Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

File:Tsonga.jpg Tsonga at the 2008 Australian Open
Country (sports)	France
Residence	Le Mans, France
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[
Turned pro	2004
Plays	Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Prize money	$484,813
Singles
Career record	19 - 15
Career titles	0 ATP
Highest ranking	No. 38 (January 7, 2008)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	F (2008*)
French Open	1st (2005)
Wimbledon	4th (2007)
US Open	3rd (2007)
Doubles
Career record	11 - 6
Career titles	2 ATP
Highest ranking	No. 89 (January 14, 2008)
Last updated on: January 24, 2008.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Petsonga (born April 17, 1985) is a French professional tennis player.

Tsonga has a career high ranking of #38, achieved on January 7, 2008. At the 2007 Australian Open, he took the first set off Andy Roddick in a twenty points to eighteen tiebreak. At the 2008 Australian Open, Tsonga defeated number 14 seed Mikhail Youzhny, number 9 seed Andy Murray, number 8 seed Richard Gasquet, and number 2 seed Rafael Nadal to reach the final. In doing so, Tsonga became the first player to reach his first-ever ATP-level final at a Grand Slam event since Gustavo Kuerten (1997 French Open).

Background

Born in Le Mans, Tsonga is a of mixed heritage having a French mother, Evelyne, and a Congolese father, Didier Tsonga, who moved to France in the 1970s to play handball. Both of his parents now work as teachers in France. Tsonga also has an older sister, Sasha, and a younger brother, Enzo, who is a part of the French junior basketball program.

He has a cousin Charles N'Zogbia playing for Newcastle United as a midfielder.

As a child, he and fellow tennis player Gaël Monfils would spend hours trying to develop a serve just like Andy Roddick's.

Players on the ATP circuit have nicknamed Tsonga "the Muhammad Ali of Tennis" due to his striking resemblance to Muhammad Ali, who is one of his heroes. Tsonga is coached by compatriot Eric Winogradsky.

Tennis career

Early career

Tsonga had a successful junior career, winning the U.S. Open Juniors title in 2003 by defeating Marcos Baghdatis in the final, and also reached the semi-final stage of the other three Grand Slam events.

After turning pro in 2004, Tsonga suffered a string of injuries beginning in late 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 reinjuring of an abdominal injury at the end of 2006. In all, he only played 8 tournaments over that span of years.

2007

In January 2007 he received a wild card into the 2007 Australian Open, where in only his second senior Grand Slam match he met up with sixth seed Andy Roddick. Tsonga's singles rank at the time was #212 and– in the longest tiebreaker in Australian Open history– he defeated Roddick in the first set (20-18). Tsonga forced a tiebreaker in the second, losing it and taking only two points, and went on to lose the match 6-7 (18), 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-3. At the time, he was 21 years old.

In 2007, he 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 scored victories in 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 world number one Lleyton Hewitt, ranked #16 in the ATP rankings. Tsonga won the match after two tiebreakers, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2), to seal his most prominent victory since his triumph over Carlos Moya, then ranked #6 in the world, at Beijing in 2004. However, suffering from fatigue, Tsonga went on to lose to promising Croatian youngster Marin Čilić in the following round.

At Wimbledon 2007, where he was again awarded a wild card, he reached the fourth round (his first time past round one of a Slam), defeating Julien Benneteau, Nicolas Lapentti, and Feliciano López. His run was halted by his countryman and friend, 12th seed (14th-ranked) Richard Gasquet, in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. He did not beat a seed in coming to the fourth round (Andy Murray, the potential seed he would have faced, had dropped out). The win brought his ranking up from #110 to #74, his first time inside the top 75.

Then at the 2007 U.S. Open, Tsonga defeated Óscar Hernández 7-5, 6-1, 6-3 in the first round before beating Tim Henman 7-6 (2), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, which resulted in Henman's last Grand Slam match. He then lost to an injured number two Rafael Nadal 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-1.

The 2007 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon tournament started strong for Tsonga. He did not drop a set, beating Vincent Spadea and winning against fourth seed and friend Richard Gasquet (who beat him at Wimbledon) 6-4, 6-4, and then defeating Olivier Rochus. He then lost 6-1, 6-2 to compatriot Sébastien Grosjean. He partnered up with Grosjean, however, in men's doubles, where the team was honored a wildcard. In the first round, the team beat Julien Benneteau and Michaël Llodra, both compatriots and top seeds, 2-6, 6-4 before a retirement. The team defeated compatriots Fabrice Santoro and Gilles Simon in the quarterfinals and third seeds and also compatriots 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 the final 6-4, 6-3.

By the end of the year, Tsonga saw his ranking skyrocket over 150 ranking spots into the top 50. Tsonga began 2007 ranked 212 in the world, and in early July climbed into the top 100 at 74. In October, Tsonga climbed into the top 50 for the first time in his career, finishing the year ranked number 43 in the world. Tsonga's year-end 169 ranking spots climb was the highest of any player ranked inside the top 75.

2008

Starting his 2008 season, Tsonga survived a thriller singles match at the 2008 Next Generation Adelaide International. He defeated Victor Hanescu 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. He scored comfortable, straight sets victories over his next two opponents, defeating Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-2, and Lleyton Hewitt (the top seed) 6-4, 6-2. However, he fell in the semi-finals to Jarkko Nieminen, the third seed, 6-2, 6-4. In doubles, Tsonga and Sébastien Grosjean lost to Florian Mayer and Chris Haggard, 2-6, 7-6 (6), [10-6], in the first round.

Tsonga played doubles in the Sydney Medibank International with friend Richard Gasquet. The French compatriots teamed to become a formidable combination, scoring a major upset in the finals over world number one duo Bob and Mike Bryan (4-6, 6-4, 11-9). The French pair came back from two match points down to win the championship and denying the Bryan brothers from winning the tournament.

Tsonga began his 2008 Australian Open campaign with a tough first round match against 9th seed Andy Murray. Tsonga defeated the Scot 7-5, 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(5), setting up a clash with American qualifier Sam Warburg in the second round. After easily defeating Warburg in straight sets, Tsonga advanced to the third round, where he was victorious over Spaniard Guillermo García López 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. In the fourth round, Tsonga defeated compatriot Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 6-3.

In the quarterfinals, Tsonga played Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, who came into the quarterfinal showdown riding a nine match winning streak. Tsonga dismantled the favored Youzhny in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0, 7-6. In the semifinals, Tsonga delivered a historically strong performance to defeat the number two seed Rafael Nadal, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 to complete back-to-back straight set victories over heavily favored opponents. Tsonga's awesome semi-final performance was characterized by his powerful and precise serve, finesse volleys, and aggressive baseline play. Tsonga did not drop serve the entire match, and did not face a break point until the third set while breaking the fiesty Spaniard five times in the match. The victory earned him a spot in his first career Grand Slam final and also made him the first player since Gustavo Kuerten at the 1997 French Open to make his ATP finals debut at a Grand Slam. He will meet Novak Đoković in the final Sunday, 27 January. If he wins he will become the No. 9 in the world and if he loses, he will become No. 18 in the world.

Career statistics

Legend (Singles)

Grand Slam (0)

Tennis Masters Cup (0)

ATP Masters Series (0)

ATP Tour (0)

Challengers (8)

Futures (6)

Grand Slam Singles finals (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2008	Australian Open	Novak Đoković	6-4 2-1

Singles (8)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	June 14, 2004	Lanzarote	Hard	Daniel Munoz De La Nava	7-5 6-3
2.	July 5, 2004	Nottingham	Grass	Alex Bogdanovic	6-3 6-4
3.	July 26, 2004	Togliatti	Hard	Ladislav Svarc	6-3 7-6
4.	March 28, 2005	León	Hard	Glenn Weiner	7-5 7-5
5.	October 10, 2005	Saint-Dizier	Hard Indoors	Torsten Popp	6-0 7-6(8)
6.	March 13, 2006	Lille	Hard Indoors	Sebastien de Chaunac	7-5 7-5
7.	March 27, 2006	Bath	Hard Indoors	Michael Ryderstedt	6-3 6-2
8.	April 3, 2006	Bath	Hard Indoors	Filip Prpic	6-3 6-1
9.	October 9, 2006	Rennes	Hard Indoors	Tobias Summerer	1-6 7-5 7-5
10.	March 19, 2007	Poitiers	Hard	Andis Juska	6-1 7-5
11.	April 2, 2007	Tallahassee	Hard	Rik De Voest	6-1 6-4
12.	April 9, 2007	Mexico City	Hard	Bruno Echagaray	6-4 2-6 6-1
13.	April 30, 2007	Lanzarote	Hard	Paul Baccanello	6-2 6-2
14.	June 4, 2007	Surbiton	Grass	Ivo Karlović	6-3 7-6

Doubles (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	29 October, 2007	Lyon, France	Carpet	Sébastien Grosjean	Łukasz Kubot Lovro Zovko	6-4, 6-3
2.	13 January, 2008	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Richard Gasquet	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	4-6, 6-4, [11]-[9]

Singles Grand Slam performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the US Open in Flushing Meadows, which concluded on September 9, 2007.

Tournament	2005	2006	2007	2008	Career SR	Career Win-Loss
Australian Open	A	A	1R		0 / 1	0-1
French Open	1R	A	A		0 / 1	0-1
Wimbledon	A	A	4R		0 / 1	3-1
US Open	A	A	3R		0 / 1	2-1
SR	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 3		0 / 4	N/A
Grand Slam Win-Loss	0-1	0-0	5-3		N/A	5-4

Davis Cup matches are included in the statistics.

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

External links

• Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Tsonga Recent Match Results
• Tsonga World Ranking History
• Official site Template:Fr icon
• Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (English)