Australian Open 2012 live stream

The fact that Tsonga was able to walk to the court to play against Juan Monaco alone was remarkable, the fact he won was nothing short of a miracle. Just five days ago Jo-Wilfried Tsonga could scarcely stand up, as his long term back injury affected him yet again. But determined to try and play at one of his favourite tournaments, Tsonga persevered, and by the time he faced Monaco, he felt no pain at all, "not even a little," he explained.

The match was far from a stroll in the park. After years of dealing with the aftermath of a herniated disc in his back, Tsonga knows better than to push himself when he is not at his physical peak. As he prepared to play Monaco, he decided that he would not serve at full pelt. In fact, he would not serve normally at all and, altering his action to use less rotation and less height, he swiftly remodeled the whole stroke for the afternoon. It was a brave decision and one that paid dividends, even if some of his missed first serves were so far off the mark that they almost killed a ball boy.

"I am so used to being injured, I know how to deal with these problems," Tsonga said. "The positive is that with all this pain and with the injury, you don't think about the pressure of playing here again."

Tsonga made a remarkable run to the Finals of the Australian Open last year and despite being ranked 6th this year there is a certain amount of pressure that comes with Tsonga's return to Melbourne Park."When I practised here this morning," he said, "I said to myself 'I feel I can only play well here, no matter what court I play on'. This is the only place in the world that I feel like that."

The chances are he will be on a show court for his next match when he takes on Ivan Ljubicic. It will not be a match for the cowardly, as Ljubicic has one of the fastest serves in the world and Tsonga will have to be full of confidence to face him.

You can watch Jo-Wilfried Tsonga face Ivan Ljubicic on Bet365’s live streaming servive, sign up for an account and you can get a £10 bet for the match too.