The Mythical Rise of Richard Gasquet: Navigating Expectations and Pressure in French Tennis

His happiness was infectious. As at the Rolex Paris Masters last November, Richard Gasquet had the Parisian public in his pocket. But, this time, he was able to conclude, on Sunday, to offer himself a separate, suspended moment, which will remain. His celebration, on the ground, testified to the relief that could come to a 38-year-old player looking for one last thrill. “I don’t know if it’s the best moment of my career, but in any case it’s a moment… There you go, I’m almost 38 years old, he recalled. It’s a very nice victory. I don’t dominate no one today. I know that all the matches are going to be difficult. I know that I’m training, that it’s hard but there is the passion to play.

This passion is undoubtedly the common thread of a career spanning 22 years according to the ATP count. Officially, it all started at Monte-Carlo 2002 when, at 15 years and 10 months, he beat Franco Squillari, 54th in the world and semi-finalist coming out of Roland-Garros to become the youngest player in history to win a Masters 1000 Unofficially, however, it all started six years earlier.

January 1996: for its February issue, Tennis Magazine, a reference for enthusiasts at the time, displayed her baby face and her backhand gesture, already so recognizable, on the front page. “The champion that France is waiting for?” : difficult to make a more catchy title. Gasquet kept this front page at a distance for a long time. Without being a burden, given its evolution, it was really not a gift. In 2019, for the Echange podcast, he returned to the genesis of this report which had become a little too sticky.

The front page of Tennis Magazine when Richard Gasquet was 9 years old (Eurosport editing)

Credit: Quentin Guichard

The surprise of seeing yourself on the front page

“The story with Tennis Magazine is a bit painful,” he explained. “They called my parents saying they just wanted to do a report. What happened was that I received the magazine every month at home, I saw my face on the front page. They didn’t warn us, I absolutely didn’t know that I was going to be on the front page. I was rather introverted. So I would even say very uncomfortable. So young, it’s not at all pleasant.

A nine-year-old child on the front page: Jean Couvercelle, founder and director of the magazine, and Guy Barbier, author of the report, who has since disappeared, had obviously taken stock of the criticisms to come. “We did it with all the usual precautions,” Couvercelle explained to Tennis Legend in 2022. “We knew that there would be some protests regarding this emphasis.” Even 28 years later, the effect is still the same for those who discover it. Surprisingly, Lucas Pouille had never heard of it before our questions. “It’s still violent” was his reaction to seeing it.

The historic founder and manager for almost 40 years takes responsibility for everything. “We had heard about this little boy who played fantastically well, with a style that was already well advanced,” he rewinded again. So, out of curiosity, we said to ourselves that a report could be interesting. We contacted his parents, obviously, to be able to come and see him. It was Guy Barbier who was there and who was seduced by Richard’s incredible talent. We did a complete report. When Guy came back, the idea came up. to put him on the cover because he was someone who, clearly, could go very far and who also represented, on behalf of young players who want to get into tennis, an example among others. that’s why we didn’t put his name in full, obviously, that didn’t fool anyone, but it was more to say: “he’s one kid among others but this one is different.”

Living up to the French’s hopes of having a Grand Slam winner

Different and therefore highly anticipated. If the shock was not immediate after the publication of the front page, it participated in the construction of a legend. That of the “little Mozart of tennis” – a term hated by both parties –, of a gifted man on the verge of putting an end to the French shortage in Grand Slams. It was in Monte-Carlo that the monster became real for Gasquet. “When I was young, it was okay because I didn’t really realize it,” he explained. “It was more later, especially in Monaco… In fact, it created a lot of expectations. I won quite young, that’s not the case. It wasn’t easy to manage.

Friend of Gasquet and admirer of the player, Lucas Pouille was able to see to what extent the media gear, especially in France, is sometimes formidable. “In France, as soon as a player plays well at a very young age, we put him very high,” he concedes. “Perhaps too quickly. But Richard had real talent. At 16, he won a match in Monte-Carlo. Carlo was ahead of Rafa but then the gap widened between the two. Did we put him too high? to have a Grand Slam winner.”

All the actors interviewed, however, are unanimous on one thing: that the front page embarrassed Gasquet is a reality. To say that it has slowed down its rise is nonsense. “When I started training him, he was already 17 or 18 years old so the outpouring from the very beginning had already passed a little, testifies Éric Deblicker. He progressed, he climbed the stages. This front page, he doesn’t did not approach him. She did not particularly prevent him.

Richard Gasquet in 2002

Credit: Imago

Symbolic of too long a wait and an impatient press

So why has this choice been so commented on? Why does he continue to talk? No doubt because it wonderfully symbolizes the relationship between the French press and its heroes. This wait, already too long in 1996, has become an eternity in 2024. And, inevitably, the pressure will increase. As soon as a micro-tremor appears, it is a wave of uncontrollable hope that must be managed for those primarily concerned.

“In fact, at the slightest result, we immediately put you forward by saying: ‘That’s it, maybe it’s him?’. But before it’s him, things have to happen , there is work to be done, testifies Lucas Pouille And as soon as there is a result that does not work… It is perhaps the game of the media too, we put forward too early, too much. quickly but, above all, we do not accept failures behind to get there.”

“The stages must be taken gradually,” confirms Deblicker. “The most important thing for the player is that he goes after himself, his dreams, his ambitions and his projects.” From this point of view, Gasquet will have been there for his story. 16 titles, legendary longevity in the Top 100, regular forays into the Top 10, three Grand Slam semi-finals and this lucidity, when it comes to taking stock, to recognize one’s limits in the face of the three-headed monster having martyred the circuit during its best years.

Perhaps, at the age of 9, he would have signed up for a similar career path when he dominated his generation. No doubt he would have preferred a less precocious and less “mythical” exhibition. But the legend of “Ritchie” was built like this.

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2024-05-28 21:44:00
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