It was in tears that it all ended for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 37. During the first round of Roland-Garros, Tuesday May 24, 2022, the famous sportsman was beaten by Casper Ruud after 3:45 of effort in four sets (6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6). This is how he played the last game of his career.
The emotion was more than there on Tuesday on clay. Injured during the match, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga struggled to hold back his tears from the match point. The audience was on their feet and applauded him until the end. Even his opponent, during his victory speech, wished to salute the famous French tennis player by declaring that he was “an inspiration to him and to young people around the world“.
Of course, a tribute was paid to him at the end of the match. After his exploits were remembered, he was given a standing ovation. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is 41 games at Roland-Garros, 18 titles, 121 wins and 169 games. He beat Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic among others. His father, his mother, his brother, his sister, his wife Noura El Shwekh and their two sons, Sugar (5 years old) and the little second who is 9 months old, adorable with his pacifier in his mouth, joined him on the ground.
Then he gave a very moving speech. “I prepared a paper because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to say a little word“, he began, cut by emotion. After thanking his family, his coaches … he of course had a word for the woman of his life: “I’m in front of you without my racquet, which has been my best friend for 30 years. Becoming a dad reshuffled the cards in my life. Thank you Noura for being there every second of my life. My family becomes my priority again and I hope that the world will calm down as I am at peace today.“
It was in April that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga announced that he wanted to end his career.“My head tells me: ‘You can play all your life’, but the body reminds me that my abilities to surpass myself are no longer there. My body tells me: ‘You are no longer able to go further than this. that I give you. Before, that’s what I did every day”he explained. “A few weeks ago, I decided that I was going to stop at Roland this year. This will be my 15th Roland… It took me a while to make this decision. Every day for several years, there is a moment in the day when I say to myself: ‘What am I doing, why am I hurting myself like this, is there still a reason to make all this effort?'”he continued.