Richard Gasquet is worried about the future of French tennis, saying that results for French players haven’t been great recently.
Gasquet is one of the best French tennis players, having achieved a career-best 7th in the world rankings. He was considered to be one of the most talented players on the ATP Tour, and despite him showing signs of promise never quite managed to hit the heights projected for him.
The current 35-year-old played in the era of the Big Three, and now in the final phase of his career doesn’t have much time left in the sport. His dip has coincided with French tennis having an extremely patchy time.
Gasquet revealed that he was worried about the future of French tennis, saying that none of his countrymen have been exceptional for a while.
Speaking to L’Equipe as quoted by Tennis World USA, Gasquet said, “It was a very bad year, really sad that no Frenchman has reached the Round of 16 in Grand Slam tournaments.
“Unfortunately, in the circuit there are me, Gael Monfils, Tsonga and Gilles Simon and now people should understand that they should expect less of us. In previous eras and ours we have had several guys in the Top Ten.
“Next year is very important for young French tennis players and I hope someone can fight to get into the top ten in the world. This situation is really worrying for us and for all French tennis.”
Trying their best
“I am leaving on December 27th, very little is missing,” he continued.
“I’m happy to be able to play again, I don’t know when my retirement date will be and so I’m happy to go to Australia.
“We should try and hope to be at our best for the new season. I managed to stay in the top 100 in 2021, I hope to do the same in 2022 as well. As long as I can play and be competitive, it’s nice to continue.”
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