ATP Tour

Tsonga & Ascione: The heavyweight partnership behind Lyon’s new ATP 250

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Thierry Ascione have built a successful partnership in tennis, first on court and now behind the scenes, as they help usher in a new era for the Grand Prix Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes in Lyon.

Relocated from Marseille for 2026, the ATP 250 event is taking place at the state-of-the-art LDLC Arena, giving the indoor tournament a fresh home and the pair a new platform for their ambitions. For former World No. 5 Tsonga and tournament director Ascione, it is the latest chapter in a relationship that began when Tsonga turned to his friend and former rival for help extending his playing career.

“When I was No. 8 in the world a few years back, I went to Thierry,” Tsonga recalled to ATPTour.com in Lyon, cracking a smile. “He was already a good friend. We played against each other on the court… I went to his home and told him I wanted to stop playing tennis. He said, ‘Are you crazy? You’re No. 8 in the world. You cannot do that.’

“Finally, he convinced me to continue, and I said, ‘Okay, I will continue, but you come with me.’ He looked at me like this: ‘What do you mean, coming with you?’ I said, ‘Yeah,’ because he was going to be the coach.”

Ascione joined Tsonga in 2013, helping him rediscover his best form before their partnership moved off court following Tsonga’s retirement at Roland Garros in 2022. Together, they grew All In Group and their tennis academy, founded in 2014, into a wider business.

They co-own the All In Country Club in Lyon, where the academy sits just minutes from the LDLC Arena and provides a training base for tournament players including Flavio Cobolli, Taylor Fritz and Stan Wawrinka.

Now, the arena offers a striking new home for the ATP 250 event. With modern facilities, it gives the relocated tournament a fresh identity and a platform to attract top players and passionate French fans.

“I think, for me, I’m proud because we told each other we would do it, with our teams, and we did it,” Tsonga, the 18-time ATP Tour champion, said. “To achieve something like this is never easy. There is always a trap we can fall into, but we did it. So today, it’s a beautiful indoor tournament, one of the biggest in the world. We’re really proud of it.”

As tournament director, Ascione draws on experience from previous ATP events, including the Open Parc in Lyon and the Open 13 Provence in Marseille, as he aims to establish the new event among the leading ATP 250 tournaments.

Early signs are promising, with Cobolli, Fritz and Tommy Paul headlining a strong field as players look to boost their chances of reaching the Nitto ATP Finals. Enthusiastic French fans have also set the tone, turning out in numbers for Sunday's qualifying matches.

“The success for me started on Sunday when I had 5,000 people in the crowd,” Ascione told ATPTour.com when asked about how he measures the success of a tournament. “I think the arena has changed the game for me as a 250. I think it’s great. It's a really good experience.

“It’s been a lot of work, of course, but with the way it started, in terms of results and the player field, it’s amazing. I'm a bit confident because we have an unbelievable draw.”

For Ascione, the tournament is another step in a relationship with Tsonga that has evolved considerably since their playing days. The pair faced each other twice on the ITF World Tour before becoming friends, with Ascione eventually taking on the role of coach when Tsonga was looking for a way to extend his career.

Their partnership was built on trust and a shared understanding of the game, and that foundation has carried into their work as business partners. Today, rather than preparing for matches together, they are helping create an environment in which the world's best players can compete and fans can experience top-level tennis.

“I think we are a good example of how to make it work, with him performing as he did because he was a real champion,” Ascione said of Tsonga, the former No. 5 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. “Now we are continuing the story as we are doing. I think it’s really nice. We are really lucky.”

That shared journey also has a personal dimension. On Sunday, the pair's children were playing together and watching the tennis from the stands, a reminder that the project is about more than the results on court. For Tsonga and Ascione, building a successful tournament also means helping inspire the next generation and making tennis accessible to families and young fans.

“At the end of the day, we do this for them,” Ascione said.

For Tsonga and Ascione, the goal is clear: turn a shared history on court into a lasting success for Lyon, building a tournament that combines world-class tennis with the passion of French fans.