It was a great fight between two absolute veterans on Tuesday's ATP tour in Marseille, France. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga against Feliciano Lopez, the 35-year-old French against the 39-year-old Spaniard. In the end it should be the local hero, the four years younger Tsonga, who was able to prevail 7: 5 in the decisive set and thus bought his ticket for the round of 16.

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A rather unspectacular success for a man with the résumé of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But not on this Tuesday in March 2021. "This is probably one of the best wins of my career because it was difficult for me to play tennis. I was in a lot of pain for so many months. Today I won a match. That was one of my goals for these few weeks. I'm as happy as a child, "was what Tsonga was supposed to claim after his victory, a victory that felt better for him than it has been for a long time.

15 months without a win

Because the French had to wait for this sense of achievement. Wait a long time. Tsonga's lean spell lasted for over 15 months on the ATP tour, on a tour on which the 35-year-old could only play two matches in 2020. Only recently, Tsonga spoke quite openly about a possible resignation, which he already had some concrete thoughts on.

But now the 35-year-old seems to have found new fire in himself, right after his success over Lopez, who according to Tsonga is particularly difficult to play indoors, the Frenchman said: "I'm happy today, it's a miracle To have won a match. My goal was to win one match these weeks, now the goal was to win another. "

Tsonga will meet his compatriot Ugo Humbert in the round of 16 of the ATP 250 event in Marseille on Wednesday evening.