“Naturally it’s him who bothered me a lot”: Jo-Wilfred Tsonga explains why Andy Murray was tougher to face than the entire Big-3

Th former world No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga spoke about his rivalry with Andy Murray, which is marked by a curious statistic: the Brit was the player who caused him the most problems in his career—even more so than facing Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal.

The Frenchman, who coincided with the best years of the Big-3 (or Big Four), was one of the few who managed to challenge their dominance. Along with Tomas Berdych and Stan Wawrinka, he is one of the only three players to have beaten all the members of the Big-Four at least once at a Grand Slam. He is also one of seven players to have won a title at a tournament featuring all members of the Big-Four.

Curiously, the opponent who complicated things most for Tsonga was Murray, whom he could only beat twice in 16 encounters—his worst H2H statistic against a member of the Big-4. Although Tsonga is down in all head-to-heads, he managed to challenge Federer (6-10), Nadal (4-10), and Djokovic (6-17) several times in his career.

The Frenchman achieved a total of 45 wins over Top-10 players, and 18 of them were against members of the Big-4, with his worst record being against the 3-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray (2-14). In a recent interview with Univers Tennis, the former World No. 5 explained the reasons why Murray became his biggest nightmare on the Tour.

"You were up against the 3 greatest players, but why is it the 4th guy Murray who was your main problem? What troubled you in particular in this matchup?"

Tsonga responded: "Well, that’s because my strengths would play right into his own strengths. So… I was serving well but then he returned well. I liked to play by changing the rhythm but it wasn’t bothering him. If I hit a chip, he would just chip it back. So you know what I mean."

"He plays the right shot, generally speaking as a player, he sure did. He was often able to block me, pretty fine tactician. When I got going and really turned on the power, even then, he was able to find spots that would shut me down. So naturally it’s him who bothered me a lot."

Tsonga is, along with Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro, one of the only players to have achieved victories over Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic at least once while they were World No. 1.

Tsonga vs Federer 6-12

Tsonga vs Nadal: 4-10

Tsonga vs Djokovic: 6-17

Tsonga vs Murray: 2-14