10 of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s greatest achievements in tennis

Beyond reaching the 2008 Australian Open final, winning two Masters 1000 titles and going as high as No. 5 on the ATP rankings, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s knack for big wins against the biggest names have landed him in the record books more than once.

As he plays the final tournament of his professional career at Roland Garros this year, here are 10 of the Frenchman’s greatest achievements in the sport:

He’s the only Frenchman to reach a Grand Slam final in the last 20 years. His run to the 2008 Australian Open final—which included a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 stunner over Rafael Nadal in the semifinals—is still the only time a Frenchman has reached a major final since Arnaud Clement did it at the 2001 Australian Open.

He’s also the only Frenchman to reach the Top 5 since 2002. Since Sebastien Grosjean was ranked in the Top 5—at No. 4—for one week, the week of October 28, 2002, no Frenchman other than Tsonga has reached the Top 5. Tsonga spent 12 weeks at his career-high ranking of No. 5 in 2012.

He’s actually one of only six Frenchmen to reach the Top 5 since ATP rankings began in 1973. The highest-ranked Frenchman in ATP rankings history is Yannick Noah (No. 3). There have been two more No. 4s (Grosjean and Guy Forget) and three more No. 5s (Tsonga, Cedric Pioline and Henri Leconte).

Tsonga’s three biggest contemporaries have all come very close to reaching the Top 5, and they’re actually the next three highest-ranked Frenchmen in ATP rankings history: Gael Monfils (No. 6), Gilles Simon (No. 6) and Richard Gasquet (No. 7).

He not only reached a major final, he reached the quarterfinals or better at majors a total of 15 times. Tsonga also made it to five more major semifinals, including Roland Garros in 2013 and 2015, as well as nine more major quarterfinals.

He’s one of only three players to have wins over Federer, Nadal and Djokovic when they were No. 1. He beat a No. 1-ranked Federer in Montreal in 2009, a No. 1-ranked Nadal at Queen’s Club in 2011 and a No. 1-ranked Djokovic in Toronto in 2014. The other two players to achieve that feat are Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro.

He’s one of only three players to have wins over Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray at a major. He beat Murray and Nadal at the 2008 Australian Open, Djokovic at the 2010 Australian Open and Federer twice at 2011 Wimbledon and 2013 Roland Garros. Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych also achieved this feat.

He won more than half of his career ATP titles—10 of 18—on home soil. That includes one of his two biggest career titles, the Masters 1000 in Paris in 2008, as well nine ATP 250 titles, namely four in Metz, three in Marseille, one in Lyon and one in Montpellier.

Tsonga’s second Masters 1000 title came in Canada in 2014.

He has the sixth-most career Top 10 wins among active men's players. Tsonga has 45 career wins over Top 10 players, which is the 28th-most in ATP rankings history, and sixth-most among active men's players after Djokovic (232), Federer (224), Nadal (181), Murray (104) and Wawrinka (58).

He has the most career prize money for a French player in ATP or WTA history. His $22.4 million is the 18th-highest total in ATP history, and highest for a Frenchman. The highest for a Frenchwoman is Amelie Mauresmo’s $15 million.

He’s second-best among Frenchmen in the Open Era for most career titles AND winning percentage. Only Noah has more career ATP titles (23 to 18) and a higher tour-level winning percentage (69.6% to 66.4%) among Frenchmen in the Open Era. Tsonga does have the most career wins at Grand Slams than any other Frenchman in tennis history, though, with 121—Monfils has the next-most with 118.