The 21st century
France · born Béziers, 1986 · right-handed, one-handed backhand · twice Wimbledon semi-finalist and three times a grass-court champion
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2
Wimbledon semi-finals, 2007 and 2015
3
Grass-court titles: Nottingham 2005 and 2006, 's-Hertogenbosch 2018
16
ATP singles titles
No. 7
Career-high ranking, July 2007
9
Match points he held against Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon in 2014, and lost
Richard Gasquet was born in Béziers in 1986. His parents taught tennis and his father ran the club in Sérignan, where he started at four; Pierre Barthès spotted him at his camp in Cap d'Agde, and at nine he was on the cover of the French Tennis Magazine. He became the world's top junior, won the French Open and US Open junior titles in 2002 and played his first French Open that year, aged 15.
He won his first tour title on grass at Nottingham in 2005, on his 19th birthday, and defended it in 2006. He reached Masters finals in Hamburg in 2005 and Toronto in 2006 and 2012, rose to No. 7 in July 2007 after his first Wimbledon semi-final, and played the season-ending championship in 2007 and 2013. He reached the US Open semi-finals in 2013 and a second Wimbledon semi-final in 2015, won Olympic bronze in the doubles with Julien Benneteau in London in 2012 and was in the French team that won the Davis Cup in 2017.
In 2009 he served a provisional suspension of about two and a half months after a positive test for cocaine; an ITF tribunal cleared him to play in July, and in December the Court of Arbitration for Sport accepted that the traces came from contamination in a Miami nightclub. He won 16 singles titles, the last of his grass titles at 's-Hertogenbosch in 2018, and retired at the 2025 French Open, his 22nd, after losing to the world No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
| Nottingham | 2005: seeded fourth, beat the holder Paradorn Srichaphan and Taylor Dent, then Max Mirnyi 6-2, 6-3 in the final on his 19th birthday. 2006: beat Jonas Björkman 6-4, 6-3 |
|---|---|
| 's-Hertogenbosch 2018 | Beat Jérémy Chardy 6-3, 7-6 in an all-French final after saving two set points at 3-5 in the second set; his first grass title for 12 years |
| Wimbledon 2007 | Came back from two sets and a break down to beat Andy Roddick 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 8-6 in the quarter-finals with 93 winners; lost the semi-final to Roger Federer |
| Wimbledon 2015 | As 21st seed, beat Grigor Dimitrov and Nick Kyrgios, then Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 11-9; lost the semi-final to Novak Djokovic |
| Eastbourne 2014 | Lost the final to Feliciano López 3-6, 7-6, 5-7 |
| Nottingham | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Men's singles | |
| 2006 | Men's singles | |
| 's-Hertogenbosch (Rosmalen) | ||
| 2018 | Men's singles Rosmalen Grass Court Championships | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I'm proud because there are big players in the semis. But I'm the worst when you see Federer, Djokovic and Murray and me."
The person behind the player.
Sérignan, 1996
The son of two tennis teachers, Gasquet started playing at four with his father at the family's club in Sérignan. In February 1996, aged nine, he was on the cover of the French Tennis Magazine, billed as a future champion.
Source: ATP TourNottingham, 18 June 2005
Gasquet won his first ATP title on his 19th birthday, beating Max Mirnyi 6-2, 6-3. In his runner-up speech Mirnyi asked the crowd to sing happy birthday to him. His coach, Eric Deblicker, called it the moment everything clicked into place.
Source: BNP Paribas, We Are TennisWimbledon 2007
Andy Roddick led by two sets and was two points from a semi-final against Federer when he led 6-5 in the fourth set with Gasquet serving at 30-30. Gasquet won the next two points and the match, 8-6 in the fifth. He was 21.
Source: Associated Press, via Lawrence Journal-WorldWimbledon 2014
Against the wild card Nick Kyrgios in the second round he led by two sets and held nine match points, and lost 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 5-7, 8-10. The Club lists it among its matches won after saving the most match points.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Roland Garros, May 2025
In his 22nd French Open, and last tournament, he lost to Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 on Court Philippe-Chatrier and received a standing ovation and an honorary trophy. "I couldn't dream of a better ending than having my last match on this court," he said.
Source: Associated Press, via Burnaby NowFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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