World No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has been forced to withdraw from next week’s Aegon Championships due to an abductor injury.
The injury first came to light in May after he pulled out of the Rome Masters due to a tear in his abductor. Last Month Tsonga had to retired during his third round match against Ernests Gulbis at the French Open after feeling a ‘strong pain’ in his abductor. Unfortunately for the Frenchman, the injury is still causing him problems.
“I am very disappointed that this injury means that I will not be able to play in the Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club,” said Tsonga.
“It is one of my favourite tournaments, home of some very happy moments for me on the court.”
Tsonga has enjoyed success at the Queen’s Club in previous years. During the early stages of his career, Tsonga stunned defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in 2007 to break into the top-100 for the first time in his career. Then at the 2011 edition he defeated world No.1 Rafael Nadal to reach his first and so far only ATP final on the grass.
Following his absence from the Aegon Championships, Tsonga’s next tournament is scheduled to be the Wimbledon Championships, which starts on June 29th.
Advantage Great Britain
The withdrawal of Tsonga means that British No.2 Aljaz Bedene has been promoted to the main draw at the tournament. So far in Bedene’s career, he has only been able to win one match in the tournament, which was against Paul-Henri Mathieu in 2013. The addition of Bedene to the draw means that there will be five British players in the tournament. Joining Bedene is defending champion Andy Murray and a trio of British wildcard’s (James Ward, Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans).
This year’s Aegon Championships will feature eight top-20 players. Some of the players joining top seed Murray include Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic and Richard Gasquet.
Full entry list
Andy Murray GBR
Stan Wawrinka SUI
Juan Martin del Potro ARG
Milos Raonic CAN
Marin Cilic CRO
Richard Gasquet FRA
John Isner USA
Roberto Bautista Agut ESP
Gilles Simon FRA
Benoit Paire FRA
Nick Kyrgios AUS
Bernard Tomic AUS
Feliciano Lopez ESP
Grigor Dimitrov BUL
Alexandr Dolgopolov UKR
Steve Johnson USA
Jeremy Chardy FRA
Sam Querrey USA
Janko Tipsarevic SRB
Gilles Muller LUX
Nicolas Mahut FRA
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP
Fernando Verdasco ESP
Aljaz Bedene GBR
Kyle Edmund GBR (WC)
Daniel Evans GBR (WC)
James Ward GBR (WC)
