Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: Injured French star to miss Nottingham event

Two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Tsonga lost to eventual winner Stan Wawrinka in four sets in the last four of the French Open

French Open semi-finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has had to pull out of next week's Nottingham ATP World Tour event because of an abdominal strain.

The world number 12 lost to eventual winner Stan Wawrinka at Roland Garros in early June and has not played since.

His injury means he will have played no grass-court tennis prior to Wimbledon, which begins on 29 June.

The tournament in Nottingham follows on from the women's event, which was won by 17-year-old Croatian Ana Konjuh.

Grass-court specialist Feliciano Lopez of Spain and British number two James Ward have been confirmed for the event, which begins on Monday.

"Tsonga is a very popular player, but we have great depth here," said tournament director Paul Hutchins.

"Tsonga has had to pull out of three tournaments now in the lead-up to Wimbledon and I hope he recovers well so he can take his place at the Championships."

The 30-year-old Frenchman has won 11 titles during his career and has twice made the semi-finals at Wimbledon. He has reached the final four at Roland Garros on two occasions and finished as runner-up in the Australian Open in 2008.

The former Nottingham Open, a men's tournament held at the city's tennis centre, folded in 2008 after 14 years as a warm-up event for the sport's only Grand Slam to be played on grass.