Tsonga hot and bothered by tatty towel service

Shanghai  - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga blamed clueless ball kids for his opening loss at the Masters Cup, with the petulant French player perhaps finding excuses for his own rookie mistakes on court.

A debutant at the year-end event, the hyper-fit 23-year-old who won the Paris title a week ago said he "lost energy" waiting for hardd-working ball kids to fetch him his towel frequently between points as he went down in Gold group play to Nikolay Davydenko in three sets.

"When I ask for my towel, my towel didn't come," lamented Tsgona, "When I ask for a ball, the ball didn't come. That's it."

Tsonga, who made his move to prominence with an Australian Open final in January against Novak Djokovic, but then faded away with a knee injury, re-surfaced with a Bangkok title in September.

He claimed the last spot in the eight-man Masters Cup field with victory at Paris Bercy. But the bright new face is perhaps turning a bit "diva" as his profile rises.

"You are here and you want your towel. You say one time, two times, three times, and then you ask the other guy," said Tsonga. "The other guy looks around, so you have to say one time, two times, three times, and the towel comes."

Tsonga claimed that he paced an extra kilometre going for his towels. "Sometimes I have to take my towel alone. So for me it's maybe 10 meters more.

"But if you count at the end of the match, it's like one kilometre."

Suggestions have been made to hang a towel rack at each end of the court, with players responsible for just getting it themselves. (dpa)

Regions: