Today marks the 40th birthday of former French tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Jo-Wilfried was born in Le Mans, France. His father, Didier, was a handball player who later became a chemistry teacher. His mother, Evelyne, also worked as a teacher. Jo-Wilfried has a younger sister, Sarah, and a younger brother, Enzo.
Tsonga started playing tennis at the age of seven. The Frenchman achieved impressive results during his junior career, winning the US Open title in 2003. He also reached the semi-finals at the other three Grand Slam tournaments. Tsonga finished the 2003 season ranked second in the junior rankings, only behind Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.
In 2004, Tsonga began his professional career, winning titles on the Futures and Challenger circuits, and also securing several victories in the main draws of ATP tournaments. The following two seasons were marred by injuries, which limited Tsonga to playing in only three ATP tournaments.
The breakthrough came in 2007. Jo-Wilfried climbed from 212th to 43rd in the world rankings in a single year, earning him the ATP Newcomer of the Year award.
Tsonga began 2008 with a sensational run to the Australian Open final, where he lost to Serbian Novak Djokovic. Following this success, the Frenchman established himself in the Top 20 of the world rankings. On February 27, 2012, Tsonga reached his career-high ranking of world No. 5. He also reached the semi-finals of the French Open twice (in 2013 and 2015) and Wimbledon twice (in 2011 and 2012).
In total, the Frenchman won 18 ATP titles, including Masters 1000 events in Paris and Toronto. He also won the Davis Cup with the French team in 2017. Tsonga earned $22,524,073 in prize money during his career.
Tsonga has two sons, and he and his wife Noura El Shwekh are currently expecting their third child.
In May 2022, the tennis player retired from professional tennis. His last tournament was the 2022 French Open. After retiring from tennis, Tsonga is involved in business and manages his company, All In Groupe.
Rupert Hartwell