Nadal’s retirement overshadowed Gasquet’s – but the Frenchman never wanted the limelight

Richard Gasquet is a star in the history of French tennis; Rafael Nadal, one of the brightest stars in sport in general.

As a result, when the two men announced, on the same day, the date and place of their future retirements, the Spaniard was destined to eclipse the Frenchman in the news in France, but even more so on a global level, leaving the Frenchman with only a few brief headlines behind the tributes to the great Spaniard.

“The probability was low… It’s a pretty incredible coincidence,” Gasquet smiled, during an interview published on Sunday by the Midi Libre, after his retirement had been unveiled in the early morning of Thursday, October 10, by an interview in L’Equipe, just a few hours before Nadal released his video via social networks.

“It made me smile, it was funny. I didn’t expect it at all,” Gasquet continued.

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From a very young age, nothing has been easy for him: Richard has had to face crazy expectations

Rafael Nadal

As if fate, teasingly, had wanted to wink at the careers of the nicknamed “Richie” and “Rafa” until the end. They two who, over the course of their careers, have forged unbreakable bonds. So much so that the Spaniard had been one of the few to publicly support the Frenchman when he tested positive for cocaine in 2009, before later being cleared.

This is something that Gasquet has never forgotten. Many years later, he asked Nadal to write the preface to his autobiography, À revers et contre tout, published in 2023.

“So, yes, he (Gasquet) could have won even more than he did,” the 22-time Grand Slam champion said in the letter.

“But from a very young age, nothing has been easy for him: Richard has had to face crazy expectations.”

Gasquet, childhood in the spotlight

“I can imagine how difficult it must have been for a child to deal with the enthusiasm of an entire nation,” he added.

“What he produced never seemed to be at the level of what the fans were hoping for. To be able to get by, he had to show great mental strength. Maintaining such a solid level for years is a challenge that few players manage to overcome.

“Richard can be proud of his long and incredible career.”

Having remained in the top 100 for 956 consecutive weeks – only Roger Federer, Nadal himself and Novak Djokovic have achieved longer – the man with one of the sport’s finest one-handed backhands was in the spotlight long before he reached the elite. At the age of 9, he was unexpectedly propelled onto the cover of Tennis Magazine, when he and his family thought it was lower-profile report.

The “shame” of seeing yourself on the cover of Tennis Magazine at the age of 9

This was an episode that did not go down well with the young Richard. To the point of feeling, as he himself confided, “shame” when he discovered himself on the front page on the day of the release. This is because he has never been attracted to the limelight. When the spotlight was on him, he tried to turn away from it.

“I had been doing the show since I was seven years old,” recalled Gasquet, now 38, in his book written by Franck Ramella, a journalist at L’Équipe. 

“Every time I played in a club for a tournament, there were 200 people around the court. I didn’t like those eyes on me.” And the years have not managed to erase this character trait, as it has stuck with Gasquet throughout his career.

I was always going to the toilet at that time. I was hiding. And I waited until the class was far away to start training again

Richard Gasquet

“In middle school, I was exempted from PE so that I could devote myself to tennis,” he also confided.

“When my class went to do this hour of sport, it went through a path that overlooked the court. I could see them all coming, and you can’t imagine how much it bothered me. I didn’t want to see them, I didn’t want them to see me. So I always went to the toilet at that time. I was hiding. And I waited until the class was far away to start training again.”

When he heard the announcement of Nadal’s retirement, France’s adopted son must have felt relief.

Thanks to the Spaniard, the spotlight only remained on him for a short time. While some thrive on fame, the former world No 7 never felt comfortable in it. It is one of the few battles that the talented Frenchman could not quite conquer.

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