French tennis star Tsonga sets out for retirement on his own terms

French veteran Jo-Wilfried Tsonga targeted a return to an acceptable level of tennis before stepping back from the circuit he has graced for the best part of two decades. 

French tennis star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga says his retirement is imminent but he will only stop playing when he has reached what he considers an acceptable level of tennis. Christophe SIMON AFP

The 36-year-old - ranked 243 in the world after a gruelling series of injuries - will play compatriot Gilles Simon in the first round at the Open 13 in Marseille on Tuesday night.

It will be the 13th meeting on the ATP circuit between the former roommates at the French National Training Centre in Paris.

Tsonga boasts nine victories over his old mucker - two of them at the Open 13.

Simon, 37, who has twice claimed the Marseille crown, won their last clash in straight sets in Antwerp in 2019.

"I still want to have a good time on the court and plan my exit," said Tsonga who has lifted three of his 18 titles in Marseille.

"I'm very happy because there's been an evolution and as the matches go on I can feel that the automatisms are coming back into place. I'm not there yet but physically I am more and more free. I continue to progress."

Problems

Illness has also hampered Tsonga's twilight as the most successful French tennis player of his generation.

Sickle cell anaemia - a genetic disease affecting red blood cells and causing severe fatigue - has added a strand of suffering to the knee and back problems.

Tsonga's 2020 season was wiped out after he retired in the first round at the Australian Open through injury. And the 2021 campaign was over by July - also due to injury.

"But today I have no more pain and that's extraordinary," Tsonga added.

Defiance

"I have some restrictions linked to my injuries ... that's obvious because you don't come out of a double herniated disc, operations on each knee and frozen joints without some changes."

But with the end of his playing days in sight, he said the adaptations forced upon him had given him a new ambition.

"I could very well have said to myself: 'I quit' when I pulled out in Australia in 2020. I could have said to myself: 'It's OK, I've worked hard enough for a year to come back and I'm back.

"But it's a challenge I set myself: to stop ... but at a time when I've decided to do so. At a time when I'm capable of playing at a certain level."

Limits

That standard is unlikely to be as powerful, compelling and flamboyant as during his halcyon days when he and Simon featured in the world's top 10 and were considered dangerous opponents by the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Tsonga, with his appearance in the 2008 Australian Open final, remains the only active Frenchman to have contested a Grand Slam showdown - a fact Simon picked up on in his book Ce sport qui rend fou, which was published last year.

"If I have to go and play matches in the lower levels," said Tsonga. "I go because I know very well that it's only by playing matches again and by making the maximum number of points and in real match situations that I'll continue to progress.

 "I have to get back to a good level so I can enjoy myself and leave with my head held high."