© Getty Images Sport – Clive Brunskill
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga admits not winning a Grand Slam will always be “the biggest disappointment” of his career. Tsonga, a former world No 5, reached his first Grand Slam final when he was 22 at the 2008 Australian Open. In his first lone Grand Slam final, Tsonga suffered a four-set defeat as Novak Djokovic beat the Frenchman 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6.
In the remainder of his career, Tsonga made five more Grand Slam semifinals and for many years he was a top-10 player and one of the best in the world. But Tsonga never accomplished his goal of winning a Grand Slam. On Instagram, Tsonga answered some fan questions.
One fan asked him to name his greatest career pride and his biggest regret. “My greatest pride will remain having been a player with integrity. To have maintained a course of conduct with respect, politeness and self-sacrifice, courage.
My biggest disappointment will be not having won a Grand Slam. That was one of my big goals. I set huge goals for myself at the start of my career,” Tsonga said.
Tsonga recounted losing to Djokovic in the Australian Open final
After losing to Djokovic in the 2008 Australian Open final, Tsonga went on to beat the Serb in their next four meetings.
Later, Tsonga would ask himself and wonder what it was that prevented him from also beating Djokovic in the Australian Open final. “But this final served me well and helped me. The match, the experience. After that, I’m going to win the Masters 1000 in Bercy at the end of the year.
I’m beating Djokovic that week, by the way. The problem is that I really analysed this final the proper way too late. They tell you it’s the technical, physical, mental side. But by analysing every point, hearing things from the outside, you end up getting bogged down.
Sometimes things are much simpler than that. My whole career I’ve been asking myself why. Why did I lose that final when I beat him five times in a row after that? What happened? You never stop thinking. You try, you fall down, you get up, you move on, it’s part of a player’s career. So this final is part of mine,” Tsonga wrote for Eurosport earlier this year.
