Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Nicknamed "Ali" and LeMome (The Kid)...Father, Didier, is a former handball player (European handball) and chemistry teacher; mother, Evelyne, is a teacher; younger brother, Enzo, is a basketball player and part of group of young players training at National Institute of Sports in Vincennes (suburb of Paris)...Says he got strength from his father and kindness from his mother...His parents still live in Le Mans where his father went to study and where he met his mother who lived there (Le Mans is located in west of France and famous (at least in France) for two things: 1) 24 hours of Le Mans, an endurance car race; 2) les Rillettes (pronouce: "Reeyett" a "pork meat pat")...Finished 2003 as No. 2 junior in world (behind Baghdatis; Reached SF at Australian Open juniors in 2002-03 along with Roland Garros and Wimbledon in '03...Won US Open junior title (d. Baghdatis); Won first career junior title at 2002 Canadian Open (d. Bayer) and runner-up at Victorian Junior Championships that year (l. to Gasquet); Also won title at 2003 Luxembourg Indoor Junior Championships...Named 2007 ATP Newcomer of Year...The BNP Paribas Masters final in Paris against Nalbandian was second highest audience on French TV Canal+ in 2008 for a Sunday sports program, peaking at 1.3 million viewers on match point...Coached by countryman and former ATP pro Eric Winogradsky.

2001 -- As a 16-year-old, reached SF at France Futures #15...

2002 -- Reached five SF in 11 Futures events...Compiled a 19-11 Futures record...

2003 -- Went 19-12 in Futures events, reaching his first Futures final and SF at three other events...Played three Challenger events, reached 2nd RD at all three...Finalist at Germany Futures (w/Roger-Vasselin)...

2004 -- Improved over 200 ranking positions with 18-7 record in Challenger play and two titles (11-9 in Futures)...Earned win in his first ATP event in Beijing, defeating No. 5 Moya (l. to Lee)...Made AMS debut in Paris and defeated Ancic before losing to Canas...Fired third fastest serve on ATP circuit for year, 144 mph (232 KmH) in Paris...Won Futures titles at Spain #11 in May and claimed Challenger titles at Nottingham (d. Bogdanovic) and Togliatti (d. Svarc)...

2005 -- Only played eight tournaments...Missed five months from November 2004 to March '05 with a herniated disc, then suffered two injuries to his right shoulder later in year...Also sidelined with back and abdominal injuries from October to February '06...In between injuries, won Leon Challenger title (d. Weiner) in April and France #17 Futures (d. Popp) in October... Received a wild card into Roland Garros (l. to Roddick)...

2006 -- Limited to eight tournaments due to reoccuring back and abdominal problems...Sidelined from May to mid-September...Compiled a 19-1 record in Futures, winning three titles in four finals...Also won Rennes Challenger title (d. Summerer) and reached final at Lanzarote Challenger (l. to Prpic).

2007 -- Finished in Top 50 for first time at No. 43 with consistent results in ATP and Challenger level play...Put together a 14-10 mark in ATP tournaments and 24-5 in Challengers with four titles...Opened season with four-sets loss to No. 7 Roddick in 1st RD at Australian Open and won first set in a 20-18 tie-break (longest in tournament history)...In March, captured France Futures #5 title (d. Juska) and two weeks later won Tallahassee (Fla.) Challenger title (d. De Voest)...In three of his next four tournaments between April-June, won titles in Mexico City (d. Echagaray), Lanzarote (d. Baccanello), Spain, and Surbiton (d. Karlovic)...At Queen's, lost in 3rd RD with wins over Pless and No. 16 Hewitt (l. to Cilic)...Continued grass success at Wimbledon where he won in straight sets over Benneteau, Lapentti and Lopez before falling to countryman Gasquet in 4th RD...At US Open, beat Hernandez and Henman (in Briton's last match), then lost to Nadal in 3rd RD...Finished season with solid results in his native country with QF in Metz (l. to Murray), SF in Lyon (d. No. 11 Gasquet, l. to Grosjean) and 2nd RD at AMS Paris (l. to Gasquet)...Also won first ATP doubles title in Lyon (w/Grosjean)...Went 0-3 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled marks of 6-7 on hard, 5-2 on grass and 3-1 on carpet.

2008 -- The top Frenchman broke into Top 10 with two titles, including maiden AMS shield in Paris...Qualified for Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai with Paris title and broke into Top 10 for first time at No. 7 from No. 14...Along with Simon, it was first time two Frenchmen finished in Top 10 since 1986 with No. 4 Yannick Noah and No. 6 Henri Leconte... Reached SF in Adelaide (d. Hewitt, l. to Nieminen) before first career final at Australian Open, defeating No. 9 Murray (1st Rd.), No. 8 Gasquet (4th Rd.) and No. 2 Nadal (SF) before falling in four sets to No. 3 Djokovic...Afterwards, climbed from No. 38 to No. 18...In February, made Davis Cup debut against Romania...In May, advanced to SF in Casablanca, but withdrew prior to match (vs. Simon) with right knee injury that kept him out for three months following surgery on May 27...Upon return, went 16-4 in six tournaments, advancing to 3rd RD at US Open (l. to Robredo), winning his first ATP title in Bangkok (d. Djokovic) and reaching 3rd RD in Tokyo and AMS Madrid (l. to Federer)... Closed with SF in Lyon (l. to Benneteau) and title run at AMS Paris where he beat three Top 10 opponents -- No. 3 Djokovic (3rd RD), No. 7 Roddick (QF) and No. 8 Nalbandian (F) -- and fired a career high 25 aces in final...Also defeated No. 11 Blake in SF...Was 8-5 vs. Top 10 opponents with three losses coming to top trio of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic (did beat Djokovic three times during year)...Won 20 more matches than previous season, best among Top 10...Compiled marks of 27-11 on hard and 4-2 on clay.

The top Frenchman captured a career-high three ATP World Tour titles and won more than 40 matches during the season...He reached the QFs or better in eight of 15 tournaments in the first eight months of the season

He captured titles in Johannesburg (d. Chardy) and Marseille (d. Llodra) in the first two months... Made his second appearance in Davis Cup play and accounted for France's two points in 3-2 loss to Czech Republic with singles wins over Radek Stepanek and Jan Hernych in dead rubber…In mid-March, reached the third round at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, defeating Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili in his opening match (after a bye) before falling to No. 22 Igor Andreev…Followed with a QF showing at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, defeating countryman Gilles Simon in three sets before falling to eventual finalist Novak Djokovic.

In his season clay-court debut in Rome, lost in the first round to countryman Richard Gasquet…He then lost in the second round in Madrid, beating former No. 1 Marat Safin before losing to Ivan Ljubicic…In his second appearance at Roland Garros, reached the fourth round for the first time, falling to No. 5 del Potro.

Transferred to grass and suffered a second-round exit in Halle (l. to eventual champ Haas) before reaching the third round at Wimbledon, where he lost to Ivo Karlovic in a fourth-set tie-break – the Croatian fired 47 aces.

The Frenchman lost his opening match at Washington to John Isner in a third-set tie-break before hitting back to reach the semi-finals at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Montreal, defeating World No. 1 Roger Federer in the semi-finals in a third-set tie-break – having recovered from a 1-5 deficit in the final set…Lost out to Andy Murray in the semis.

In October he won his fifth career ATP World Tour title in Tokyo, defeating Mikhail Youzhny in final.