🎾 Richard Gasquet: The Long Goodbye of a Tennis Artist

The latest from Hidden SportsWritten by David

Some players dominate. Some rewrite history. And then, every now and then, you get someone like Richard Gasquet, a player who didn’t rewrite the sport, but made it beautiful.

Gasquet has announced that 2025 will be his final season, with the French Open as his planned farewell. If you’ve followed tennis for any length of time, that news might make you pause. Not because it’s shocking, but because you suddenly realise: he’s still here. Still competing. Still carving backhands that deserve their own Louvre wing. Still quietly showing up, long after most of his generation has stepped away.

Gasquet’s career isn’t defined by the trophies he didn’t win, it’s defined by the fact that he kept going anyway.

Richard Gasquet was never just another tennis hopeful. Born in Béziers, France in 1986 to tennis coach parents, his destiny seemed prewritten. By age 9, he was featured on the cover of Tennis Magazine. A child prodigy and a headline in waiting.

He turned pro at just 15, and in 2002, he became the youngest player in 14 years to qualify for and win a match at a Masters 1000 event. He beat Franco Squillari in Monte-Carlo, the very tournament he would return to 23 years later in his final season.

By the mid-2000s, he was climbing fast. His shot-making was outrageous, his movement silky, and his backhand - a one-handed whip of elegance, was being spoken of in the same breath as Federer’s. In 2007, he reached the Wimbledon semi-finals and cracked the world’s top 10, peaking at No. 7.

His career, though, never followed the script that was written for him.

In a career spanning more than two decades, Gasquet has won 16 ATP singles titles, played in 31 finals, and secured over 590 career match wins. He reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon twice (2007, 2015) and the US Open once (2013). He also helped France lift the Davis Cup in 2017, a moment of national pride that saw him finally stand atop a team podium.

He played and beat just about everyone. Federer, Nadal, Murray, Del Potro, Wawrinka, Ferrer. He was always dangerous and always unpredictable. At his peak, he could outfox anyone.

But his greatest achievement might not be a result. It might be this:

Gasquet is one of only three men in the Open Era, alongside Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer, to win at least one ATP match in 24 consecutive seasons.

That level of consistency is a rare, rare thing.

Gasquet’s story is also one of weight of potential, pressure, and perspective. The French press once dubbed him the next great hope, the next Yannick Noah and the Slam winner France had been waiting for.

That never happened.

He never made a major final. He never broke the Top 5. He never quite managed to put it all together for a sustained run in the sport’s biggest moments.

But step back and look at the era he played in: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. It wasn’t just a golden generation, it was a fortress! And Gasquet wasn’t built to storm fortresses.

What he did instead was carve out something quieter: respect. Endurance. A playing style that delighted purists. A career not built on domination but on persistence, flair, and a refusal to let go of the thing he loved most.

He didn’t burn out. He didn’t fade away. He just… kept playing.

There’s a word you keep hearing when people talk about Gasquet: Artist.

It’s not just the backhand, although we could dedicate an entire article to that alone, it’s the way he glided across the court, rarely looking like he was forcing anything. The angles, the disguises, the balance. Tennis, for Gasquet, was less about control and more about expression.

He had a way of turning defence into poetry. He’d take balls most players would block back and turn them into inside-out winners. He made the one-hander not just a choice, but a statement. And even when the results didn’t always follow, the aesthetics rarely wavered.

Gasquet played tennis in a way that reminded you it didn’t have to be all power and grind. It could be creative. It could be smart. It could be beautiful.

Richard Gasquet never gave us that one defining moment - a Cinderella Slam run, a last-gasp final, a tearful victory on Court Philippe-Chatrier. But maybe that’s okay. Maybe what he gave us is harder to define, but easier to admire.

He showed up. Year after year. He battled injuries. He adapted his game. He beat the players he wasn’t “supposed” to beat. He outlasted others. He did things on his terms.

And that’s something to be proud of.

Because tennis is about more than trophies. It’s about longevity, grace and contribution. Gasquet has given the game 23 years of subtle brilliance, highlight reels, moments that mattered, even if they weren’t always finals.

And as he prepares to step away, he does so as one of the sport’s quiet legends. A player’s player, a fans’ favourite and a true artist with a racket.

If you’ve ever admired a one-handed backhand… if you’ve ever watched a match for the pure love of the game… if you’ve ever rooted for a player who didn’t quite live up to the hype but gave you reasons to love them anyway—

Then you’ll understand why Richard Gasquet’s career is more than enough.

Merci, Richard.

—

💬 Got a favourite Gasquet moment? A ridiculous backhand winner? A match you’ll never forget? Let us know, we’d love to feature a fan round-up next week.

📬 Subscribe to Hidden Sports for more stories like this. Because not every great sports story makes the front page—and that’s where we come in.