The French player spent a joyful decade in the world’s top 20 but a chronic back injury now has him starting from scratch
As Jo Wilfried Tsonga speaks on the phone shortly after a first round loss in a small ATP tournament in Lyon, he laughs as he thinks of how differently he views the sport he loves now compared to during his youth. Tsonga grew up in Sarthe, a small country village near Le Mans, where life was quiet, simple and “far from the luxury things.” As he rose up the tennis ladder, his success was as much an opportunity to simply see the world beyond those humble confines.
“At the beginning, for me playing tennis was also the possibility to live,” he says. “To be able to pay for a house, an apartment. To eat and do things, other activities.” After so long, though, Tsonga now views tennis through a more inwardly facing lens. “Now it’s completely different because I play for 15 years now on the tour and now I’m playing because I always want to do better. I always want to prove to myself that I’m able to do things on the court.”
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