Tennis star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga shares heartfelt letter from ball girl he helped at Australian Open 2016

Tennis star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has shared a heartfelt letter he received from a ball girl he came to the aid of a year ago.

The world No 12 was hailed as a "true gentleman" after he stopped play at the 2016 Australian Open in order to help a distressed ball girl.

The Frenchman noticed she was crying after being hit in the face by a ball and put his arm through hers and reassuringly walked her off court.

Now Tsonga, who dumped Briton Dan Evans out of this year’s tournament in the third round, has revealed the handwritten letter he received from the girl, called Guiliana.

The letter reads: "Dear Mr Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

"I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you for helping me out on court during your round 2 match. I'm not sure if you remember me but I was the ball girl you escorted off court.

"I would also like to take the opportunity to apologise for the times when you asked for the ball but I did not service it to you or acknowledge you.

"I had picked up a virus which I was unaware of and it caused me to become dizzy and lightheaded. This also affected my vision and hearing.

"I apologise for not being able to perform my duties as a ball kid to the high standards that are expected.

"Thank you so much for the kindness that you showed me. I really appreciate that you were able to see that I needed some help and were kind enough to escort me off court."

Tsonga publicised the letter in a tweet which has been shared almost 2,000 times and has received over 5,000 ‘likes’.

Speaking at the time of the incident, he said: "I didn't know it was going to be something like this.

"It's just normal. She was really in trouble and the eyes were a bit [teary].

"It was just normal to help her to go out of the stadium. I hope she's going well now. I asked the umpire during the game and she said it's okay, but with the umpire you never know.”