Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reveals why he considers Andy Murray as his toughest opponent out of the Big 4
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga admits Andy Murray as his toughest competitor among the Big 4 and always had the fear of facing him in tournaments.
Follow Us
Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - FirstSportz
British player Andy Murray has been a commendable player but couldn’t register much of success. He shot to fame when he defeated Serbian legend Novak Djokovic in the finals of the 2012 US Open. He became the first British major singles champion since 1977. The former World No 1 faced the most competition from the Big 3. But Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga considers the Brit as one of his toughest competitors.
His best performance of the year was at the Stuttgart Open. Murray lost in the finals despite not dropping a set throughout the tournament. He failed to go past the second round at the Australian Open and Wimbledon while being eliminated in the third round of the US Open. His performance dropped because of his constant injuries, especially the hip surgery that restrained him to move freely on the court.
Tsonga and Murray have faced each other 16 times with the Brit leading in the head-to-head with 14:2. The last time they played against each other was the epic final of the Vienna Open. The former World No 1 handed a straight sets defeat to the retired French player. The former World No 5’s aggressive style of play was easily countered by Murray. He talked about his fears of facing the Wimbledon winner during any tournament.
“One of the toughest opponents for me was Andy Murray. He beat me so many times! Every time a tournament draw was out, I prayed I wasn’t in the same part of it,” said Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Andy Murray received the Humanitarian Award for his contribution to Ukraine
The 2-time Wimbledon winner had a tough time over the last few years. He had to manage injuries that led him to miss out on most of the seasons. Due to this, his rankings dropped drastically, and is currently ranked 49th in the world. However, he always found a way to return to the professional tennis circuit.
He has been recognized as the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award recipient at the 2022 ATP Awards. Murray has been recognized for his humanitarian efforts in supporting the people in Ukraine affected due to the war. The tennis player worked with Unicef to provide medical supplies and development kits in Ukraine and even donated £500,000 of his prize money to help the children affected due to the Russia- Ukraine war.
Andy Murray will start his 2023 campaign with his participation at the Australian Open. It will be his 15th appearance at Down Under in his career of almost two decades. He also even reached the final a 5 number of times and the last time he played in the finals was in the year 2016. The former No 1 became the second man in the Open Era to lose five finals at the same major.
Stay Updated!
Prateek Pradhan
(601 Articles Published)