France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has become the first person to confirm their withdrawal from the Wimbledon Championships as he continues to recover from knee surgery.
The former Australian Open finalist hasn’t played a match on the tour since February at the Montrepiellar Open. Earlier this year Tsonga underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee. The meniscus is a cartilage between the surface of the joint. Originally the Frenchman hoped he would be ready in time for Roland Garros, but was forced to miss his home grand slam. Doing so for only the third time in his professional career.
“A recovery as soon as possible would be welcome, the sooner I’ll be back, the sooner the results will come back as well.” Tsonga told France24 on May 2nd.
“There is no objective (in terms of date). The only objective is that my knee be operational again and to the maximum of its capacities. What guides us are the healing times and my capacity to find my fitness.”
It is now unclear as to when the 33-year-old will return to the tour after it was confirmed that he has withdrawn from a duo of grass court tournaments. Tsonga was also set to play at Queen’s prior to Wimbledon. It will be the first time he has missed SW19 since 2008.
As a result of Tsonga’s withdrawals, he has been replaced in the main draw at The Queen’s Club by Leonardo Mayer and at Wimbledon by Laslo Djere. He finds himself ranked outside of the top 50 for the first time since October 2007.
There has been no comment from Tsonga concerning his decision to skip the grass season. So far this season he has only played in two tournaments. Reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open followed by the semifinals in Montpellier.
So far in his career, Tsonga has won 16 ATP titles and featured in the main draw of a grand slam on 40 occasions.
