Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 7 in men's singles by the ATP, attained in July 2007. Gasquet won 16 singles titles on the ATP Tour, and earned over 600 career match wins. His best performances in major singles tournaments were three semifinal appearances, two at the Wimbledon Championships (in 2007 and 2015) and one at the US Open (in 2013). His best performance in ATP Masters 1000 tournaments tournaments was runner-up finishes in Hamburg in 2005 and Toronto in 2006 and 2012. Gasquet won the mixed doubles title at the 2004 French Open, partnering Tatiana Golovin, and an Olympic bronze medal in men's doubles at the 2012 London Olympics, partnering Julien Benneteau. Gasquet was best known for his elegant groundstrokes and his one-handed backhand.
Early life Gasquet was born on 18 June 1986, in Béziers, France, where he was raised. His mother, Maryse, and his father, Francis, were both biology 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.
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.
Junior career (1999–2002) 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 defeated 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)
These wins helped launch his career, 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.
Professional career 2002: ATP and Grand Slam debut, top 200 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. 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.
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. 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.
2004: French Open mixed doubles champion, first singles final 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.
2005: First title & Masters final, win over world No. 1 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.
Fresh off of Gasquet's win over Federer and having just beaten Paradorn Srichaphan in straight sets, the rising teen disappointingly lost against Andre Agassi in Rome. A month later, he reached the final of the Hamburg Masters, where, this time, he was defeated by Federer in three sets.
In May, Gasquet won his first Grand Slam singles match at Roland Garros. On 18 June, his 19th birthday, he won his first ATP Tour singles title beating Max Mirnyi in the final of the Nottingham Open in England on grass. He made his Davis Cup debut against Russia in July where he won his first rubber against Igor Andreev but lost second to Nikolay Davydenko.
Gasquet had to miss the last two months of the season because of an elbow injury. He finished the year as French number one for the first time.
2006: Three ATP titles on three different surfaces, second Masters final In 2006, Gasquet had a slow start after a first-round defeat by Tommy Haas at the Australian Open. He later avenged this defeat in the Davis Cup first-round tie against Germany, where he beat Haas in five sets. However, he lost both his singles rubbers in a quarterfinal tie versus Russia and suffered an abdominal injury in that tie which left him out of action for a month. In the Davis Cup match against Marat Safin, British TV presenter Barry Cowan described him as "naturally more talented than Federer". Having struggled to find any form after his comeback during the clay season, Gasquet went out in the second round of the French Open to David Nalbandian.
Following a disappointing opening half of the season, in the space of three weeks Gasquet successfully defended his title at Nottingham, lost in a first-round meeting with Roger Federer at Wimbledon, and won his second 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 Series event in Toronto, again being halted by Federer in three sets. He reached the fourth round of the US Open for the second year in a row, where he lost to Lleyton Hewitt in five sets.
In October, Gasquet won his third ATP Tour singles title of the year, this time on indoor carpet in Lyon, completing his achievement of reaching ATP Tour singles finals on all four surfaces during the year. His season ended when he withdrew from his third round singles match against Marat Safin at the Paris Masters due to illness.
2007: First Grand Slam singles semifinal, world No. 7; Monte Carlo doubles final
Gasquet's 2007 started with a quarterfinal showing in Adelaide, followed by a semifinal appearance in Sydney. He went on to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open, losing to Tommy Robredo in four sets. At Monte Carlo, he notched his first win over a top-10 opponent of the year, winning his third-round match over Ivan Ljubičić, ranked No. 8 at the time. However, he then lost his quarterfinal match 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 Djokovic got the better of him in three sets.
Gasquet reached the doubles final of the Monte Carlo Masters with Julien Benneteau, where the French team lost to Bob and Mike Bryan. Despite losing in the second round of the French Open to Kristof Vliegen, he rose two spots to a career high No. 11.
Gasquet then made his first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon. He beat fellow Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on his way to a quarterfinal showdown with Andy Roddick. In one of the great Wimbledon quarterfinals, 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 in five sets. Gasquet managed to score an amazing 93 winners, many of which were with his trademark backhand down the line. He lost in the semifinals to Federer (who beat him in the first round of the same event the previous year). He made his top-10 debut at No. 7 as a result, his highest ranking to date.
The following week in Gstaad, as defending champion, Gasquet beat Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo and avenged his Roland Garros loss to Kristof Vliegen, but lost in the quarterfinals to Igor Andreev. He bowed out at the 2007 US Open because of a virus. Gasquet returned to action in Mumbai, India winning his fifth career ATP title by 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.
Gasquet took a few weeks break and then played in Lyon where he was defending champion. He lost to Tsonga (whom he beat at Wimbledon) in the third round in straight sets. At the Paris Masters, Gasquet defeated Tsonga in the second round and sixth seed James Blake in the third round. He beat Andy Murray in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals, where he was stopped by David Nalbandian in straight sets. With his performance in Paris, Gasquet qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup, clinching eighth place. At the Tennis Masters Cup, Gasquet was defeated by Rafael Nadal in his first round-robin match. He then defeated Novak Djokovic, but lost to David Ferrer. Gasquet failed to qualify for the semifinals, placing third in his group.
2008: 150 singles wins on the ATP Tour Gasquet started out the year as the top seed of the Sydney Medibank International, but made an early second-round exit to eventual champion Dmitry Tursunov. Gasquet played with Tsonga in the doubles final of the Sydney Medibank International, scoring a major upset over world No. 1 duo Bob and Mike Bryan. The French combination came back from two match points down to win the championship and deny the Bryan brothers ever winning the tournament. After defeating Nick Lindahl, Feliciano López, and Igor Andreev, Gasquet lost in four sets in the fourth round of the Australian Open to eventual finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
At Gasquet's next two tournaments, the Open 13 at Marseille, France, and Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, he suffered second-round defeats to Robin Söderling and Igor Andreev. At the ATP Masters Series tournament in Indian Wells, Gasquet lost in straight sets in the fourth round to James Blake. At the next ATP Masters Series tournament in Key Biscayne, Florida, he lost in the first round to Dmitry Tursunov. And at the U.S. vs France World Group quarterfinal Davis Cup match, Gasquet lost in three sets to Blake in the opening round. Then, in a controversial move, he opted out of a key reverse-singles match against Andy Roddick. After winning his first-round match at Monte Carlo, Gasquet's poor form continued as he lost in the second round to Sam Querrey, and then both of his opening-round matches in Rome and Hamburg to Luis Horna and to Andreas Seppi, respectively.