Tsonga out of Davis Cup 2008 semi-finals

The French 2008 Davis Cup camp has been rocked by the news that they will have to make do without star player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during this weekends Davis Cup 2008 semi-finals against the United States in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Tsonga pulled out of the Davis Cup 2008 semi-finals after sustaining a knee injury. “Tsonga felt pain in his right knee which was similar to the pain he felt playing doubles in Miami last week,”  explained the French Tennis Federation.

With Tsonga out, Arnaud Clement has been drafted into the French 2008 Davis Cup team, and will play alongside Michael Llodra in the doubles matches scheduled for the weekend. The Frenchmen will be up against the brothers Mike and Rob Bryan in their doubles fixture.

This leaves Richard Gasquet and Paul-Henri Mathieu to contest the singles games against a powerful American singles team comprising Andy Roddick and James Blake.

In the previous 14 Davis Cup semi-final ties between these two nations, each has claimed 7 victories. France won the last semi-final encounter between the two sides in 2002 at Rolland Garos. The two nations have faced each other in the Davis Cup finals on 9 other occasions.