Richard Gasquet has confirmed he will end his career at Roland Garros next year after spending more than two decades on the Tour.
The former world No.7 told newspaper L’Equipe on Thursday that his home Grand Slam will be the ‘best moment’ for him to hang up his racket. Gasquet has been a familiar face in the sport since an early age and was tipped to be France’s next tennis superstar. He claimed his first Tour-level win at the 2002 Monte Carlo Masters when he was only 15.
“I think that it is the best moment for me to do it,” Gasquet told L’Equipe. “It is the best tournament to do it. It’smagnificent, we have the chance being French to be able to stop in these kind of incredible places. An end, it’s always complicated, all the former great players always told me it’s not easy to announce. You never know when, how, where. Here, in any case, it is obvious.”
Gasquet, who is currently ranked 133rd in the world, has won more than 600 matches during his career and won 16 ATP titles which were all at 250 level. He is a three-time Grand Slam semi-finalist and at all of those events, he scored wins over top-five players. He has also featured in the ATP Finals twice (2007 and 2013), as well as the finals of three Masters events. Against top 10 opposition, he has produced 36 wins.
During his final full season on the Tour, the 38-year-old has played in both the ATP and Challenger events. Last month hebecame the third-oldest player in history to win a Challenger title after winning the Cassis Open Provence by Cabesto. Before this triumph, he also reached the quarter-finals of an ATP 250 event in Estoril in April.
Gasquet has won more matches than any other male French player in the Open Era. He is one of three active players to achieve 600 or more Tour wins. The other two are Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
