Aurélien Canot, Media365, published on Monday October 14, 2024 at 1:52 p.m.
Last Thursday, Richard Gasquet announced his upcoming retirement before Rafael Nadal did the same. With hindsight, the Biterrois, who will start this Monday in Antwerp against the Argentinian Etcheverry, enjoys the timing, which allowed him to beat the Majorcan by a few hours.
Richard Gasquet could hardly have chosen a worse time to make his announcement. Unless his goal was for everyone to quickly forget what he had just said. If so, it’s a perfect success. Last Thursday, it was in fact only a few hours before Rafael Nadal announced that he would end his career next month at the end of the Davis Cup final phase that the Biterrois revealed that we would not would see him again on the courts once the next Roland-Garros is over. While waiting to put his racket away for good, the 38-year-old French veteran continues to play. This Monday, he will enter the competition in Antwerp, against the Argentinian Etcheverry, 35th in the ranking. The 135th in the world, invited by the organizers of the Belgian tournament, returned on the sidelines of his debut in the event on the timing of the announcement of his future retirement, totally eclipsed or almost by that of the Spanish legend almost immediately. Looking back, Gasquet admits that he laughed a lot about it.
Gasquet: “It was a pretty nice wink all the same”
“That he does it on the same day at the same time, I admit that it’s a coincidence which is quite incredible, that’s for sure,” explains in the Free Midday the winner of the Cassis Challenger last month. Gasquet sees it as a real symbol given the common history that links him to the Majorcan. “We played together for twenty-five years and we said it on the same day. It’s true that it seemed strange to me, it was a rather nice wink all the same. The probability was low.” Like the one that Nadal contacted him to talk to him about it. The “Bull of Manacor” did not do so. “If he sent me a message? No, no (laughs). He’s already taking care of himself, it’s not easy.” Some will see it as a new defeat against the Spaniard for Gasquet, beaten eighteen times in… eighteen matches played against Nadal.
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