Richard Gasquet is not living well in the last part of his excellent career, which is slipping towards the definitive exit from the ATP top 100 and the need to score points also in the ATP Challengers. In Qatar, the Frenchman, after a final reached in Manama (Bahrain), returned to win a match in an ATP 250 against an opponent in form like Alexander Shevchenko.
In the round of 16 the Frenchman had to surrender to ATP ranked world number 5 Andrey Rublev, who proved superior enough to beat him 6-3, 6-4. The 37-year-old thus admitted the difficulties he is facing in an interview with Tennis Majors.
Richard Gasquet© Darrian Traynor / Stringer Getty Images Sport
“I no longer have any margin over the others. I have to be really good to win a single match. Before, I would win the initial rounds of a competition even if I was at 60%, whereas today if I’m not at 110%, both mentally and physically, I don’t even win a match.
This is the hardest thing to accept. The goal is to get back into the top 100 but it will be complicated. Every day I am able to beat very good players, to get back into the top 100 you also have to play and win a lot. I’m not 25 anymore, the top 100 today is stronger than before,” explained Gasquet, who had never found himself managing a similar situation since 2005.
Richard Gasquet shares his honest admission
“If I continue it is for the pleasure of playing, I never thought I would do it for so long. It was something inconceivable to me when I was 16 or 17. I thought I’d quit at 30 but I’m still having fun,” he added.
Not just Gasquet; there are several tennis players aged 36 to 38 who are struggling to contain the new generation and obtain positive results in the first tournaments of 2024 and who knows if for many of them it will be the last year on the ATP Tour. The Frenchman is certainly one of them, at the moment.
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