Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is not expecting to benefit from Andy Murray’s status as Wimbledon title favourite.
Following Novak Djokovic’s unexpected demise in round three, the 2013 champion was swiftly installed as the man to beat.
🎾🇬🇧 GO ON ANDY! 🇬🇧🎾
— bet365 (@bet365) July 4, 2016
Murray’s updated grass court record in 2016: WWWWWWWWW
Masterclass. pic.twitter.com/RKKetMH3jd
With expectation sky high in front of his home fans, Murray could be forgiven for feeling a little extra pressure, but Tsonga does not see it that way.
The 12th seed said: “To be honest, I don’t think he’s got a lot of pressure. I mean, he won here already. He won the Olympic Games. He won the US Open. He won so many tournaments. I think he’s feeling good in his body.
“He doesn’t feel the pressure at all. Everything is a bonus for him, I think. If I was him, it will be a bonus, for sure.”
Tsonga and Murray are old rivals having met 14 times before, the first of those almost a decade ago.
Tsonga has won only once in the past eight years and lost both their previous matches at Wimbledon, in 2010 and 2012.
The 31-year-old, though, is taking confidence from his comeback win over John Isner in the third round, when he was two sets down but eventually prevailed 19-17 in the the fifth.
“That’s why tennis is great,” he said. “Two days ago I was 5-5 in the third set, 15-40 against me, two sets to love down, and I came back. I’m still alive in this tournament.
“So everything can happen in tennis. I know that. I’m also very confident in my capacity to play great tennis and beat players like Andy.
“For me the biggest challenge is, of course, to break him because I know I’m able to keep my serve. All the times I played him, I didn’t break him enough. It’s going to be the key.”
Tsonga’s epic win over Isner lasted two days but the Frenchman was not taxed in his fourth-round match, with countryman Richard Gasquet forced to retire because of a back injury in only the seventh game.
It was not the way Tsonga wanted to advance but he is thrilled to be back in the last eight for the first time in four years.
“Everything is good for me,” said the former world number five. “To play quarter-finals, it’s a good feeling, honestly, because I had some bad days at the start of the season.”
