/** * https://gist.github.com/samthor/64b114e4a4f539915a95b91ffd340acc */ (function() { var check = document.createElement('script'); if (!('noModule' in check) && 'onbeforeload' in check) { var = false; document.addEventListener('beforeload', function(e) { if (e.target === check) { = true; } else if (!e.target.hasAttribute('nomodule') || !) { return; } e.preventDefault(); }, true); check.type = 'module'; check.src = '.'; document.head.appendChild(check); check.remove(); } }());

'Mozart of tennis' Gasquet bows out in Paris

Richard Gasquet watches on during a ceremony celebrating his career at the French OpenGetty Images

Richard Gasquet twice reached the Wimbledon semi-finals

John Skilbeck
BBC Sport senior journalist

French Open 2025

Dates: 25 May-8 June Venue: Roland Garros

Coverage: Live radio commentary on BBC 5 Sports Extra, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website and app

One small step for Jannik Sinner marked one giant leap into a new life for Richard Gasquet.

World number one Sinner's 6-3 6-0 6-4 victory over the 38-year-old Gasquet on Court Philippe Chatrier marked the end of the Frenchman's playing career.

The terracotta courts of Roland Garros provided a fitting setting for the fond farewell, almost 30 years after Gasquet first came to the nation's attention.

Gasquet's legacy will be his ravishing backhand. His career will be measured not by Slam wins but largely by the pleasure his signature shot brought, particularly to the adoring French public.

In 2023, the Tennis.com website ranked Gasquet's backhand as the fifth greatest single-hander of the Open era.

It described it as possibly "the most aesthetically pleasing one-handed backhand drive" of that period. Only major winners Stan Wawrinka, Ken Rosewall, Justine Henin and Federer, occupying top spot, outranked Gasquet.

It was not for nothing that a 15-year-old Gasquet was compared to Mozart by then French Tennis Federation president Lionel Faujare.

"When I stop, even after 10 years, I'll still be able to hit backhands," Gasquet said in April.

Richard Gasquet prepares to play a backhand at Le Petits As, a junior tournament, in 1999Getty Images

Twelve-year-old Richard Gasquet at Le Petits As in 1999 - the tournament where he beat Rafael Nadal and won the title

Gasquet became famous in at the age of nine, when Tennis Magazine put him on their cover, with the headline: "Richard G. Nine years old. The champion has been waiting for">