Wilfried Tsonga recalled that at the French Open, he “would pray” not to face Rafael Nadal. The former world No. 5 was one of the best tennis players of his generation, even though his ATP Tour career coincided with the Big-3’s golden years, but he was unable to muster much of an opponent when playing Nadal on clay.
With a total of 16 wins versus the Big-3, Tsonga is among the players with the best record. Out of 57 matches (28%), the Frenchman won six against Novak Djokovic, six against Roger Federer, and four against Rafael Nadal.
The difficulty of taking on Nadal on clay
The eighteen-time ATP winner has a specific record of 4-10 against Nadal. Of those meetings, two occurred on clay courts and both ended in straight-set wins for the Spanish player at the Davis Cup and the Monte-Carlo Masters.
Tsonga made it to the semifinals of the French Open twice. In 2013 and 2015, he lost to Stan Wawrinka and David Ferrer.
Tsonga recently related a story about how players used to make jokes about not being able to win games in the early sets if they faced Nadal at the Philippe-Chatrier: “Everyone wants to see him.” I’d like to see him. I didn’t want to see him for a very long time. We want him to end his life the finest way possible—by fighting as he always did on the court.”
“His 15 victories at Roland Garros… In fact, it’s so bad that I don’t even want to talk about it. To be honest, I felt that playing Nadal on clay presented the hardest challenge in tennis. It’s quite humorous; I can tell you a small story about it. We all prayed not to draw him before the draw. “Can you believe that after two sets, you go to the center court and still haven’t won a game?” we asked ourselves, and he continued.
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