Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Background

Tsonga has mixed heritage having a French mother, Evelyne, and a Congolese father. As a child, he and fellow tennis player Gaël Monfils would practice together and spend hours trying to develop a serve like Andy Roddick’s.

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.

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.

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 Cilic 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 US 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 Lukasz 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.

Source: Wikipedia