"You’ll just be remembered as ‘The Coach’": Jo-Wilfried Tsonga embroiled in bitter war of words with Patrick Mouratoglou

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has hit back at Patrick Mouratoglou for stating that his prime was just for one season and that he will only be remembered in his career as a coach, commentator, event organiser, patron and nothing more.

Tsonga said that he will never know what it is like to step on court and feel in his bones what tennis players do. It all started a few weeks ago when he appeared on Univers Tennis suggesting that Alcaraz and Sinner are dominating solely because of a lack of quality opponents. He said that the surety isn't there as there isn't a Federer, Nadal etc to back up against him and would've liked to see him duke it out against Del Potro, Murray and others.

“He is complete, but is he stronger than those players [Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer] mentally, physically? We don’t really know," said Tsonga.

“I would have liked to see him win Roland-Garros by beating [Juan Martin] Del Potro in the third round, [Andy] Murray in the round of 16, Novak in the quarter-finals, Roger in the semifinals and Rafa in the final.”

This saw Mouratoglou hit back and call out Tsonga for devaluing the achievements of Sinner and Alcaraz and said that players from the previous era including Tsonga likely wouldn't have beaten even Auger-Aliassime, Draper and others who now inhabit the spots behind the big two.

“His point is clear: different eras, different adversity. And this is exactly where I disagree.

“I don’t believe for one second that today’s top players are weaker or less dangerous than those of previous generations. Players like [Jack] Draper, [Holger] Rune, [Alex] De Minaur, [Taylor] Fritz, [Ben] Shelton, [Felix] Auger-Aliassime are huge players. Really huge. And I’m not even sure that anyone from the previous generation would beat them on a regular basis.”

“Saying that Alcaraz and Sinner dominate mainly because of a lack of opposition doesn’t give them the credit they fully deserve. The level today is unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.”

The debate was fired up even more on social media as Mouratoglou replied to a comment that Tsonga would have beaten Auger-Aliassime and Draper almost every time. “Prime Jo was only one season," replied Mouratoglou which as we soon found out got the back up of the Frenchman.

For reference, Tsonga finished runner-up to Djokovic at the 2008 Australian Open and against Federer at the 2011 ATP Finals and he reached World No.5 in the ATP Rankings in 2012 a year later so a lot longer than a year.

He also reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2012 and the last four at Roland Garros in 2013 and 2015 and won two ATP Masters 1000 titles in Paris back in 2008 as well as the Canadian Open in 2014. Tsonga as expected took offence to this albeit at first it was more of a respectful reply.

"You need to show some respect for the player I was when you claim in your comments that I only played well for one season.

“I think I have the right to ask myself the question: would I have liked to see Sinner and Alcaraz in the same Grand Slam as Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, [Stan] Wawrinka, Del Potro, and many other players?”

He continued with a personal dig that he is in no position to talk as a coach, commentator and event organiser and never someone who has stepped into that circle that Tsonga inhabited. "I think you’ll just be remembered as ‘The Coach’, the commentator, the event organiser, the patron, and honestly, I congratulate you for that. But you’ll never have felt in your bones what it’s like to be a tennis player and step into the arena; you don’t know what that’s like.

“You’re not in the best position to correct me or give me lessons on top-level tennis. Call me if you want to talk about tennis. But there’s no need to embarrass me on social media and to use my image.”