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| Birth Name(s) : Richard Gasquet |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Richard Gasquet Biography
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 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.
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.
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.
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. |
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