"It's our generation that has disappeared," Tsonga discusses the Four Musketeers

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Adrien Guyot

le 19/10/2025 à 09h53

2 min to read

Gasquet Monfils Simon Tsonga

Retired since 2022, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga continues to follow tennis news. The native of Le Mans, former world No. 5, double Masters 1000 winner, and Grand Slam finalist as well as ATP Finals finalist, had a remarkable career despite the presence of the Big 3.

In recent hours, the 40-year-old gave an interview to Univers Tennis in which he was questioned about the generation of the French Four Musketeers in which he competed alongside his friends Gilles Simon, Richard Gasquet, and Gaël Monfils.

"For us, it's a part of us that is leaving. In a way, our destinies are somewhat linked. We were in boarding school together, we were on the French national team. We all had good careers, being in the top 10 at more or less similar times.

The last one remaining is Gaël (Monfils). One day, he will leave (the interview was recorded before the announcement of Monfils' retirement for 2026). It's our generation that has disappeared, it's official.

I tell myself that it's a real achievement to still be competing with the youngsters. Every time I see Gaël, I tell him: 'Aren't you ashamed of beating up 18-year-old kids? You should hang it up!'

He had given me a goal to play at least until 40. Good for him, he should enjoy it. Back in the day, we made a bet among ourselves to see who would retire first.

The bets were that I would stop first, and that was the case (at Roland-Garros 2022), and that after that it would be Richard (Gasquet, who stopped at Roland-Garros this year), Gilles (Simon, who retired after Paris-Bercy 2022), and Gaël. We already thought back then that he would be the last to stop," Tsonga thus affirmed for our colleagues at Univers Tennis in recent hours.