Casper Ruud sends Jo-Wilfried Tsonga into retirement at Roland Garros

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bid farewell to tennis with an inspiring effort against Casper Ruud that saw him lose the match 7-6(8) 6-7(4) 2-6 6-7(0).

Tsonga did not play much tennis this year and even when he played he did not perform very well, especially against some of the best players on the Tour. This time around he decided to bring some of the best tennis he had left against Ruud who did not play his best to be fair, but he did enough. The first set featured Tsonga utilising his serve and forehand and the Norwegian struggled to handle it.

We ended up in a tiebreak and Tsonga actually won it with brave play as Ruud kind of messed up towards the end of it. The Norwegian continued to struggle with Tsonga in the 2nd set as well. He barely held his serve early in the 2nd set but also missed a couple of break points in the next game. We once again finished up in the tiebreak and Tsonga took an early 3-1 lead.

He was unable to hold that high level in the tiebreak and Ruud won it 7-4. In the next set, Tsonga continued to struggle physically as Ruud finally found his game and raced to a 6-2 finish. The final set featured a more inspired Tsonga giving his all one final time and he was very competitive in that one. He held his serve with ease and actually broke Ruud for the 6-5 lead.

However, he also injured his arm during that time which really hampered him. He was unable to serve out the set because the pain was too strong. He took a brief MTO before the tiebreak but he could not continue playing at all and lost it 7-0. A great career for Tsonga and it ended today in Paris.