French Open 2025 results: Richard Gasquet, the ‘Mozart of tennis’, bows out after loss to Jannik Sinner

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

Living up to the billing was a daunting assignment.

Aged 12, he beat Rafael Nadal in the junior Les Petits As tournament, but as a professional the head-to-head was 18-0 in Nadal’s favour. He was 2-19 against Roger Federer and 1-13 against Novak Djokovic.

Gasquet won French Open and US Open junior singles titles, and the senior mixed doubles as a 17-year-old at Roland Garros in 2004 with Tatiana Golovin.

He reached three Grand Slam semi-finals, including two at Wimbledon, and won 16 ATP titles, a Davis Cup in 2017 with France and an Olympic doubles bronze at London 2012.

In March 2009, he tested positive for cocaine and was provisionally banned for a year but later cleared, successfully arguing he was unknowingly contaminated after kissing a woman, known as Pamela, in a Miami nightclub.

He reached seventh in the world rankings and matched a Federer record – winning matches in 24 consecutive seasons at ATP level.

But the backhand – that was everything.