Jo-Wilfried Tsonga takes WC in Halle, joining Roger Federer and Zverev
Back in February last year, one of the greatest indoor players on the Tour in the previous decade Jo-Wilfried Tsonga entered Montpellier as one of the title favorites, beating Nicolas Mahut and Andrey Rublev to reach the quarters. There, Jo was on the verge of beating Lucas Pouille when he suffered a nasty knee injury that had kept him away from the court for seven months, sending him out from the top-100 in October for the first time since 2007! The Frenchman made a shaky return in Metz in September, losing five of the last six matches and starting to prepare for a comeback in 2019.
Ranked outside the top-230, Tsonga was back at his best in Brisbane, beating Thanasi Kokkinakis, Taro Daniel and Alex de Minaur to reach the first semi-final in almost a year. Novak Djokovic was too strong in the second round at the Australian Open and Tsonga went home to conquer the title in Montpellier where his problems started a year ago. Jo lost to Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-final in Rotterdam and had to slow down in the next couple of weeks, returning in Marrakech where he advanced into the semi-final and playing in the last eight at Bordeaux Challenger to crack the top-100 again.
After Lyon and Roland Garros, Tsonga will kick off the grass swing in Stuttgart with protected ranking and his next stop would be Halle, receiving a wild card and returning to Roger-Federer-Allee 4 for the first time in ten years, losing in the second round to Tommy Haas back in 2009! Ever since 2007 when he qualified for the main draw and won two matches at Queen's, Jo usually opted to play there instead of Halle, finishing runner-up in 2011 to Andy Murray and playing in the semis two years later as well. With his explosive and aggressive game, the Frenchman has been one of the players to watch in the last 15 years or so on grass, conquering Nottingham Challenger at the age of 19 in 2004 and another one in Surbiton three years later.
In the following weeks, Jo played in the third round at Queen's and the fourth round at Wimbledon to make a name for himself and continue charge towards the top. Between 2010-12, Tsonga was the quarter-finalist at Wimbledon once and the semi-finalists in back-to-back years, playing in another quarter-final three years ago and missing the third Grand Slam of the season last year with that knee injury. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga joins the stellar field in Halle, challenging Roger Federer, Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Kei Nishikori, Borna Coric and others, maybe from the very first round considering his ranking.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2JUS7KI
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