Richard Gasquet

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.

In Tokyo, the eighth-seeded Gasquet defeated No. 2 seed Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals before losing to No. 3 seed Kei Nishikori in the semifinals. At the tournament in Antwerp held in mid-October, Gasquet reached his sixth and final ATP World Tour singles semifinal of the year; he lost his semifinal match to Kyle Edmund in straight sets. Gasquet played his last tournament of 2018 at the Paris Masters, where he lost in the second round to the No. 16 seed Jack Sock 3–6, 3–6. On 12 November, Gasquet withdrew from the Davis Cup World Group final against Croatia that was to be held at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on 23-25 November, due to injury.

Gasquet stated that it was his goal to return to the top ten of the ATP singles rankings in 2017. He also stated he wanted to achieve greater success at the bigger tournaments, which he defined as the Grand Slam events and the Davis Cup (rather than the Masters 1000 tournaments). He started the year at the Hopman Cup, where he won both his singles and doubles matches, securing a victory for France over their opponents Germany. In France's next match, Gasquet once again delivered winning both his matches (singles and mixed doubles) to ensure France's defeat of Great Britain. However, that meant Gasquet would have to play Roger Federer of Switzerland, whom he had lost to on numerous occasions in the past. Predictably, Gasquet lost to Federer in straight sets, the first set being a 6–1 annihilation, however due to Mladenovic's victory over Bencic and Mladenovic and Gasquet's victory over Federer and Bencic in the mixed doubles, France progressed through to the final where they faced the United States. France defeated the United States in the final, after Gasquet and Mladenovic pulled off the decisive victory in the mixed doubles.

Gasquet helped France win the 2017 Davis Cup by winning (he was paired with Pierre-Hugues Herbert) the doubles match in the final against Belgium.

Gasquet withdrew from the 2016 Olympics tennis tournament because of his back injury. In the men's singles draw, Gasquet was replaced by his compatriot Benoît Paire, while in the men's doubles draw he was replaced by Gaël Monfils, who paired up with Tsonga.

Gasquet started his 2015 season in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. He lost to Tomáš Berdych in quarterfinal match. In the third round of the Australian Open, he was defeated by Kevin Anderson. Gasquet returned to Montpellier to win his 11th ATP Tour singles title at the Open Sud de France, after his victory in the final over the injured Jerzy Janowicz. He also won his 12th ATP Tour singles title at the Estoril Open beating Nick Kyrgios who reached the final of an ATP Tour tournament for the first time in his career. This victory made Gasquet one of only eight active players to be placed in the top 10 for number of titles, finals and semifinals attained.

Gasquet started his 2014 season in the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open in Doha, where he was the defending champion. He lost to Gaël Monfils in the second round. In the third round of the Australian Open, he was defeated by Tommy Robredo in four sets, despite taking the first set 6–2. Gasquet returned to Montpellier to defend his title at the Open Sud de France, but was defeated by Monfils in the final. At the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Gasquet was defeated in the second round by Philipp Kohlschreiber. He reached the third round of the Indian Wells Masters. At Miami, he defeated Alejandro Gonzalez and Kevin Anderson in straight sets. However, in the fourth round, he was defeated by Roger Federer. Gasquet made his return from back injury at the French Open. He reach the third round, before being defeated by Fernando Verdasco.

At the French Open, Gasquet reached the fourth round, where he lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. At Gasquet's first grass court tournament of the season, the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club, he beat Simone Bolelli in the first round before losing to the third-seeded seed Milos Raonic in the second round. At Wimbledon, he defeated three top-30 players, including 2014 Wimbledon semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov, 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Nick Kyrgios and 2015 French Open Champion Stanislas Wawrinka. He was ousted by the defending and eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals in straight sets. This ended his best run in Wimbledon since 2007, where he reached the semifinals as well. Gasquet's good performance at Wimbledon elevated his ATP singles ranking seven places up to world No. 13. He would finish the remainder of the season on a high note. He lost in the quarterfinals of the US Open to Roger Federer and in the semifinals in Stockholm and Basel (to Jack Sock and Rafael Nadal respectively) before losing to Andy Murray in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters. Gasquet's strong play was enough to secure a year-end top 10 finish in the singles rankings for the fourth time in his career.

Gasquet began the grass-court season at Queen's Club, where he defeated Mario Ančić of Croatia in the second round, and Italian Simone Bolelli in the third round. However, in his quarterfinal match, he fell to David Nalbandian of Argentina. This was Gasquet's first quarterfinal appearance in a tournament that year. At Wimbledon, Gasquet was the eighth seed and defeated American Mardy Fish in the first round. In his next two matches, he defeated a pair of his compatriots, Sébastien Grosjean and Gilles Simon. He went out to Andy Murray in the fourth round despite serving for the match at 5–4 in the third set.

Gasquet had to pull out of the tournament in Marseille because of a right-shoulder injury. His next tournament was Dubai. In the first round, he defeated Marat Safin. He then defeated Simone Bolelli and received a walkover into the semifinals following Andy Murray's withdrawal because of illness, where he was then defeated by David Ferrer. He then participated in the Davis Cup with Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Gaël Monfils against the Czech Republic in the first round. Gasquet teamed up with Michaël Llodra (who replaced Monfils) to play the doubles rubber on day two, but they lost in four sets against Radek Štěpánek and Tomáš Berdych. France then went on to lose the tie 2–3, the first time they had exited in the first round since 2000. His next tournament was the BNP Paribas Open Masters 1000 in Indian Wells. He received a bye in the first round, and then defeated compatriot Michaël Llodra, before losing to Fernando Verdasco in the third round.

Gasquet also made the quarterfinals in the Kuala Lumpur Open 250 tournament in Malaysia, losing to Fernando Verdasco despite leading 3–0 in the first set.

After being sidelined for a lengthy period, Richard then appeared at the Suisse Open in Gstaad. Seeded seventh, he had victories over Farrukh Dustov, Daniel Brands, and fourth seed Albert Montañés to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, he defeated Yuri Schukin for a place in the final, where he lost to Nicolás Almagro. At the Cincinnati Masters, he reached the third round, beating Mikhail Youzhny, before falling to Mardy Fish. At the US Open he brushed aside sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko in the second round, the Russian winning a mere nine games. He lost in the fourth round to Gaël Monfils in straight sets, despite having held set points in both the second and third sets. At the Shanghai Masters, Gasquet advanced to the third round, defeating Ernests Gulbis and Monfils, before losing to Novak Djokovic. He reached the quarterfinals in Basel before falling to Victor Troicki in a lacklustre display. At the Paris Masters, he outlasted Nicolas Mahut in a marathon, winning 9–7 in the third set tiebreak, before falling to Roger Federer in straight sets in the second round. He made the Davis Cup team for France in the final against Serbia.

Gasquet started his 2013 season by capturing the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open in Doha. In the final, he defeated former finalist Nikolay Davydenko in three sets. He followed that win by reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, where he met and lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets. Gasquet won his second title of the year defeating fellow Frenchman Benoît Paire in the Open Sud de France final. At the French Open, he lost in the fourth round to Stanislas Wawrinka despite winning the first two sets. As the ninth seed, Gasquet reached the third round at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, before losing to Australia's Bernard Tomic in four sets.

Gasquet ended his run of four consecutive singles defeats at the Grand Prix Hassan II, where he was beaten in the semifinals by Kyle Edmund. At the Monte-Carlo Masters, Gasquet recorded his 500th ATP Tour career main draw singles victory with a third-round win over Mischa Zverev. He became the first Frenchman in the Open era and only the eighth active player to achieve that milestone. He was defeated by Alexander Zverev (Mischa Zverev's younger brother) in the quarterfinals, despite winning the first set. Gasquet won only one singles match (in Madrid) in his next three tournaments - Budapest, Madrid and Rome. He lost in the third round of the French Open to Rafael Nadal 3–6, 2–6, 2–6, to fall to a 0–16 match record against Nadal. Gasquet won his 15th ATP career singles title and his third one on grass at the Rosmalen Championships in the Netherlands with a 6–3, 7–6 win over Jérémy Chardy. Gasquet lost in the singles first round in Halle and at Wimbledon.

Coached by Riccardo Piatti, Gasquet kicked off his 2012 season by competing at the 2012 Hopman Cup alongside top-10 WTA pro Marion Bartoli. The French won all three of their round-robin ties to reach the final, where they lost to the Czech Republic. Gasquet lost in the quarterfinals in Sydney to Denis Istomin. He competed in the Australian Open shortly afterward, defeating Andreas Seppi, Andrey Golubev, and ninth seed Janko Tipsarević en route to the fourth round. There, he faced and lost to fifth seed David Ferrer. Immediately thereafter, he made the quarterfinals at the Open Sud de France, where he lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Gasquet reached the fourth round of the French Open, before losing to Andy Murray. At Wimbledon he lost in the fourth round to Florian Mayer and in the US Open he lost at the same stage to David Ferrer. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Gasquet played in both the singles and doubles competitions. In the singles, he lost to Marcos Baghdatis in the second round. He had more success in the doubles, however, as he and Julien Benneteau defeated Spaniards David Ferrer and Feliciano López in the third-place playoff to win the bronze medals.

Gasquet began 2011 at the Chennai Open, losing to Björn Phau. He then headed to Australia to play in the Medibank International Sydney, losing to Viktor Troicki. Afterwards he played in the Australian Open, losing in the third round to Tomáš Berdych. He then competed at the Zagreb Indoors, where he reached the quarterfinals after a bye and the withdrawal of Arnaud Clément. However, he retired against Michael Berrer, 2–5 down due to a shoulder injury.

Gasquet played his first tournament of the year in Doha. Seeded No. 5, he defeated Víctor Estrella Burgos in the first round before losing to qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round. Gasquet lost in the singles third round of the Australian Open to Roger Federer in straight sets, his ninth consecutive loss to Federer. In the 2018 Davis Cup World Group first round tie against the Netherlands, he beat Robin Haase in four sets in the second singles rubber to level the score at 1-1; France won the tie 3-1. In February, Gasquet reached the singles final of the Open Sud de France for the sixth consecutive year, where he was defeated by his countryman Lucas Pouille in straight sets. Gasquet lost his opening singles matches in his next three tournaments - Rotterdam, Dubai and Miami. On 2 April, he dropped to world no. 38 in the ATP singles rankings - his lowest since being world No. 38 on 6 September 2010.

Gasquet began his 2009 tour season at the Brisbane International. Gasquet came back from a set down to defeat Marc Gicquel in the first round. He then had a straight-set win over American Taylor Dent in the second round and defeated second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals. He lost to Radek Štěpánek in the semifinals. Gasquet then traveled to Sydney, Australia for the Medibank International. He defeated defending champion Dmitry Tursunov in the first round and second seed and compatriot Gilles Simon in straight sets in the second. Gasquet then defeated countryman Jérémy Chardy, before losing to David Nalbandian in the semifinals. At the Australian Open, he won his first-round match against Argentine Diego Junqueira and defeated Denis Istomin in the second round. In the third round, he lost to Fernando González in a five-set match that lasted over four hours. He held a match point in the third-set tiebreak, but was unable to convert it.

In May 2009, Gasquet was provisionally suspended after testing positive for cocaine. Traces of the drug were found in a urine sample taken in March 2009. In July 2009, he was cleared to return to competitive tennis after a tribunal found that "the cocaine entered his system through inadvertent contamination in a nightclub". Gasquet suggested that the cocaine entered his system after he French-kissed a stripper in a Miami nightclub. The tribunal stated that the quantity of cocaine detected in Gasquet's sample was "very small, about the size of a grain of salt"

At the new tennis rankings posted on 7 July 2008, Gasquet fell five places from No. 10 to 15, the first time in nine months that his ranking fell outside the top 10, the lowest he had been ranked since April 2007. At the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, Gasquet was the second seed and reached his first ATP tour semifinal and final of the year, defeating Spaniard Albert Montañés in the quarterfinals and sixth-seeded Argentine Agustín Calleri in the semifinals. Favourite to win the tournament, Gasquet suffered a surprise defeat in the finals to Argentine teenager Juan Martín del Potro in straight sets. Gasquet began with a first-round win over Frenchman Michaël Llodra in the Cincinnati Masters, after Llodra retired, and then lost in the second round to Dmitry Tursunov in straight sets. Gasquet made a first-round exit from the US Open, losing against Tommy Haas in five sets.

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.

The following week in Gstaad, as defending champion, he 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.

At the US Open, Gasquet made it to the singles semifinals, his best run at a Grand Slam event since the 2007 Wimbledon tournament. He defeated David Ferrer in the quarterfinals, once again letting a two-set lead slip before holding his nerve to win 6-3 in the fifth. He was beaten in the semifinals by eventual champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets. Nevertheless, Gasquet's run strengthened his grip on a top-10 position, and he went on to reach the World Tour Finals for the second time in his career, once again being eliminated in the group stage after defeats by Juan Martín del Potro and Roger Federer.

*Gasquet withdrew from the 2007 US Open due to illness, having won his opening round.

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. 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.

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.

In 2004, he 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.

Gasquet currently endorses the Head Graphene Extreme Pro. For his overgrip, he uses the Tourna Grip, which he double grips at only the bottom half of his racquet's handle, since he hits his backhand with one hand. While Gasquet has sported the paint job of the Extreme line of racquets for years, it is generally accepted by those in the know that underneath the paint is the older Head Liquidmetal Instinct Tour XL, for the molds of the Extreme racquets and the Instinct racquets are distinctly different to the trained eye. He has used the Instinct since 2004. His racquet is strung with Luxilon Big Banger Original 16 String. He wore Lacoste clothing for many years, before switching to Le Coq Sportif in 2014. His shoe of choice is from Asics. He also has Lagardère Tags on his sleeves.

As a junior, Gasquet 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.

He 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. He was also the youngest player to finish in the year-end ATP top 200.

With a string of disappointing results behind him, Gasquet admitted feeling burnt out, in dire need of a rest from tennis, and a reluctance to play the French Open. He changed coaches immediately ahead of the French Open and pulled out of his first-round match against Florent Serra, citing a knee injury. Gasquet, later announced his decision to not take part in the upcoming Beijing Olympics, preferring instead to prepare for the US Open. He joined fellow top-ten players Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and former top-10 player Tommy Haas, a silver medalist in 2000 at the Sydney Olympic Games to all opted out of that year's Olympic Games.

When he was nine years old, Gasquet was touted as a future champion on the cover of the February 1996 issue of French Tennis Magazine.

Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (French: [ʁiʃaʁ ɡaskɛ] ; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performance in Grand Slam singles tournaments was reaching the semifinals of the 2007 and 2015 Wimbledon Championships and the semifinals of the 2013 US Open. His best performance in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 singles tournaments was being the runner-up in Hamburg in 2005 and Toronto in 2006 and 2012. He won the mixed doubles Grand Slam title at the 2004 French Open, partnering Tatiana Golovin. He won the men's doubles Olympic bronze medal in 2012 with his doubles partner Julien Benneteau. Gasquet is best known for his long groundstrokes and his one-handed backhand.