French number one Jo-Wilfried Tsonga admitted Friday he bitterly regretted competing in the Davis Cup final after aggravating an arm injury that ruled him out of the Australian Open.
"I should never have played the Davis Cup final," Tsonga told Europe 1 radio, ahead of the first Grand Slam of the season which gets under way in Melbourne on Monday.
The world number 12 had been struggling with the injury for several weeks and it laid him low during the Davis Cup final against Switzerland in Lille in November.
In that contest Tsonga played the opening rubber against Stan Wawrinka but lost in four sets and then withdrew from the rest of the match which the Swiss won 3-1.
"Knowing all that, obviously I should never have played the final, like I should never have played Bercy (November), like I should have not played at all from the month of September to have time to recover from this injury and be fighting fit for the the 2015 season," he said.
Tsonga's best Grand Slam run to date came at the Australian Open in 2008 when he beat Raphael Nadal on the way to the final before losing in four sets to Novak Djokovic.
He said he would be undergoing treatment for the condition over the next three weeks in a bid to be fit in time for the Masters Series tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
"It's a part of my career which has been quite complicated and which has left its mark. For the moment, I still haven't recovered from that. I think I'll reflect on that a little later in the season," he continued.
Despite his disappointment, Tsonga insisted he loved playing for his country, despite "sacrificing practically nine weeks a year (for Davis Cup) at the expense of (my) personal career."
"You mustn't get everything mixed up," said Tsonga. "Playing for the France team is a duty for me. On the other hand playing professional tennis is my job. I knew straight away that it was 'dead' for Australia, that I had 'killed' any chance I had of recovering quickly. Professionally it was very important for me to go there (Australian Open)."
Tsonga's injury will take up to six weeks to heal, and the player insisted that although he hopes to be back in action before that he would never again take any risks with his health.
France's Davis Cup first round clash against Germany is in Frankfurt from March 6-8.
Source: AFP