Match report

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga © Tennistalk.com
Grand Prix Hassan II
Semi final
5/23/08 Tot
fr  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
fr  Gilles Simon Gilles Simon won on walkover
Gilles Simon © Tennistalk.com

  • Tsonga a doubt for Roland Garros

    5/24/08 12:28 AM | David Cox
    The curse of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s right knee strikes again. It forced him out of the Davis Cup tie against USA at the start of April, kept him out of Monte Carlo and now it looks to have curtailed his French Open hopes.

    It’s a huge blow for French tennis, Tsonga looked set to shoulder the burden of most of their hopes in the men’s draw. Now it will be down to the out of form Richard Gasquet and the likes of Mathieu and Simon to ensure French fans have plenty to cheer about.

    Tsonga did not even set foot on court today and at the moment it’s unclear just how long he will be out for. Will he miss a large part or all of the grass season ? Having won Surbiton and featured in the latter stages of Queens last year, it’s a potentially large chunk of points he does not want to miss out on.

    Tsonga enjoyed outstanding success as a junior and when he first started on the pro circuit, winning multiple challengers and futures in a short space of time on all surfaces. He would surely have made his big breakthrough onto the world stage a lot sooner if he’d not had one of the more fragile bodies on tour, he’s become accustomed to long injury breaks. Considering all this and his physically demanding game style it’s no surprise that he avoided the clay for nearly 2 years before this season.

    The injury toll is mounting in this event with Younes El Aynaoui also pulling out, before his quarter-final on Thursday. Tsonga’s withdrawal was slightly ironic as Simon had struggled a bit with an injury at the start of his quarter-final against Marc Gicquel

Tell a friend »

Other articles related to the tournament

Click here fore more articles

Comments


Write comment

You have to be logged in to comment. If you do not have an account, click here to register. It only takes a minute and you'll be redirected back to this page.
Username:

Password: