Jo-Wilfried Tsonga · Biography

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga played his first ATP Tour main-draw match at the China Open in Beijing in September 2004. He had won three qualifying matches to get there, and in the first round he beat the top seed, Carlos Moyá, before losing to Lee Hyung-taik. He was born on 17 April 1985 in Le Mans, France. A right-hander with a two-handed backhand, he won 18 ATP singles titles, reached the 2008 Australian Open final and rose to No. 5 in the world on 27 February 2012.

Family and junior years

His father, Didier Tsonga, is Congolese and played handball. His mother, Évelyne, is French. Tsonga first made his name in junior tennis in 2003, when he won the US Open boys' singles title by beating Marcos Baghdatis in the final. In the same season he reached the boys' semifinals at the other three Grand Slam events, and on 13 October 2003 he climbed to No. 2 in the ITF junior rankings.

Injuries and the 2007 breakthrough

He turned professional in 2004, but injuries held back his early career. A herniated disc kept him out until March 2005, and between August 2004 and November 2006 he played only eight ATP events. His breakthrough came in 2007. He entered the Australian Open as a wildcard and took the first set from Andy Roddick in a 20-18 tiebreak, then lost in four sets. At Wimbledon he reached the fourth round, where Richard Gasquet beat him in straight sets. At the US Open he beat Tim Henman before losing to Rafael Nadal. He started the year ranked No. 212 and finished it at No. 43.

2008: the Melbourne final and first titles

At the 2008 Australian Open he beat Nadal 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals. In the final he faced Novak Djokovic, won the first set 6-4 and lost the next three, the last on a tiebreak. Later that year he won his first ATP title in Bangkok, beating Djokovic 7-6, 6-4 in the final. In November he won the Paris Masters, beating David Nalbandian 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the final. He ended the season with his first appearance at the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

Grand Slam semifinals and world No. 5

In 2009 he added titles in Johannesburg, Marseille and Tokyo. In the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2011 he came back from two sets down to beat Roger Federer, then lost to Djokovic in the semifinals. That November he reached the final of the ATP Finals in London, which Federer won. On 27 February 2012 he reached No. 5 in the rankings. That summer he made the Wimbledon semifinals again, and at the London Olympics he won a silver medal in men's doubles with Michaël Llodra. They lost the final to Bob and Mike Bryan in straight sets. At Roland Garros he reached the semifinals in 2013 and 2015.

Toronto 2014 and the Davis Cup

On 10 August 2014 he won his second Masters 1000 title in Toronto, beating Federer 7-5, 7-6 in the final. He beat four top-10 players during the tournament. The same year, France won the Hopman Cup and finished runner-up in the Davis Cup. In 2017 he was part of the French team that won the Davis Cup, beating Belgium 3-2 in the final in Lille from 24 to 26 November. Tsonga won his first-day singles match against Steve Darcis and lost the fourth rubber to David Goffin 7-6, 6-3, 6-2. It was France's tenth title in the competition and its first since 2001.

Farewell at Roland Garros

After several seasons disrupted by injury, he announced in April 2022 that Roland Garros would be his last tournament. He received a main-draw wildcard and lost in the first round on 24 May 2022 to Norway's Casper Ruud, the eighth seed. Tsonga won the first set on a tiebreak but lost in four sets. He finished the match with a shoulder injury and came into the event ranked No. 297. He retired with a singles record of 467 wins and 238 losses, 18 ATP titles, four doubles titles and US$22,524,073 in prize money.