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 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 .