Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will miss this year’s BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells because of a condition that makes air travel extremely difficult to recover from.
Tsonga says that he has been suffering from sickle cell—a condition in which there aren't enough healthy red blood cells to carry adequate oxygen throughout your body. Tsonga says it has bothered him for years, and now it affects his circulation greatly while traveling; he says he needs three to five days to condition himself properly after long flights.
“I am sickle cell, a certain percentage,” Tsonga told French Eurosport.
The 33-year-old, currently ranked 140 in the world as he comes back from knee surgery in 2018, said he struggles particularly at altitude.
“When I get off the plane, I'm not the same anymore and I need three, four, five days to recover my physical abilities, I feel a bit tired, as if I have some kind of flu,” he said in French.
Tsonga, who still plans to play in Miami, says he simply needs to take care to give himself the best chance for success in the final years of his career.
"Today, it allows me to regulate a little better and to make choices like for Indian Wells where it will be too short for me,” he said. “I will go and do the other tournaments where I'm sure to be good, like that, I avoid injury."