The story between Rafa Nadal and Richard Gasquet is that of the two most talented representatives of the same generation with two different careers: while the Spaniard has been able to make the most of his talent, the Frenchman has exceeded the expectations that weighed on him. .
On the eve of his third match at Roland Garros, the day Nadal will turn 35 – Gasquet will have to wait fifteen more days – the 17th in total in his long careers, tennis looks turn to that May 27, 2005 , the day in which the clay of Paris experienced its first confrontation.
The tennis world was paralyzed to look at two kids who had not yet turned 18, but who had already overshadowed the other stars, Roger Federer, Gastón Gaudio -who was defending the title-, Marat Safin or Andy Roddick.
André Agassi was still giving his last strokes on the circuit and the clay was looking for a dominator to succeed Gustavo Kuerten. On everyone’s lips were the names of Nadal and Gasquet.
“These two boys have a bright future and I think they will have a rivalry similar to Sampras-Agassi,” said Carlos Moyá, who had won in Paris a few years earlier and who, a few later, ended up becoming Nadal’s coach.
The Spanish arrived with three titles on clay under his arm, those of Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome, a feat for a teenager who broke into the circuit with his pirate pants, his half-length hair and his sleeveless shirt too daring for the time and for tennis orthodoxy.
Éric Deblicker, who was then the coach of the tennis player that all of France had already designated as the natural successor to Yannick Noah, the last Frenchman who, 22 years ago, had won at Roland Garros, recognized that Nadal had matured physically before.
But he warned that his pupil had a more varied game then, capable of going up to the net, holding on from the bottom of the court, against a more predictable game from the Spanish.
Toni Nadal, for his part, warned of the pressure that the French public was placing on Gasquet: “People expect too much from him, too soon.”
They knew each other perfectly and for years tennis had been following their trajectories condemned to intersect in a rivalry full of poetry: the right-hander against the left-hander, the stylist against the strongman, the destructive direct blow against the plastic backhand.
At the age of 12 they were measured in Tarbes in a children’s tournament and already then there are traces of that confrontation that fell on the side of the French.
The first professional arrived in 2004 in Estoril and the following year in Monte Carlo they played a semifinal that left scars in both, but that was the second victory for Nadal.
Guy Forget, who then captained the French Davis Cup team, was also amazed by the duel, although he had not yet called Gasquet for the band, while Nadal had already become the youngest winner of the salad bowl.
The duel, played under a blazing sun, 33 degrees in the central Paris, had less history than the previous chronicles promised. Nadal passed over the French, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, on the way to what, ultimately, would be his first title in Paris.
“I remember it perfectly, when I left the track I told my father: ‘this guy is going to win the tournament’. He was an alien, he knew he was going to mark the history of clay,” recalled the Frenchman after qualifying for the second round of this year, where Nadal awaits him.
That duel marked a dilemma in their careers. The Spanish was full of trophies while Gasquet has been far from the hopes that had been placed on him.
The Sampras-Agassi rivalry that Moyá predicted did not occur and Nadal aimed higher, at Federer, who was his great opponent during his first years, until Novak Djokovic took over. Gasquet did not manage to sneak into the fight with the best, he never surpassed 7th place in the ranking.
On the way to his fourteenth title in Paris, which would place him with 21 greats at the top of tennis, Nadal meets Gasquet again, as if fate wanted to wink at two trajectories called to mark tennis.
In between, a total of 16 duels, always with a Spanish victory, but with some brilliant fights, such as the 2013 semifinal at the United States Open.
Since 2008 Gasquet has failed to snatch a set from the Spaniard and has given 28, including three in their other meeting in Paris, in the third round of 2028.
“Nadal is the only great player I have never managed to win,” said the Frenchman, who confessed “frustrated” against an opponent who, with his left-handed power, nullifies his main weapon, the backhand diagonal.
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