the Queen's main draw, he met the sixth seed and defending champion, former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, ranked No. 16 in the ATP rankings. Tsonga won the match after two tiebreaks to seal his most prominent victory since his triumph in ATP debut over former No. 1 Carlos Moyá, then ranked No. 6 in the world, at Beijing in 2004. Tsonga went on to lose to promising Croatian youngster Marin Čilić in the following round. At Wimbledon 2007, where Tsonga was again awarded a wildcard entry, he reached the fourth round (his first time past round one of a Grand Slam), defeating countryman Julien Benneteau, Nicolás Lapentti, and Feliciano López. His run was halted by his countryman and friend, 12th seed Richard Gasquet, in straight sets. He did not beat a seeded player in his progress to the fourth round (Andy Murray, the potential seed he would have faced, had dropped out). The win brought his ranking up from No. 110 to No. 74, his first time inside the top 75. Then, at the 2007 US Open, Tsonga defeated Óscar Hernández before beating Tim Henman in what proved to be Henman's last Major. He then lost to Rafael Nadal in three sets. The 2007 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon tournament started strongly for Tsonga. Tsonga beat Vince Spadea, Richard Gasquet, and Olivier Rochus, before losing to compatriot Sébastien Grosjean. He partnered Grosjean, however, in men's doubles, where the team was awarded a wildcard. They beat top seeds Julien Benneteau and Michaël Llodra, Fabrice Santoro and Gilles Simon, and then third seeds Arnaud Clément and Nicolas Mahut in the semifinals. Tsonga won his first doubles title, and Grosjean won his first doubles title in three years by defeating Łukasz Kubot and Lovro Zovko in straight sets. By the end of the year, Tsonga saw his ranking rise over 150 ranking spots into the top 50. Tsonga began 2007 ranked No. 212, and in early July was in the top 100 at No. 74. In October, Tsonga climbed into the top 50 for the first time in his career, finishing the year ranked No. 43. Tsonga's year-end 169 ranking spots climb was the biggest climb of any player ranked in the top 75.
Starting his 2008 season at the 2008 Next Generation Adelaide International, Tsonga defeated Victor Hănescu, Ernests Gulbis and Lleyton Hewitt (the top seed). However, he fell in the semifinals to Jarkko Nieminen. In doubles, Tsonga and Sébastien Grosjean lost to Florian Mayer and Chris Haggard in the first round. Tsonga played doubles in the Sydney Medibank International with Richard Gasquet. They scored a major upset in the final over world No. 1 team Bob and Mike Bryan in a super-tiebreak. Tsonga began his 2008 Australian Open campaign with a tough first-round match against ninth seed Andy Murray and pulled off a four-set victory. Tsonga then defeated Sam Warburg, Guillermo García López, Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, Tsonga shocked second seed Rafael Nadal in straight sets. He did not face a break point on his serve until the third set, while breaking the Spaniard five times in the match. The victory earned him a spot in his first Grand Slam final, where he was beaten by No. 3 Novak Djokovic in four sets. Tsonga was the only player in the tournament to take a set from Djokovic. Following the tournament, he saw his ranking climb to a career-high of No. 18. Tsonga then competed at the Indian Wells Masters, where he reached the fourth round, before losing to defending champion Rafael Nadal in three sets. Following the tournament, Tsonga saw his ATP ranking climb again to a new career high of No. 12. Tsonga pulled out of the French Open because of a knee problem that lasted for several months. This knee injury made him pull out of the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup, France vs. the United States. He underwent successful knee surgery and participated in the 2008 US Open. He defeated Santiago Ventura and Carlos Moyá, before falling to No. 5 Tommy Robredo in the third round. At the Thailand Open he defeated Lukáš Dlouhý, Jürgen Melzer, Gaël Monfils, and Novak Djokovic to claim his first career ATP title. At the Paris Masters, Tsonga overcame Djokovic once again to earn a place in the quarterfinals. He then defeated Andy Roddick and James Blake. In the final, Tsonga defeated David Nalbandian in a competitive three-set match to capture his first career ATP Masters Series championship. His win allowed him to secure a spot in the year-end Tennis Masters Cup. In the round-robin portion of the Masters Cup, Tsonga lost to Nikolay Davydenko and Juan Martín del Potro, and beat Novak Djokovic, but he did not advance to the semifinals.
