Former 5th player in the world, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga announces that he will retire after Roland-Garros.

After Roland Garros

“My abilities to surpass myself are no longer there.” This observation is from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and it is synonymous with a page that is turning, for French tennis. At almost 37 years old, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga announced his retirement from sport, in a video published on Wednesday April 6 on his social networks. The player will bow out after Roland-Garros, scheduled for May 22 to June 5. “It’s the tournament that best represents everything I’ve done,” Tsonga said in the video, adding that he wanted to “finish on the pitch“.

Ranked 5th in theworld

Twice semi-finalist at Porte d’Auteuil (2013 and 2015), the Frenchman played in a Grand Slam final in Melbourne in 2008 and has one of the greatest records in the history of French tennis. Before suffering from numerous injuries, the Frenchman marked the world of French tennis, of which he was for a long time No. 1. Ranked 5th in the world at his best, he won 18 singles titles. A well-considered decision His body has given him almost no respite in recent years. In addition to an underlying sickle cell disease (genetic disease affecting red blood cells and causing great fatigue), he suffered from knees, vertebrae, the sacroiliac joint which became calcified. “It took me a long time to make this decision. For many years I said to myself, ‘Why am I hurting myself like this ?’ My head tells me ‘you can play all your life’, but my body reminds me that the skills to surpass myself are no longer there,” said the current 220th in the ATP rankings.