French veterans Tsonga and Simon lead Roland-Garros wild card list

With retirement around the corner, Tsonga and Simon will get one last hurrah in front of their home fans after getting wild cards into the French Open

Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon at the Moselle Open in Metz in 2015 Image Credit: Tennis Mag / Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

May 11, 2022

French veterans Jo-WIlfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon, who have both announced their impending retirement, have received wild cards into the main draw of the 2022 Roland-Garros Championships.

The French Tennis Federation announced the list of wild cards for the men’s and women’s singles main draw and qualifying competitions on Tuesday and rewarded both the former top 10 players with the chance to play their home Grand Slam one final time.

Tsonga, a former world No 5 and Australian Open runner-up, has said that he will retire after the French Open while Simon, a former world No 6, will retire at the end of the 2022 season.

Both players are 37 years old and earned several laurels for French Tennis, including helping the French squad life the Davis Cup trophy in 2017.

Tsonga has been a two-time semi-finalist at Roland-Garros (2013 and 2015) while Simon’s best performance at his home Grand Slam was reaching the fourth round on three occasions (2011, 2013 and 2015).

Tournament Director Amelie Mauresmo said the wild cards to the two veterans were a token of appreciation for their accomplished careers.

“We wanted them to live their final Roland-Garros in the main draw, in front of their fans. And also to thank them for what they have done throughout their career.”

Other men getting a main draw wild card included Lucas Pouille, Corentin Moutet, Manuel Guinard and Gregoire Barrere.

Chloe Paquet and Harmony Tan lead women’s wild card for Roland-Garros

In the women’s singles main draw, wild cards were awarded to Tessah Andrianjafitrimo, Fiona Ferro, Elsa Jacquemot, Leolia Jeanjean, Chloe Paquet and Harmony Tan.

The men’s qualifying wild cards were handed out to Arthur Cazaux, Sean Cuenin, Gabriel Debru, Arthur Fils, Evan Furness, Sasha Gueymard Wayenburg, Laurent Lokoli, Clement Tabur and Luca Van Assche.

For the women’s qualifying event, the FFT awarded wild cards to Audrey Albie, Oceane Babel, Lois Boisson, Emeline Dartron, Salma Djoubri, Selena Janicijevic, Carole Monnet, Lucie Bguyen Tan and Alice Rame.

Main draw action at Roland-Garros begins on May 22 with the qualifying competition being held a week earlier.