Premature end of the season: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga worries about injuries
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has to end the 2020 tennis season early. As the French announced on social networks, the recovery process after a back injury has not yet been fully completed. Tsonga hopes to return in 2021.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Sep 17, 2020, 08:33 am
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will probably remember the 2020 season as a particularly messed up. After a first round at the start of the season in Doha, the 35-year-old had to retire due to an injury in his opening match at the Australian Open. Since then it has been quiet about the former world number five, before he announced a few days ago that he would have to end the tennis year 2020 prematurely.
"I have to tick off in 2020," said Tsonga in a video on social networks. The back injury, which the Frenchman has been suffering from since the Australian Open, continues to bother him, the recovery process has not yet been completed to the point where it is possible to compete. Despite his advanced age of 35, the end of his career is not yet an issue for the French.
Return planned in 2021
"But I still have the morals, the passion, the desire and the motivation to come back in 2021," Tsonga said in the statement. Earlier this year the world ranked 52. in an interview with a French medium emphasized that the idea of the end of a career is now becoming more and more concrete. "I'm moving more towards retirement than the beginning of my career. Of course I'm ready today. Simply because my body tells me that accepting the stresses of my sport will come to an end. I'm prepared for it."
This means that Tsonga will not only be absent from the third Grand Slam of the year, the French Open. The start of the ATP 500 event in Vienna also fell through for the 35-year-old. A tournament at which Tsonga was a regular guest in the past. With the exception of two game years, the Frenchman has competed at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna every year since 2011. In his seven runs, Tsonga made it to the final three times and won the title once.