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 paté").

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 and 2008 ATP Most Improved Player 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...Has a 6-0 career Davis Cup record (5-0 in singles) in three ties...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.

2009 -- The top Frenchman finished in Top 10 for second straight year, captured a personal-best three ATP World Tour titles and career-high 53 match wins…Became first Frenchman to finish in Top 10 in back-to-back years since Yannick Noah from1985-87…Overall he reached QF or better in 12 tournaments…Compiled a 19-3 in first six events, winning third and fourth ATP World Tour titles of career at Johannesburg (d. Chardy) and Marseille (d. Llodra) and four QF finishes at Brisbane (l. to Gasquet), Sydney (w/o to Nieminen w/back injury), Australian Open (l. to Verdasco) and Rotterdam (l. to Nadal)…After failing to defend runner-up points from ‘08 Australian Open, fell from No. 7 to No. 14 on February 2 (would spend almost three months outside Top 10 before returning at end of April)…

In next 11 events, reached QF or better twice, at Miami* (l. to Djokovic in QF) and Montreal* (l. to Murray in SF after beating Federer down 1-5 in third set)…Had nine pre-QF exits, incl. all three Grand Slams in that period, at Roland Garros (l. to del Potro in 4th), Wimbledon (l. to Karlovic in 3rd) and US Open (l. to Gonzalez in 4th)…In October he reached SFs in Bangkok (l. to Troicki) and captured his third ATP World Tour title in Tokyo (d. Youzhny)…Served as alternate at Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London…Went 5-5 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled marks of 41-14 on hard, 8-4 on clay and 2-2 on grass…Also co-leader (w/Roddick) with a personal-best 33 tie-break sets won (33-17)…In doubles, earned titles in Brisbane (w/Gicquel) and Shanghai* (w/Benneteau).

2010

Began season at Australian Open, his fourth straight appearance, where he was named No. 10 seed… Despite playing 10 previous Grand Slam events and being unbeaten in Davis Cup play, Tsonga had never played a five-set match until the last 16, when he defeated No. 26 seed Almagro 9-7 in fifth set...Became first Frenchman in a Grand Slam SF since Monfils at 2008 Roland Garros, after beating No. 3 Djokovic 76 67 16 63 61 in QFs…Fell to top seed Federer 62 63 62 in just 88 minutes in SFs…It guaranteed a Top 10 ranking on February 1…He has never gone beyond the fourth round at the three other Grand Slams.