No play for a month with a dodgy thigh didn’t stop Jo-Wilfried Tsonga from what he’s always done in the first round of Wimbledon: winning. 

Tsonga’s 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-4 victory over the Spaniard Inigo Cervantes, ranked No.75, on Court 12 maintained his perfect record of never losing in the opening round in nine visits to the All England Club.

It was in stark contrast to a month ago at the French Open, when Tsonga waved to the crowd on the main Court Philippe Chatrier in tears after an adductor injury forced him to retire in the third round against Ernests Gulbis of Latvia leading 5-2.

“It’s good to be on the court after a month out,” Tsonga told reporters after slamming 41 winners, including nine aces. “I’m very satisfied.”

Tsonga said he felt “100 per cent fit,” but was also cautious because of what happened in at his home Grand Slam in Paris. The No.12 seed, who lit up Wimbledon in 2011 and 2012 with two semi-final appearances, is always a big draw because of his spectacular play, and there were moments of brilliance against Cervantes.

Tsonga had to fight at the end of the second set, when the tenacious Cervantes saved six set points to hold as he trailed 6-5. Tsonga squandered another set point in the tie-break with a forehand wide before finally taking the set on his eighth chance.

Although he’d been practising on the grass for two weeks, he said nothing compares with playing actual matches.

“The most difficult thing is to play points and to deal with the pressure and everything,” Tsonga said. “When you didn’t play for a moment, you forget the emotion of the court is really high. It’s really difficult.”

His 101st victory in a Grand Slam match moves him within touching distance of Jean Borotra (103 slam wins) and Henri Cochet (102) on the list of Frenchmen with the most victories in any of the four Grand Slams.

The pair were members of the fabled “Four Musketeers” who dominated the sport in the 1920s and 1930s and whose statues stand outside the main stadium at Roland Garros.

Tsonga, who lost in the last four of Wimbledon in 2011 to Djokovic and in 2012 to Andy Murray, was drawn on the opposite side of the top-ranked Serb, who is trying to complete the third leg of the coveted calendar-year Grand Slam.

“He just deserves it,” Tsonga said. “The most impressive, of course, it’s to be consistent like he does. He’s just amazing.”

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