What is known about a tennis player like Richard Gasquet? What are the achievements of the athlete? How did Richard Gasquet come to tennis? What individual qualities does an athlete have? All this will be discussed in our publication.
early years
Richard Gasquet was born on June 18, 1986 in the French town of Beziers. The boy's parents were tennis coaches. Therefore, from an early age, our hero got the opportunity to develop his makings during persistent training under the control of his mother and father. Richard Gasquet began to demonstrate outstanding abilities in this sport at the age of 12. At this time, he became the winner of the prestigious Les Petit tournament, in which the best young tennis players from all over the country participated.
In 2002, our hero won the title of champion in competitions in the city of Monte Carlo. Then the young athlete became the best in the youth tournament in the United States. As a result, Richard Gasquet unofficially began to consider the world champion among novice players.
Reaching 16 years of age, our hero joined the list of two hundred of the best tennis players on the planet. In 2004, Gasquet gained his first major victory in his career. Speaking with another young tennis player Tatyana Golovin at the French Open, he won the prestigious title. The following year, Richard won the competition in Nottingham, England.
Career progress
In 2005, Gasquet managed to get to the fourth round of competition, first at the United States Open Championship, and then repeated a similar achievement at Wimbledon. Thus, just a year after the official start of a professional career, an athlete managed to move from 107th position in the ranking of the best tennis players on the planet to 16th place.
Richard Gasquet continued to progress further. In 2006, the young athlete won immediately in 3 tournaments. The following year, he won a victory at international competitions only once. However, he very vividly declared himself in a series of Grand Slam tournaments. At the Australian stage, Richard reached the quarterfinal stage, and at Wimbledon the athlete reached the semifinal, in which he lost to the current world leader Roger Federer. At the end of the year, Gasquet took a place in the top ten, ranking in seventh position.
Doping scandal and return to big sport
The start of the 2007-2008 season was overshadowed for Gasquet by a serious injury that prevented the athlete from performing in a series of Grand Slam tournaments. Soon, the athlete began to pursue another failure. The French tennis player was accused of doping when traces of cocaine were found in his blood. Richard in every possible way denied connection with drugs. Ultimately, the anti-doping committee took the side of the athlete and approved that the prohibited substance was ingested by a tennis player as a result of reckless behavior while relaxing in a nightclub. Thus, due to a forced absence due to trauma and the scandal that erupted, Gasquet lost high positions in the world classification.
In 2010, the tennis player returned to big sport. From the first attempt, he managed to win the tournament in Nice. However, the athlete regained its former place in the ranking only in 2013, when he successfully passed through several stages of the APR competitions, and also reached the semi-finals at the US Open tournament, where he lost to champion Rafael Nadal. Thanks to this success, Gasquet returned to the list of ten best tennis players on the planet.
Athlete Qualities
The main quality of Richard Gasquet, which distinguishes him from his opponents, is the ability to take balls of almost any complexity, as well as extremely confident to behave on the court. The athlete has a phenomenal response and speed. It is these qualities that allow him to remain one of the leading French tennis players for many years.
Richard Gasquet is able to play confidently on any surface, whether it be grass, soil or synthetics. The athlete always keeps his height, speaking against more eminent, venerable rivals. According to the tennis player himself, the battle with strong opponents only gives him additional motivation and self-confidence.
What racket does Richard Gasquet play? During training and competitive practice, the athlete uses the HEAD YouTek IG Extreme model. The racket is developed on the basis of Innegra technology, which contributes to the implementation of more powerful innings and the creation of intricate ball twists.