France has been defeated by South Africa by 2-1 in the Hopman Cup. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga decided to withdraw from the final mixed doubles match because of the groin Injury and thus, the victory of the South African team was secured. However, this was a dead rubber match as neither of the two teams had the opportunity of qualifying for the finals.
Both the teams were levelled at 1-1 before the mixed doubles match. In the first singles match, Mathilde Johansson of France was defeated by Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa by 6-4, 4-6, 4-6. But, Tsonga got better of Kevin Anderson in the next singles match and brought the French team back into the contest. Tsonga defeated Anderson in the straight sets by 7-6(4), 7-6(3). But, during that match, he injured his groin which eventually forced him to withdraw from the mixed doubles match.
In the mixed doubles match, the South African pair of Scheepers and Anderson started well and won the opening set by 6-2. But, in the second set, they were down by 1-2 when Tsonga decided that he would not continue.
In the post match interview, Tsonga said, “While playing in the singles match, I felt a bit of pain, but, I thought that I could play in the mixed doubles. But, the pain kept on increasing and it was not sensible to continue playing with that kind of pain. So, I decided to withdraw from the match.”
“I don’t know how severe my injury is. I desperately want to participate in the Australian Open. There are still a couple of weeks for the Australian Open to start. I hope that I would get fit till that time.”
The Australian Open is going to start from 14th of January.