ATP Monte-Carlo – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga loses in the 1st round against Marin Cilic, 6-2, 6-2

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga says goodbye to Monte-Carlo! A few days after the announcement of his planned retirement for the next Roland-Garros, Tsonga took his last steps at the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo on Monday. Defeated 6-6, 6-2 in 1 hour and 7 minutes of play by a very serious Marin Cilic, the Frenchman did not show any real resistance against the Croat and therefore left the Rock by the back door.

There was no doubt that Tsonga’s last tournaments would be complicated, but it was hard to think that it would be so. Very physically impaired, the Frenchman never knew how to get into the fight against a very serious and diligent Cilic. On a surface like clay, the lack of intensity does not help to produce a quality game and Tsonga illustrated it for us.

From the first game, the Manceau showed a worrying slowness in his movements. Jostled by very well placed attacks, Tsonga offered a lot of points. Broken twice in the first set, he also suffered a lot on the service of the Croatian, very precise on his face-off. Result of the first set: 6-2 for Cilic.

Heading for Roland-Garros

Even if the intensity did not show the tip of its nose during the first round, the public tried to push their darling. Winning the first game of the round could have sounded like a revolution in Tsonga’s head. But his body decided otherwise. Even if the powerful forehand of the Frenchman sometimes made Cilic flinch, his hazardous movements penalized him much more.

After holding his face-off, Tsonga finally cracked and offered two breaks to his opponent on a silver platter. Defeat 6-2, 6-2 for the Frenchman who bids farewell to the clay courts of Monte-Carlo. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is starting his jubilee in the worst possible way but still has time to prepare for a final run at Roland-Garros worthy of one of the greatest French players in history.