Jo Wilfried Tsonga is playing his last Roland-Garros from Tuesday.
But the best French player of the last fifteen years has not planned to disappear from circulation.
Whether in his academy or as a mentor of young talents, Tsonga will continue to pass on his experience and advice to the new generation.
At Roland Garros,
That's it (almost).
In the running on Tuesday for his last Roland-Garros, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be a tennis retiree in the coming hours or days.
A great page of French tennis will turn.
The best tricolor player of the last fifteen years, "Jo" was the only one of the four Musketeers to be close to a Grand Slam crown by rising to the Australian Open final in 2008, not to mention two semi-finals at Roland but also at Wimbledon, 18 singles titles or even a Davis Cup.
In short, very heavy and a lot of emotions necessarily before the last of the ders in his favorite tournament.
“Over all these years, it has been a series of fantastic tournaments, the way I have been carried by the public on the Chatrier, the Suzanne Lenglen.
I am delighted with my tennis career at Roland-Garros, ”explained Tsonga on Friday for his last pre-match conference.
But what to do with all those memories once the rackets are put away and the trophies placed on the fireplace?
A post-career already well marked out
“A tennis player is not like a musician.
For example, the Rolling Stones can play concerts at the Stade de France at 75, whereas when a tennis player decides to quit, it's over.
You say to yourself, “I have a family, I have children, I am financially secure.
I'm finishing the season and I'm going to do something else."
It's a very special moment,” admits Guy Forget, who also went through this nearly 30 years ago.
But for Tsonga, 37 years old on the clock, the post-career already seems well marked out.
If some players prefer to withdraw into their cocoon and cut everything once the (young) retirement age has arrived, the Manceau has not yet planned to tell his memories by the fireside.
On the contrary, Tsonga intends to transmit his experience and his high level experience to the youngest.
Tsonga is already passing on his experience to the youngest
For three years, Tsonga has been working with his historic coach Thierry Ascione to develop the All In Academy.
A pharaonic project of several million euros spread over three training centers (Paris, Villeneuve-Loubet and Lyon in 2023).
A huge, 100% private structure, a kind of American-style country club, which aims to train the stars of tomorrow via tennis, of course, but also studies.
All under cover of the expertise of the best French player of his generation.
“Through the academy he has set up, Jo will spend time and try to convince young people that it is possible.
He will show them what his method is, but it will be up to the players to find the way,” explains Guy Forget.
"It's a transmission that is super rich and that can save young players a lot of time," continues former tennis player Arnaud Clément, consultant on
Prime Video
.
"He gave me confidence because you can quickly stress at 15"
But it is not only in his academy that Tsonga explains his method.
Since 2018, the player has been the sponsor of the BNP Paribas Young Talents Team.
This structure set up by the FFT allows a hundred hopefuls of French tennis to benefit from financial support but also from the advice of various experts to lead their career as well as possible.
Several times a year, the champion already talks about his high-level experience and gives advice to future nuggets of French tennis like 15-year-old Sarah Iliev, who had a poster of the player in her room for a long time.
“He intervenes, for example, in stressful situations that can be encountered in matches.
He gave us his opinion through his experiences as players.
It made me realize that it was normal not to feel the ball every day.
He gave me back my confidence because you can get stressed out quickly at 15.
I find it really interesting that a champion like him can talk to us about this.
We can talk to him about everything, he is open and does everything to help us when we ask him questions, ”appreciates the young player.
“It boosts us to rub shoulders with players like that”
"He really has a role of big brother", appreciates Arthur Cazaux, 19 years old and another member of the Team Jeunes Talents.
“He gives us advice on the mind, diet or even technique, everything that includes tennis.
It guides us in our early career and it's great because Tsonga is a model player.
It's good that a player like him can share his experience with us.
It boosts us to rub shoulders with him, it's a real plus for young people like us and we would like to continue to rub shoulders with him.
“, hopes the 320th player in the world.
That's good, the future retiree has no plans to stop giving advice to young people.
On the contrary, between his private academy and the structure supported by the FFT, the former world number 6 has therefore made sharing experience his post-career priority.
Which has not always been the case in the past with former players like Arnaud Clément.
“I had always said to myself that at the end of my career, I would like to train, to transmit.
But I have my family life and I won't be able today to set off again on a 30-35 week rhythm away from home.
But there are many ways to transmit to different degrees.
For example, having an academy is something else again, it's another management.
Afterwards, there are some who don't want to, who don't have the fiber, ”recognizes the former tennis player.
For a long time, rare were the former French players to come and coach young people at the end of their career.
Not the desire, not the time, not the prize list too.
With Tsonga, French training may finally be finding what it has been missing for a while: transmission.
Sport
VIDEO.
Roland-Garros: Alcaraz expected, the French a little less ... The challenges of this 2022 edition
Sport
Roland-Garros 2022: The debut of Alcaraz, a slew of French and Russians without fanfare… The program for Sunday May 22
Sport
Tennis
Roland Garros 2022
Jo Wilfried Tsonga
Retirement