Richard Gasquet

 

Richard Gasquet

Country	France
Residence	Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Date of birth	June 18 1986 (1986--) (age 21)
Place of birth	Béziers, France
Height	m ()
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Turned Pro	2002
Plays	Right; One-handed backhand
Career Prize Money	$2,526,777
Singles
Career record:	115-78
Career titles:	5
Highest ranking:	No. 7 (July 9, 2007)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	4th (2007)
French Open	3rd (2005)
Wimbledon	SF (2007)
U.S. Open	4th (2005, 2006)
Doubles
Career record:	22-16
Career titles:	1
Highest ranking:	60 (May 21, 2007)

Richard Gasquet (born 18 June, 1986) is a French tennis player. He has reached a career high of No. 7 in the world on July 9, 2007 after making it to the semi-finals of Wimbledon 2007, defeating Andy Roddick in 5 sets (4-6 4-6 7-6 7-6 8-6). He currently uses the Head Liquidmetal Instinct Tour XL painted, as the Head MicroGel Extreme Pro racquet. He strings with Luxilon Big Banger Original in the high 40's to low 50's tension range depending on the conditions.

Career

Early years

Gasquet was born in Béziers in the (Languedoc-Roussillon) region. He began playing tennis at the age of 4 under the guidance of his father, Francis, who ran a tennis club. He appeared on the cover of French Tennis Magazine aged only 9, and was touted as an extremely promising prospect even at such an early age. He was coached by his father during his junior career, and by Tarik Benhabiles for a short period. Since 2004, he has been coached by ex-professional tennis player Eric Deblicker.

He made his debut on the ATP tour in April, 2002, at the Tennis Masters Series tournament at Monte Carlo where he received a wild card into qualifying and became the youngest player ever to qualify for a Tennis Masters event. At the age of 15 years, 10 months, he defeated Argentina's Franco Squillari in the first round of that tournament to become the youngest player to win a tour-level main draw match since Tommy Ho at Rye Brook in 1988.

Gasquet made his Grand Slam tournament debut at the 2002 French Open at the age of 15 years, 11 months, nine days. He was the second-youngest player ever to compete in the main draw there. Despite his lack of experience, he managed to take a set off the eventual champion Albert Costa in the first round. Gasquet finished 2002 as the no. 1 junior in the world and was named World Junior Champion, having won the junior titles at the French Open and the US Open. He was also the youngest player to finish in year-end ATP top 200.

Gasquet finished 2003 as the youngest player to finish a year inside the ATP top 100. In 2004, he reached his first ATP tournament final at Metz, but lost to fellow countryman Jérôme Haehnel 7-6, 6-4. He also won the mixed doubles trophy at the French Open that year, partnering Tatiana Golovin.

2005

Gasquet missed the first seven weeks of the 2005 season due to chickenpox. Upon his recovery he won back to back challenger titles in March. In April, riding the momentum of a 10 match winning streak, Gasquet reached the semifinals of the Masters Series tournament at Monte Carlo, handing world number one Roger Federer a shock 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 defeat in the quarterfinal. He saved 3 match points before closing it out in a 12-10 tiebreak. As a result, he became the youngest French player ever to defeat a world number one. However, the eventual champion Rafael Nadal got the better of him in the semi beating Gasquet 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Fresh off of his huge win over Federer and having just demolished Paradorn Srichaphan in straight sets, the rising teen lost against Andre Agassi 6-2, 6-3 at Rome's Masters tennis tournament, possibly due to being overawed at playing one of his childhood heroes. A month later, he reached the final of the Hamburg Masters, where, this time, he was defeated by Roger Federer in 3 straight sets.

In May, he won his first ever Grand Slam singles match at Roland Garros. On June 18, his 19th birthday, he won his first ATP title, defeating Max Mirnyi in the final of the grass court tournament at Nottingham, England. He then made his Davis Cup debut against Russia in July where he won his first rubber against Igor Andreev but lost his second against Nikolay Davydenko.

Gasquet had to miss the last 2 months of the season because of an elbow injury. He finished the year as French number 1 for the first time.

2006

In 2006, Gasquet had a slow start after a first round defeat to Tommy Haas at the Australian Open. He later avenged this defeat in the Davis Cup 1st round tie against Germany where he beat Haas in 5 sets. However he lost both his singles rubbers in the quarter-final tie versus Russia, and suffered an abdominal injury in that tie which left him out of action for a month. Having struggled to find any form after his comeback during the clay season, Gasquet went out in the 2nd round of the French Open to David Nalbandian, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 6-0.

Following on from a disappointing opening half to his season, in the space of 3 weeks he successfully defended his title at Nottingham, lost in a first round meeting with Roger Federer at Wimbledon, and won his 2nd title of the year, on clay, in Gstaad. Gasquet's form continued to improve heading towards the US Open, as he reached the final of the Masters Seriers event in Toronto, again being halted by Federer, in 3 sets 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. He reached the fourth round of the US Open for the 2nd year in a row where he lost to Lleyton Hewitt in 5 sets.

In October he won his 3rd title of the year, this time on indoor carpet, in Lyon, completing his achievement of reaching finals on all four surfaces during the year. His season ended when he withdrew in the third round of the Paris Masters due to illness. He ended the year as French number 1 for the second straight year.

2007

Gasquet's 2007 started with a quarter-final in Adelaide, followed by a semi-final in Sydney. He went on to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open, losing to Tommy Robredo in 4 sets. At the Monte Carlo Masters Series tournament, he notched up his first win over a top 10 opponent of the year, winning his 3rd round match over Ivan Ljubičić, ranked 8 at the time. However he then lost his quarter-final to twice former Monte Carlo champion Juan Carlos Ferrero. Gasquet reached his first final of the season two weeks later, at Estoril, but the up and coming Serbian player Novak Đoković got the better of him in 3 sets. Despite losing in round 2 of the French Open to Kristof Vliegen, he rose two spots to a career high #11.

Gasquet then made his first grand slam semi-final at Wimbledon. He beat fellow frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on his way to a quarter-final showdown with Andy Roddick. In a tremendous contest, Gasquet recovered from a sluggish start and a deficit of two sets and a break in the third, to upset the two-time finalist by a scoreline of 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 8-6. Gasquet managed to score an amazing 93 winners, most of which were with his almost 'trademark' backhand down the line. He lost in the semi-finals to Roger Federer (who beat him in the first round of the same event the previous year), 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. He made his top 10 debut, at #7, as a result. The following week in Gstaad, as defending champion, he defeated Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo and avenged his Roland Garros loss to Kristof Vliegen, but lost in the quarters to Igor Andreev 7-5 6-2. He bowed out at the 2007 U.S Open because of a virus. Gasquet returned to action in Mumbai, India winning his 5th career ATP title beating Olivier Rochus in the final. He followed this up by reaching the final of the Tokyo ATP tournament, losing to David Ferrer in straight sets.

Playing style

Gasquet is noted for his powerful and precise one-handed backhand, for his flair and shot-making ability and is also known for his speed around the court. Gasquet's one-handed backhand features a high take back, utilising gravity, coils up (very low to the ground), and slowly unwinds, and unleashes one of the most beautiful and lethal shots seen these days in tennis.

Gasquet has earned much praise for his "natural talent." One of the accolades he has received is recognition of his ability to play all-round complete tennis. During a Davis cup match against Marat Safin British TV presenter Barry Cowan described him as "naturally more talented than Federer." Many, including Peter Fleming, have sung similar praises upon the Frenchman.

Masters Series singles finals

Runner-ups (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2005	Hamburg	Roger Federer	6-3, 7-5, 7-6(4)
2006	Toronto	Roger Federer	2-6, 6-3, 6-2

ATP Tour titles (5)

Legend (Singles)

Grand Slam (0)

Tennis Masters Cup (0)

ATP Masters Series (0)

ATP Tour (5)

Challengers (7)

Singles (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	July 1, 2002	Montauban	Clay	Oscar Serrano	7-5 6-1
2.	March 10, 2003	Sarajevo	Hard (I)	Dick Norman	6-1 7-6
3.	April 21, 2003	Napoli	Clay	Gilles Muller	6-4 6-4
4.	June 23, 2003	Reggio Emilia	Clay	Potito Starace	7-5 6-1
5.	September 22, 2003	Grenoble	Hard (I)	Harel Levy	7-5 7-6
6.	March 21, 2005	Barletta	Clay	Alessio Di Mauro	6-3 7-6
7.	March 28, 2005	Napoli	Clay	Potito Starace	4-6 6-3 7-5
8.	June 13, 2005	Nottingham	Grass	Max Mirnyi	6-2 6-3
9.	June 19, 2006	Nottingham	Grass	Jonas Bjorkman	6-4 6-3
10.	July 10, 2006	Gstaad	Clay	Feliciano Lopez	7-6 6-7 6-3 6-3
11.	October 23, 2006	Lyon	Carpet	Marc Gicquel	6-3 6-1
12.	September 30, 2007	Mumbai, India	Hard	Olivier Rochus	6-3, 6-4

Singles finalist (5)

• 2004: Metz (lost to Jérôme Haehnel)
• 2005: Hamburg AMS (lost to Roger Federer)
• 2006: Toronto AMS (lost to Roger Federer)
• 2007: Estoril (lost to Novak Đoković)
• 2007: Tokyo (lost to David Ferrer)

Doubles (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	8 May, 2006	Metz, France	Hard (I)	Fabrice Santoro	Julian Knowle Jürgen Melzer	3-6, 6-1, 11-9 (Match TB)

Performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. Davis Cup matches are included in the statistics. This table is current through to September 30th, 2007.

Tournament	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Career SR	Career win-loss
Australian Open	A	1R	1R	A	1R	4R	0 / 4	3-4
French Open	1R	1R	1R	3R	2R	2R	0 / 6	4-6
Wimbledon	A	A	1R	4R	1R	SF	0 / 4	8-4
U.S. Open	A	A	A	4R	4R	2R	0 / 3	7-2
Grand Slam SR	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 17	N/A
Grand Slam Win-Loss	0-1	0-2	0-3	8-3	4-4	10-3	N/A	22-16
Tennis Masters Cup	A	A	A	A	A		0 / 0	0-0
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	A	A	4R	4R	0 / 2	4-2
Miami Masters	A	1R	A	A	2R	3R	0 / 3	1-3
Monte Carlo Masters	2R	1R	A	SF	A	QF	0 / 4	8-4
Rome Masters	A	A	A	2R	A	2R	0 / 2	2-2
Hamburg Masters	A	A	A	F	1R	2R	0 / 3	6-3
Canada Masters	A	A	A	2R	F	2R	0 / 3	6-3
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	A	2R	1R	2R	0 / 3	1-3
Madrid Masters (Stuttgart)	A	A	A	A	2R	2R	0 / 2	1-2
Paris Masters	A	1R	A	A	3R		0 / 2	1-2
Total Titles	0	0	0	1	3		N/A	4
Hardcourt Win-Loss	0-0	2-5	4-4	8-4	14-12	21-8	N/A	49-33
Grass Win-Loss	0-1	0-0	0-2	11-2	6-2	7-3	N/A	24-10
Carpet Win-Loss	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-0	6-3		N/A	6-5
Clay Win-Loss	1-3	0-2	9-9	13-5	7-4	12-7	N/A	42-30
Overall Win-Loss	1-5	2-8	13-15	32-11	33-21	40-18	N/A	121-78
Year End Ranking	161	93	107	16	18		N/A	N/A

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

External links

• ATP Tour profile for Richard Gasquet
• Gasquet Recent Match Results
• Gasquet World Ranking History
• Richard Gasquet's ITF Junior profile
• Official website of Richard Gasquet
• Profile, Results and Statistics
• Active Richard Gasquet forum

Association of Tennis Professionals | Top ten male tennis players as of October 15 2007
1. Roger Federer 6. Fernando González 2. Rafael Nadal 7. 1 David Ferrer 3. Novak Đoković 8. 1 James Blake 4. Nikolay Davydenko 9. Tommy Robredo 5. Andy Roddick 10. 2 Tommy Haas

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