A French tennis legend and a world tennis legend decide to announce their retirement on the same day. This is what Richard Gasquet and Rafael Nadal offered to all fans of the little yellow ball this Thursday. Two players who met as kids and competed against each other throughout their careers on the professional circuit. At the microphone of Jacques Vendroux in The studio of legends on Europe 1, Richard Gasquet pays tribute to a player who “with Roger Federer, is the greatest of all time”.
“At least I managed to beat him by a few hours”
The story between Richard Gasquet and Rafael Nadal began one day in 1999 when they faced each other in the final of the Little Aces tournament. That day, it was Richard Gasquet who won. Today, both players retire on the same day, a few hours apart: “At least I will have managed to beat him by a few hours. It was better that it was a few hours before than a few hours later”, laughs the native of Béziers.
“It’s true that announcing that on the same day is incredible, the probability was very, very low. It’s a wink which is quite funny,” confides Richard Gasquet at the microphone of Jacques Vendroux, on Europe 1.
“The ultimate challenge was Nadal at Roland Garros”
But when Richard Gasquet is asked to define which sportsman Rafael Nadal is, the 38-year-old admits to having difficulty finding the qualifiers: “I have difficulty explaining the player. He is a warrior, but not There’s the warrior side, the physical side, the mental side, and crazy strength, even more so on clay, it’s a steamroller. “is the greatest player of all time.”
He also believes that Rafael Nadal’s performance, having won the title 14 times at Roland-Garros, is one of “the most enormous sporting feats” in history. Furthermore, he says that “the hardest to beat is Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros. He is almost unbeatable. When you look, he lost twice and both times he was a little injured. So, I would say that the ultimate challenge was Nadal at Roland Garros.”
This all concerned the player Rafael Nadal, but Richard Gasquet also remembers the man off the court: “It’s important on players of this caliber, champions of this caliber, you have to leave an imprint off the court . And that’s what he did Because on the fair play side, respect for the people, the other players, the public, he was an admirable and very kind person. imprint on and off the court and that’s what’s most important.”
