Ruud needed 3 hours and 49 minutes to get to the 2nd round. What on paper looked like a decent opening match became a nail-biting affair. The Norwegian won 6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6 after Tsonga struggled through the fourth set. The arm could not withstand the load. He gave everything he had along the way. He finished with tears in his eyes in front of an almost full stadium. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had the whole Philippe Chartier behind him. Around 10,000 at most. The setting around the match was very special. When he broke Ruud’s serve to the position 6-5 in the fourth set, the audience spontaneously broke out in French national anthem. – I do not want to talk about the match. I want to talk about Jo, says Ruud from the middle of the field after the match. SERVED WITH TEARS: Before the last ballad of his career, tears rolled down Tsonga’s cheek. Photo: GONZALO FUENTES / Reuters – You have been an inspiration to me and many other young players around the world. Thank you for all the memories, the Norwegian continues, while the Frenchman nods appreciatively. Ended the career The main stage of the French Open cheered for every point and “Allez Jo” resounded from all corners of the stadium. Everyone knew this was his last tournament. Almost everyone understood that this was going to be his last match. IMPRESSED: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga went out in a hundred against Casper Ruud. Photo: PASCAL ROSSIGNOL / Reuters For a long time he has been good enough to catch up with the world elite. Injuries and a myriad of restarts have sent him down the rankings, and it’s almost three years since he last won a tournament. Number 297 in the ranking should not really be able to compare with number eight in the world. But Tsonga – with a growing number of spectators in the back – shook Ruud. He stood well in the ball exchanges, varied the game and forced errors. The first set he took surprisingly after the tiebreak. The glimpses of old greatness came in droves. In two and a half hours, he rose almost 300 places in the rankings. FRUSTRATED: Casper Ruud struggled to crack the code for the first two hours. Photo: Michel Euler / AP Even when Ruud broke Tsonga’s serve to the position 4-3, the Frenchman responded by breaking straight back. But the tiebreak in the second set tipped in Norwegian favor. Then it was also towards the end of Tsonga’s career. He was close to breaking back on the direct in the third set as well, but Ruud won comfortably. Tsonga was given a full opportunity to extend to five sets. He broke Ruud and could serve for the fourth set. But then the pain became too great. In the third tiebreak of the match, he was in fact without a chance. Now Emil Ruusuvuori is waiting in the 2nd round for Ruud. The match is played on Thursday. Beating all the stars Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is a figure who splits in France. At his best, he was an artist with his explosiveness, pace and variety in the game. But the question many have never received an answer to is the same as Norwegians ask themselves about John Carew: “How good could he really be?”. Novak Djokovic calls him one of the most charismatic and energetic players on the ATP Tour. Often among the top ten, but never the best. For he was never a tennis player on his neck, like Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer. He never had the dedication of Djokovic or Andy Murray. But in his best days, he was the best in the world. Unbeatable. Like when he won the Masters tournament in Toronto in 2014 by beating Federer, after knocking out Djokovic and Murray on the road. BIG PLAYER: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the first to beat Djokovic, Murray and Federer on his way to a six-year title when he did so in 2014. Photo: RONALD MARTINEZ / AFP Five of the world Tsonga was at his very best ranked number five in the world . He reached the final of the Australian Open as a 22-year-old in 2008, but never became a Grand Slam winner. Four times he has lost out of the semifinals. In total, there were 18 titles as a single player on the ATP tour, two of them of the most generous variety. In addition, they won Olympic silver and four titles in doubles. The end of his career may not have gone as Tsonga had hoped, but it still went far better than expected. At home – in front of 10,000 Frenchmen – he showed that he can still catch up with the stars.
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Ruud’s opponent with tears in his eyes after a wild match – NRK Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
