Jo-Wilfried Tsonga never forgets his beginnings and when the French tennis champion returns to the department, he takes the opportunity to return to the courts where it all began. He knew how to transmit his joy of living to the participants.
“Le Maine Libre”: Returning to your land, what effect does that have on you?
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga : “I feel a lot of nostalgia, of course I spent my entire childhood between Savigné-l’Évêque, the Yvré-l’Évêque college and the 3 Vallées sports complex. Joël Truchet and Franck Lefay, my coaches at the time, gave me a lot, they came to pick me up from the college twice a week. So for me, it’s only a pleasure to come here. I have friends, family, I’m from Sarthe and it’s like diving back into an old photo album, memories, nothing but happiness! I think nothing has changed, even the infrastructure, I believe there is a project underway and I hope it will see the light of day to modernize this site.”
+ Mamers. Tennis: a low-cost discovery license
After a very full and successful career, you now have a lot of activities: on the associative level, representation and management of a company. Why all this?
“Because I am still alive, I am young, in the prime of life, I want to get involved in active life.”
And invest the money earned over all these years?
“That goes with it, when you want to do things you also have to know how to invest.”
+ Inspiration, medal, regrets, pride… Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recounts his Olympic memories
Tell us about structures like All In Académie (tennis academy)?
“I wanted to pass on my experience and have a foot in tennis, and there, in this project, I had my hands free to do it by putting in my own money.”
The Olympic Games are about to begin. Was it important for you to represent your country like in London in 2012?
“Yes of course, I who practiced an individual sport rather considered as a business sport a little bit on the fringes of others, in the four corners of the world, we do not often meet other athletes, the Olympic Games represent the spirit of Coubertin, the important thing is to participate but in fact when you are there you want to win. And for me representing my country was huge. I was able to do it and bring home a silver medal.”
