(May 24, 2022) Day three at Roland Garros saw the end of the career of Jo-Wifried Tsonga on Tuesday. The Frenchman, hindered with a right shoulder injury in which he could not properly swing the racquet, he lost his final match to No. 8 see Casper Ruud 6-7 (8), 7-6 (4), 6-2, 7-6 (0). The fans gave Tsonga a long standing ovation after the match as Tsonga went up to the net, knelt as his head touched the ground picking up a bit of the clay court on his forehead.

Tsonga’s career took him to the high of No. 5 in the world and he reached his only major final, the Australian Open in 2008, losing to Novak Djokovic.

The 37-year-old said: “It was pure madness today. One of the best atmospheres I have seen in my career (for) my last match. I couldn’t have asked for something better,”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better script, apart from the fact that I could have won.”

In a match that ended past midnight, Stefanos Tisitsipas, needed to rally from two sets down to beat Italian Lorenzo Musetti 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. The Greek seeded fourth, admitted to mental lapses during the match.

“Mentally, I don’t know what it was, exactly, but I was not there. I was somewhere else,” he said. “And I was frustrated with myself. What did I do to kind of feel that way or deserve that in an opener like this in a Grand Slam, you know? I think I was really focused too much on the future, thinking about other things instead of really being fully present in what I was doing at that time.”

Another member of Tsonga’s generation, Gilles Simon, who is retiring at the end of the year, needed five sets in a match that lasted past 1 a.m. Simon ousted No. 16 seeded Pablo Carreño Busta 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4.