If someone had asked Roland Garros organisers who would be the worst four players to withdraw from the tournament, they probably would have said: Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
We’re barely into the second week of the event and all four are not in Paris – Federer and Monfils pulling out before it started, Nadal retiring due to a wrist injury on Friday and now Tsonga abandoning his third round with Ernests Gulbis on Saturday with an adductor issue.
Add to that the constant rain messing around with the schedule, a blackout yesterday that halted TV transmission and the Maria Sharapova doping cloud hovering over the sport and you really wonder how much more bad luck can this French Open take?
The sixth-seeded Tsonga was in tears as he walked off court on Saturday, retiring while leading Gulbis 5-2 in the opening set, giving the Latvian safe passage to the fourth round.
He had taken an off-court medical timeout to get his adductor checked but the Frenchman knew from the second he felt pain that it was all over.
It is the same injury which forced him out of Rome two weeks ago and one he is yet to determine its seriousness.
The 31-year-old said he felt good stepping on the court but a couple of slides aggravated the problem.
“It’s of course a big disappointment. You know, I felt really well on the court. I was in a really good shape today,” said Tsonga, who had made the semi-finals in Paris last year and in 2013.
“For me, it’s just really difficult to accept that I’m not anymore in the tournament. I mean, that’s part of the game, and I have to accept it.
“Of course I know that every time I left here in Roland Garros, it is an opportunity that goes away and I don’t know how many times I will play.
“But it’s part of my life to have happy days and to have bad days. Today was one of those bad days, and I will try to recover and build some new good days.”
Keeping this in perspective, Tsonga added: “Today we have had very bad news at the Parc Monceau in Paris (where 11 people were injured by lightning), and this means that everything is relative, and it’s (my injury is) disappointing. It’s sad, but it’s not the most important thing, is it?”
👍🏽✨ #TsongaTeam #RG16 pic.twitter.com/zBkNSIBQQ1
— Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (@tsonga7) May 27, 2016
Tsonga’s retirement means Gulbis is back in the second week at a major for the first time since he reached the semi-finals here two years ago.
The Latvian arrived to Paris in questionable form, and had not won back-to-back main draw matches since Vienna last year.
It was the second time Gulbis has won against Tsonga via retirement at a major, having also advanced to the third round at Wimbledon in 2013 in similar fashion.
“It’s never nice to win like this, so I feel very sorry for him,” said Gulbis, who next takes on David Goffin.
“Of course, it’s very bad when you lose such players, especially Monfils, Tsonga for the French crowd, and Federer and Nadal. Not much could be worse.
“It’s just what it is, you know. We have more opportunity. We have more opportunity.”
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic beat the darkness and Slovenian-turned- Brit Aljaz Bedene 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 to book a fourth round with Roberto Bautista Agut.
The Serb is into the second week in Paris for a 10th time.
WTA No1 Serena Williams survived a two and a half hour rain delay and a tricky Kristina Mladenovic, needing five match points to wrap up a 6-4, 7-6(10) win.
“I feel like I made a tremendous amount of errors. But I feel like she kind of forced me to go for it, and unfortunately, I wasn’t hitting great today,” said Williams, who finished the match a poor 1/12 on break point opportunities.
She next faces the Justine Henin-coached Ukrainian No18 seed Elina Svitolina, who took out ex-champion Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-4 for her first victory over the Serb in eight meetings.
