Emotional Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bows out as Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer pay tribute
There were tears and tributes as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga played his last professional match on Tuesday, going down against Casper Ruud in the first round at his beloved Roland Garros.
Tsonga, who has struggled with injury the past few years, had announced earlier this year that the French Open would be his last tournament and it was always going to be an emotional affair on Court Philippe Chatrier.
He gave the French fans plenty to cheer about early on as he stunned Ruud by taking the opening set tie-breaker, but the eighth seed then hit back to win the second set tie-breaker before two breaks in the third set gave the Norwegian a two-set to one lead.
Just as it looked like he would take the match to a fifth set after taking a 6-5 lead, he was unable to serve as he struggled with a right-shoulder injury. He was broken back and called for the trainer, but then proceeded to lose the tie-breaker to eventually go down 6-7 (6-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 7-6 (7-0).
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The curtain comes down @CasperRuud98 ends Tsonga's farewell tour with a 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 6-2, 7-6(0) opening round victory.#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/jOA3HxObxG
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 24, 2022
A special on-court presentation took place in his honour after the match and French players, including Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon and Benoit Paire, attended.
@tsonga7 I #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/2WepHadI0K
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 24, 2022
Tsonga finishes his career with 18 ATP Tour singles titles while he finished
