Tennis: Jet-lagged Tsonga slips to defeat

MELBOURNE: An exhausted Jo-Wilfried Tsonga paid the price for a flight halfway round the world on as he lost his Kooyong Classic opener in straight sets to Austria’s Jurgen Melzer. The 6-4, 6-3 defeat drops the French world number six into the relegation round where he will face Milos Raonic of Canada, who won the Chennai Open in India last week. The eight-man Kooyong tournament sees players participating in three matches in the space of four days. “I’m not feeling very well,” admitted Tsonga. “I still have jetlag. We train a lot and we all want to be ready for the Open. Today was difficult with the conditions.” Meanwhile, France’s Gael Monfils beat three-time Kooyong champion Andy Roddick 7-6, 7-6.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2012.