Richard Gasquet will retire after the upcoming Roland Garros

Richard Gasquet will retire after the next Roland Garros

With a timing that in retrospect could be judged highly questionable, 38-year-old Frenchman Richard Gasquet announced in an interview with LEquipe that he will retire from tennis on the same day that Rafael Nadal, whose è age he is, did. He will hang up his racket after the next Roland Garros.

Gasquet at a very young age; was much more promising than the Majorcan, of whom è he was 15 days younger, having been born on June 18, 1986 and Rafa on the 3rd.With his one-handed backhand and a very varied game, the transalpine, with his natural talent, was being contrasted with Rafa’s, already very muscular and physically demanding. And instead, the good Gasquet has not even come close to the goals that Nadal has achieved.

He has had a very good career but infinitely below what was expected: he has won 16 ATP major circuit tournaments, but all of them in the lowest category, the 250, è he was world No. 7 in 2007 and reached three Slam semifinals, at Wimbledon 2007, at the US Open 2013 and again at Wimbledon in 2015, while in his home major, Roland Garros, è he reached the quarters in 2016.

""I will stop; in Paris. I think it is the best time to do it. È the best tournament to do it, we are lucky being French to be able to stop in such incredible places. He will be almost 39 years old, a canonical age: I never imagined I would play so much starting so young,” said Gasquet, who made his debut in professional tournaments when he was not yet 16, back in 2002 in Monte Carlo.