Follow us on Google Discover Jo-Wilfried Tsonga really struggled to play against Andy Murray in his career.
Murray won three Grand Slam titles in his career before retiring at the Paris Olympics last year.
The Briton was actually in 11 major finals in total, with Murray backed to win more Grand Slams without the big three in his way.
While ‘the big three’ of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were the issue for Murray, it was actually the Scot who was the biggest problem for Tsonga.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty ImagesJo-Wilfried Tsonga admits reason why he really struggled against Andy Murray
Tsonga reached a career-high ranking of world number five, and won 18 titles in his career, including two at Masters 1000 level.
However, like many players in that era he struggled against the likes of Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer, with a losing record against all of them.
Despite this, Tsonga’s worst record was actually against Murray, who he only won two of his 16 matches against.
Head-to-Head’sJo-Wilfried Tsonga Vs Novak Djokovic17-6 Djokovic (26.1%)Vs Rafael Nadal10-4 Nadal (28.6%)Vs Roger Federer12-6 Federer (33.3%)Vs Andy Murray14-2 Murray (12.5%)
When asked about why he struggled so much against the two-time Wimbledon champion on the Univers Tennis podcast, Tsonga admitted that Murray just knew how to combat his game style.
“Well, because my qualities directly matched his qualities and so there it was,” explained Tsonga. “I served well, he returned well, I liked playing with a change of pace and it didn’t bother him, you see. If I chipped him, he chipped me back.
“He was a player who generally played very fairly. So he managed to block me often, quite a fine tactician, you see. When I put my big weapons in operation, he managed to play in places where he managed to cancel me out. And so, of course it was him who bothered me a lot.
“After you play on clay, frankly it’s a big challenge. I mean, there’s no chance, you know…After you’re in the game, you say, ‘But if he does that, there’s nothing I can do’.”
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga names the two matches he wishes he could play again
Although Tsonga admittedly found it most difficult to play against Murray, he named a different player when asked if there were any matches he would like to repeat.
In 2008, Tsonga was beaten by Djokovic in the Australian Open final, and he admitted that he would like to play that again.
Tsonga also mentioned his 2012 Roland Garros quarterfinal against Djokovic, which he lost in five sets despite having four match points.
“Well there’s definitely my Australian Open final,” said Tsonga. “I would play that one again and play a second match against Djoko.
“I would like to replay my quarterfinal at Roland Garros where I had two match points and that year, I was playing really well in tennis and there you go, I came very close with a passing shot…Three match points and it came down to very little.
“There are some on the three points, there are two points we’re going to say I don’t have much of a chance, he plays all that really well and then there’s a point where I have a passing shot to win, he anticipates on the right side where I have time to think about my final in the Australian where I have a bit of the same passing shot but on the other side to get back into the match…But I have these two matches if I could replay them, I would replay them.”
Tsonga was then asked if he thinks about these losses very often, but it does not appear that they are keeping him up at night.
“So, I don’t dwell on them,” replied Tsonga. “On the other hand, if you ask me the question…which point I regret or that, I’m going to tell you this kind of thing.”