‘Grace, Pain and Tear’ – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Puts on an Unbelievable Show as He Bids Adieu to Tennis at French Open 2022

Today, at the French Open first round, we saw one of the most emotional matches of the tournament so far between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Casper Ruud. However, it was a sad end to his career, as he wasn’t at his best due to an injury in the fourth set against the no.8 seed, Casper Ruud.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gave everything in his last match at the French Open 2022

In the first set, we saw vintage Tsonga, playing some powerful groundstrokes from both his forehand and backhand side. Eventually, he won the set against Ruud in the tiebreaker and screamed, “I’m back”.

In the second set, things went in favor of Ruud when he broke Tsonga to go up 4-3. However, the Frenchman broke the Norwegian’s service game to go back level again. In identical fashion to the first set, it went to a tie-break and this time, Ruud clinched the second set. 

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The third set saw Tsonga lose his momentum, as could not break Ruud’s consistency. As a result, the no.8 seed won the set 6-2. 

Then, the fourth set brought us more drama when they were about to play another tie-break to decide the match. Tsonga suffered a shoulder injury and called the trainer to check on his right shoulder. After a break, he started playing the match, but could not give his all. At one point, he was almost playing left-handed. 

Eventually, he lost the match in four sets; the match lasted around 3 hours and 49 minutes and the score was 6-7,7-6,6-2,7-6 in favor of Ruud.

Tsonga’s illustrious career

The Frenchman won 18 titles in his career and his most famous win came in 2008 when he won the Paris Masters. Also, he had many battles over the years, especially with the ‘Big Three’, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal. Everyone remembered his famous win against Nadal at the Australian Open semi-final, where he dominated the Spaniard, a very rare feat.

Also, he did the unthinkable against Roger Federer in the quarter-final at Wimbledon 2022, where he beat the Swiss Maestro after going two sets down. That was probably his biggest victory in terms of comebacks.

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Despite his retirement, he will still leave a great legacy behind. Undoubtedly, he will be remembered as one of the greatest French players of all time.