Richard Gasquet has never beaten Rafael Nadal in his career, losing 18 out of 18 official matches against the Spanish legend. In his last match played in his career at the Paris Rolex Masters, the French player - who will retire at the next French Open 2025 - was beaten by Zizou Bergs and, atthe press conference, among the many questions, he also talkedabout Rafa, who in turn will retire in a few weeks at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
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In themedia room, journalists asked Gasquet: "If in a few years a child asked you: I have not seen Rafael Nadal play, why was he so special and so strong on the court? Why did he become a tennis legend? What would you answer?"
Gasquet ironically replied: "I wish children wouldn't ask me that, because all adults have been asking me that since I was 19!If children couldn't watch YouTube, it wouldn't be bad! I really hope I don't get this question. I hope kids who weren't born today don't know Rafael Nadal! I can't tell you how many times I've been asked this question in my life: what's so special about him? And so I answer: look at him! You look at a photo, you see everything right away. 14 times Roland Garros. Even if you tried to imagine the number, even if it was science fiction, you would never say he did it. When you said that, you said it all. 14 times he won Roland Garros. Is there anything else you need? Playing a tournament so many times is not easy, winning it is not even worth mentioning. Simply incredible. It was crazy, the intensity, the game, the physicality. How did he do it? We saw what level of game he had."
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AlreadyI will call him to try to play against him again. I will stay in shape and try to beat him!" Richard also talked about having announced his retirement from tennis on the same day as Nadal: "I was the one who said it first!"
We recall Rafa and Richard both announced their tennis retirement on 10 October 2024.
