Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulls out of Australian Open

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has been forced to withdraw from the Australian Open after failing to recover from a forearm problem.

The world number 12 sustained the injury during France's Davis Cup final defeat to Switzerland in November and aggravated it while competing in the lucrative International Premier Tennis League in Asia.

He sat out the Hopman Cup last week, but has now revealed that the injury will need three more weeks of treatment before he can return to action, ruling him out of the major that starts on January 19.

Tsonga said in a statement on his official website on Wednesday that he is "still suffering from a forearm inflammation that prevents me from being at 100% of my capacities in a competition".

The 29-year-old was runner-up in the 2008 Australian Open, when he lost to Novak Djokovic in his best performance in a Grand Slam.