Follow us on Google Discover Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has dismissed any chances of him becoming France’s Davis Cup captain anytime soon.
Tsonga is a former Australian Open finalist, and achieved a career-high ranking of world number five before retiring in 2022.
He has also achieved many great things for his country, with Tsonga part of France’s winning team at the Davis Cup in 2017.
Despite knowing what it takes to win the competition, Tsonga has now revealed that he is not allowed to captain his country.
Photo credit should read PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP via Getty ImagesJo-Wilfried Tsonga reveals reason why he cannot captain France at the Davis Cup
The current captain of France’s Davis Cup team is Paul-Henri Mathieu, with the former world number 12 holding this role since the end of 2023.
Mathieu has made a good start to his role and has helped France reach the Davis Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 2018.
While there is no desire for a new France Davis Cup captain at this time, Tsonga told the Univers Tennis podcast that he would not be eligible anyway due to his academy interests.
“Yeah, I responded to the call from the Federation, who asked former players if they wanted to be the captain of the Davis Cup,” said Tsonga.
He added, “They called me to tell me that I had conflicts of interest with my academies, that’s why it didn’t happen. I supposedly had conflicts of interest, so it was not possible.”
When probed over whether it would ever be possible for him to captain his nation, Tsonga implied that would not be the case.
“I can’t, I’ll always have conflicts of interest from what they say,” said Tsonga. “I don’t feel that there are conflicts of interest, but for them, I have conflicts of interest. So, I don’t see why it would suddenly change, you know. But maybe, maybe.”
While the Davis Cup captaincy role may not be in Tsonga’s future, he has admitted that he is open to coaching an individual player.
“I don’t close the door at all. It is really something that I think I’m going to like,” explained Tsonga. “I can actually see myself there, I see myself there.
“It’s just that well, you still need the project that allows you to say to yourself, ‘OK, I’m leaving home for 35 weeks a year’. It has to be worth it. The person opposite you has to change it, you also have to like them enough to leave for 35 weeks.”
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga says if he thinks France could have a Grand Slam singles champion soon
Tsonga is one of the best French ATP players in recent memory, as the last man from his country to reach a Grand Slam singles final.
When speaking about the current generation of French men’s players, Tsonga particularly highlighted big server Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
“Well, I think it’s a generation that has talent,” said Tsonga. “It’s a generation where there are some who are exceptional in certain areas and they have to exploit them fully to try to go as high as possible.”
Tsonga added when asked if he thinks his game is comparable to Mpetshi Perricard, “Well, it’s certain that in terms of gameplay, we’re going to have a Giovanni MP. Well, I think that’s it, we don’t have similar games because he’s 15cm taller than me.
“But it’s true that we have some, there are some similarities in the game. In any case…it’s a project that I find quite exciting in fact, because there is some sick potential and then there wouldn’t be much missing for him to be very, very difficult to play.”
Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
Tsonga also mentioned Ugo Humbert, Arthur Fils, Corentin Moutet, Shanghai Masters finalist Arthur Rinderknech, Valentin Royer and Benjamin Bonzi, when asked if he thinks France could have a major singles champion soon.
“That’s a big question. You have to be optimistic,” answered Tsonga. “In any case, we have players who are potentially good. Afterwards, well the story goes that and I’m the first to know it, is that when I arrived no matter what people said, whether it was good or not, I wanted to win a Grand Slam and in the end I didn’t win it.
“So, in reality the objective obviously for these young people today is to try to go blow this up. But, I think the first objective above all is to have a career where when they stop, they won’t have much to regret.”
The 40-year-old added, “Well all of them, whether it’s Ugo Humbert, Arthur Fils, Giovanni, there are others who are coming and pushing. There is Moutet, Rinderknech, Valentin Royer, Bonzi, well all these players are actually players who have potential you see, and who can do something good and especially the younger ones obviously who have even more potential, who will still be mouldable, very mouldable.”
The last French man to win a Grand Slam singles title was Yannick Noah, who won Roland Garros in 1983.
There has been a more recent major champion in women’s singles, with Marion Bartoli winning Wimbledon in 2013.