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Watch: Wawrinka and Tsonga Jaw at One Another During Changeover


Stan Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga got into a pretty heated argument after the first set of Wawrinka’s 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-3 win over Tsonga on Wednesday in Melbourne.

How’s your French? We admit ours isn’t too good, but we found out a few things about this little verbal skirmish between Stan and Jo. Here’s a tweet from Carole Bouchard that tells the story:

Reportedly Tsonga initiated the exchange, claiming that Wawrinka had been staring him down. Wawrinka was quick to engage and then Tsonga seemed to want to let it go a bit.

After the match on ESPN, Patrick Mouratoglou gave some history to the rivalry of Tsonga and Wawrinka. He said that Wawrinka has made some comments about the mental toughness of the French players several years ago, and after that the two have not been very good friends. We can neither confirm or deny that statement.

Tsonga didn’t say too much about it in press in English. Here is the snippet of what we read:

Q. What went on in the first set? You looked to have exchanged some words there.
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: Yeah, sometimes it happens. Sometimes it happens. We can talk during the game. Nothing special, yeah.

Q. Could you enlighten us? My French isn't that good. What did you say?
JO-WILFRIED TSONGA: We just spoke about things that I think is only between him and me, and that's it.

We also came upon this tweet from Carole Bouchard, who apparently spoke to Tsonga in French after the match.

The translation: “Sometimes there is a little too much testosterone.”

After the incident Wawrinka took control of the match. He overcame a break deficit in the second and won 12 of the final 15 points to take the set after Tsonga had broken for a 4-3 lead.

Wawrinka took a 3-0 lead in the third and saved the only break point he faced in the set to close out the victory in two hours and 14 minutes.

The three-time Grand Slam champion downplayed the incident afterward.

"I think it's not only a Grand Slam quarterfinal, it's a tennis match," Wawrinka said. "You can always have some tension. Everybody go on the court to won the matches. Things can happen.

"But at the end there is no problem after the match."

Wawrinka said he gets along with Tsonga off court.

"We do (get along). We know each other since many, many years," Wawrinka said. "We practice so many times together the past 10 years. We see each other a lot in Switzerland. So, yeah."

The Swiss is into his eighth career Grand Slam semifinal. Wawrinka has won major titles in each of the last three years and he’ll face good friend Roger Federer for a spot in the final.

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