Defeated in the Umag final against the very young Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, Richard Gasquet, 35, beat Fernando Verdasco and Jaume Munar to qualify in the main draw of the Cincinnati Masters 1000, where he was defeated by the former ATP number one , Andy Murray, with the score of 6-4 and 6-4.
The transalpine, already a semifinalist at Wimbledon and the US Open, was in the maximum number 7 in the world fourteen years ago and has won fifteen titles on the great circuit.
Gasquet: When I was there, they were never missing
Commenting on the sensational absence in Cincinnati of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, Richard said: “What hurts is that I am also getting old.
I would love to be young, 20 years old and the level of play I had when I was in the top 10 without them! However, when I was there, they were never lacking. I would very much like to be like the young people, like Matteo Berrettini, guys of this type who have never had the big 3 ahead of them in their entire career ”.
Gasquet managed to defeat Djokovic only once: it happened in 2007 during the end-of-year Tennis Masters Cup, where the Frenchman won 6-4 and 6-2. Richard also has two victories against Federer: the first in 2005, while the second came six years later at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.
Champion with the French Davis Cup team in 2017, Gasquet won the bronze medal in doubles at the 2012 London Olympics, when he teamed up with Julien Bennetau. To date, no transalpine player is present in the world top 20: the first is Gael Monfils, in 22nd position.
Seguido by Ugo Humbert (29 °), Adrian Mannarino (42 °), Benoit Paire (50 °), Gasquet (53 °), Jeremy Chardy (72 °), Arthur Rinderknech (80 °), Corentin Moutet (91 °), Benjamin Bonzi (96º) y Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (98º).
The US Open in New York will begin in Flushing Meadows on August 30: Austrian Dominic Thiem will be the holder of the title. Photo credit: Eurosport
–
