Jo-Wilfried Tsonga missed a fairly easy overhead that would have clinched his first round match in Rome on Tuesday night (he went on to lose to countryman Gilles Simon in a third-set tiebreaker), but his allegedly seriously injured knee was not the culprit. Tsonga, who pulled out of the Davis Cup match against the U.S. less than four weeks ago because of torn cartilage that reportedly would require surgery, in Tuesday’s match neither limped or even wore a brace or bandages during more than two hours on court.

He is hoping to avoid surgery and play the French Open — a tournament his website/blog says is “very close to Jo’s heart.” It is apparently much closer to his heart than representing his country in the Davis Cup. His site provided this report on his knee on May 3: “Jo’s torn ligament damage is seemingly over for the moment! …He had the option to undergo surgery but this would guarantee missing the French Open…Tsonga had the knee tissue drained and has rested for over 10 days as according to the Expert advice giving by leading Doctors in the field.”

Considering less than a month ago that he bailed on Captain Guy Forget, the French team and about 10,000 fans who bought tickets and who knows how many would have liked to see him play on TV, Tsonga should act like the knee still hurts — at least limp every now and then, just a little bit.