Jo-Wilfried Tsonga plans to have fun at the French Open – Tennis News
France’s top player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, has said that he does not have much chance of winning the French Open but will try to at least have some fun during the second Grand Slam of the season.
Tsonga is always in a good mood on the court and thrills the crowd by his actions. Talking to the reporters at Roland Garros, the Frenchman said, "I don't have any pressure. For me it's just a pleasure to be here."
The 27-year-old, who started the year by winning the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in January, failed in getting any good results during the pre French Open clay court tournaments.
Playing his first event on the slowest surface, Tsonga was beaten by lower ranked countryman, Gilles Simon, in straight sets 5-7, 4-6 in the quarter-finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. He was stunned by the then world number
134, Tommy Haas of Germany, again in straight sets 1-6, 4-6 in the second round of the BMW Open.
The Frenchman failed to make any mark at the Mutua Madrid Open, losing to Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov, ranked 20th at the time, in three sets 5-7, 6-3, 6-7(2) in the round of 16. In his last tournament before the Roland
Garros, he was toppled by reigning world number one, Novak Djokovic, 5-7, 1-6 in the quarter-finals.
Tsonga came into the lime light when he reached the Australian Open final in 2008, losing to Djokovic in a four set thriller 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-7(2).
The Frenchman thinks that none of the French players, including him, have any chance of winning this year’s French Open.
He said, "At the moment, no one would place a bet on one of us (French) winning a tournament, a Grand Slam tournament.”
The right-hander added, "Each time I sign for a tournament, the objective is to go all the way. But we have never won any Grand Slam (besides Noah in the post-1968 era), whatever the surface. We can't claim that we are going to
win it. Maybe we're capable of winning it, but we can't say, I'm going to win. I can't walk in Roland Garros and say, I'm going to win.”
Yannick Noah, who won the 1983 Roland Garros, is still the last French player to win a Grand Slam.
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