“It’s never easy … you have to test your mind to understand whether you really want to play again”, with these words Jo-Wilfried Tsonga spoke to the media in 2018 after knee surgery. From that moment on, he returned after about five months, but it seemed to everyone that he had never seen the tennis player who had done so well before.
In 2019, however, things changed with the semi-final at the Australian Open against Novak Djokovic, who however lost in three sets and the win in two tournaments at the Open Sude de France against Pierre-Hugues Humbert and at the Marseille Open in the final against Aljaz Bedene.
The French seemed to be back on the road to success, but then things got complicated again in 2020 and physical issues are still a serious thought on Jo-Wilfried’s head. Shortly before 2021, we are all curious to understand what will happen.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and the physical problems of 2021
Tsongas 2020 started with the Australian Open, where he had to retire in the first round with a back injury against “host” Alexey Popyrin, a tennis player who Tsonga had as an idol.
Here are some of Popyrin’s words: “I’ve never felt like this after a match. Seeing him suffer and pulling out of that match was really just painful.” Between the rest of the lower back injury and that Tsonga had time to postpone the tournaments for 2021.
According to Roger Federer, Tsonga is one of the serious absences of the Melbourne tournament. Here are his words: “Despite the great progress made over the months, I still can’t play in the tennis world.
I still have the morale and motivation to return in 2021, but we’ll see what happens and how those things play out. It would be a dream to get back on the field and fight against all these great athletes on the tour.
“Right now, however, Tsonga is 35 years old and has several physical issues. He is faced with the reality and tennis environment that has been profoundly changed (even if he lives in a bubble) by the pandemic.
He hasn’t toured in about a year but he just has to hope to recover soon but in the meantime he doesn’t take anything for granted and expects things to improve with daily work.
–
