Richard Gasquet

Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player.

Gasquet was born on 18 June 1986, in Béziers, France, where he was raised.

His mother, Maryse, and his father, Francis, were both tennis teachers and ran a local tennis club in Sérignan.

This had an influence on Gasquet and he began playing tennis at the age of 4 with his dad at the club.

Soon after, he was discovered by former world number 9 Pierre Barthès who ran a tennis camp at the nearby seaside resort of Cap d'Agde.

At the age of 15 years and 10 months, he defeated Argentina's Franco Squillari in the first round of that tournament to become the youngest player to win a top-tier tour (ATP Tour, Grand Prix tennis circuit or World Championship Tennis) main draw singles match since Tommy Ho at Rye Brook in 1988.

When he was 9 years old, Gasquet was touted as a future champion on the cover of the February 1996 issue of French Tennis Magazine.

Gasquet played his first junior match in April 1999 at the age of 12 at a grade 3 tournament in France.

Throughout the rest of the year, Gasquet dominated the U14 circuit in the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, collecting the three most prestigious trophies of the year at Tim Essonne, Les Petits As, and the European Junior Championships at San Remo.

In the latter two finals, he beat Brian Baker and Jerome Becker respectively, but perhaps the most significant match of the year was the Les Petits quarterfinal match against the 12-year-old Rafael Nadal, which Gasquet won 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.

As a junior, he posted a 44–7 career singles record and a 10–4 career doubles record.

He had a career-high juniors singles ranking of world No. 1, attained on 9 September 2002, at the age of 16 years and 3 months.

During the same year, he made the semifinals of the Junior Australian Open and won the Junior French Open and the Junior US Open, winning the final of the former against compatriot Laurent Recouderc in just 45 minutes, the shortest final in the event’s history.

Junior Grand Slam results - Singles:

Australian Open: SF (2002)

French Open: W (2002)

Wimbledon: A (-)

US Open: W (2002)

His wins at junior grand slams at such a young age caused him to become one of the most anticipated juniors ever and many thought that he would become a future world number 1, with the French media heralding him as their bastion of hope and calling him the “Mozart of tennis” when he was just 15 years old.

Gasquet made his debut on the ATP tour in April 2002, at the Tennis Masters Series tournament in Monte Carlo where he received a wildcard into qualifying and became the youngest player ever to qualify for a Tennis Masters Series event.

Gasquet made his Grand Slam tournament debut at the 2002 French Open at the age of 15 years, 11 months and 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 won the mixed doubles title at the 2004 French Open, partnering with Tatiana Golovin.

In 2004, Gasquet reached his first ATP Tour singles final in Metz, losing to his countryman Jérôme Haehnel in straight sets.

He also won the mixed doubles title at the French Open that year, partnering Tatiana Golovin.

Aged 16 years and 6 months, he became both the youngest year-end World No. 1 in junior rankings (since broken by Donald Young in 2005), and also the youngest player in history to finish in the year-end ATP top 200.

Gasquet missed the first seven weeks of the 2005 season because of chickenpox.

Upon recovery, he won back-to-back Challenger titles in March.

In April, riding the momentum of a ten-match winning streak, Gasquet reached the semifinals of the Masters Series tournament at Monte Carlo, handing world No. 1 Roger Federer a surprise defeat in the quarterfinals.

He saved three match points before closing it out in a 10–8 tiebreak.

As a result, he became the youngest French player ever to defeat a world No. 1. However, the eventual champion Rafael Nadal defeated him in the semifinals.

His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007.

He has won 16 singles titles on the ATP Tour, tied for eighth most among active players.

He is also fourth among active players with over 600 career match wins.

His best performances in Grand Slam singles tournaments have been three semifinal appearances, two at the Wimbledon Championships (in 2007 and 2015) and once at the US Open (in 2013).

His best performance in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 singles tournaments was being the runner-up in Hamburg in 2005 and Toronto in 2006 and 2012.

He also won the men's doubles Olympic bronze medal in 2012 with his doubles partner Julien Benneteau.

Gasquet is best known for his elegant groundstrokes and his one-handed backhand.