Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, sidelined by injuries for a year, got his first win since 2019 on Tuesday by beating Spain's Feliciano Lopez 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the ATP tournament in Marseille, a success he called a "miracle."

"It's incredible for me. It's like the most beautiful victory of my career," Tsonga smiled after the match, saying he was "happy as a kid.

The Frenchman (35 years old), had not won a match since November 2019. In 2020, injuries to the pelvis and then the back had forced him to an almost white season, with only two matches played and lost.

"It's been a long road to get to this point, for a little over a year. I was in pain for months, I couldn't carry my son, I couldn't chase him, I couldn't play sports... I couldn't do anything anymore. So to be here, in Marseille, at a tournament I particularly cherish, and to be able to win a match, it's moving," Tsonga, a three-time winner of the event (2009, 2013 and 2017), explained in a press conference.

"I heard everything around me, +he's finished, he can't play anymore+... For me, to have played tennis is a miracle, to have won so many tournaments is a miracle, to have had this career is a miracle. But the miracle of today beats all these miracles," he also assured.

For his return to the circuit, the Frenchman had lost two weeks ago in the first round of the tournament in Montpellier against the American Sebastian Korda.

"Today I was able to serve normally. I try to be efficient, to leave as little energy as possible on the court. Then I hope I can improve, move better," Tsonga explained.

"For me it's already a miracle to win a match, so I don't have any ambition to win the tournament at all," he also said, in response to a question about his goals for the rest of the tournament in Marseille. "I'm already aiming to win a second match, but lifting a trophy is totally utopian," he added.

In the next round, Tsonga will face compatriot Ugo Humbert, ranked 31st in the world, on Wednesday.

"We've trained together a lot, we've played doubles together. I know it will be a good match. He is very good, he has improved a lot. But I am not going to give him anything and I'm going to try to play my best tennis," Tsonga said.