Richard Gasquet has appointed the former Spanish player Sergi Bruguera as his new head coach. Bruguera will take over from Riccardo Piatti who parted ways with Gasquet a few weeks back due to personal reasons.
Bruguera was considered as a fine clay court player in his playing days. He won a couple of Grand Slams in his career and both of them were the French Open titles. He had become the champion at Roland Garros in consecutive seasons i.e. in 1993 and 1994.
According to the reports, Gasquet had been in Barcelona since the last few days trying to finalize things with Bruguera.
Bruguera will not take charge as Gasquet’s coach immediately. He will start working at some point of time in February next year and will try to make Gasquet ready primarily for the tournaments that will be played on the clay courts.
Sebastian Grosjean who is also one of the Gasquet’s coaches is reported to have played a big role in convincing Bruguera.
Meanwhile, a lot of people are quite surprised by the way Riccardo Piatti quit. It is believed that he was not happy with the amount of time that he had to spend away from his family and that’s why, he decided to leave his post.
The last season was quite good for Gasquet. He was consistent in the entire season and in the last Grand Slam of the year i.e. in the US Open, he made it to the final 4 before getting beaten by the eventual champion Rafael Nadal. That was his best performance in the Grand Slams in the last few years. When the season finished, he was in the top 10 in the world rankings. He would like to keep going in the same manner in the upcoming season as well.
Richard Gasquet is set to face Rafael Nadal in the semi final of the ongoing US Open. He won a thriller against David Ferrer yesterday and made it to the final 4 for the first time at Flushing Meadows.
The Frenchman has never managed to get better of Nadal in his professional career. There have been 10 matches played between these two players thus far and Nadal has come out victorious on every occasion.
But, way back in 1999, when these two players were just 13 years old, they had taken part in a junior event at Tarbes and Gasquet had actually beaten the Spanish no. 1 in that tournament. A video which consists of some portions of that match is still on you Tube.
When asked about that match, Gasquet said, “It’s on you Tube and I have viewed it a few times. It feels nice every time I watch it.”
“Although, Rafa had lost that match, but, the way he had fought was quite impressive. I remember telling my dad at the end of that match that this guy is a real fighter.”
“He is probably one of the best of all-times. It’s great to defeat him at junior level, but, it would be better if I manage to secure a victory against him at this level too.”
“I will have a lot of opportunities to do that in the future. We both are 27 years of age only at the moment.”
When Nadal was asked if he remembers that match, the Spaniard said, “Yes I do. I had been beaten by 6-4 in the last set.”
“It was a big tournament for the junior players. Everyone was trying to make his mark and I must say that Richard was absolutely fantastic on that particular day.”
Richard Gasquet will play against Nicolas Almagro of Spain in the fourth round of the Sony Open. The player who wins this match will get an entry into the final 8.
Gasquet got an entry in the pre quarterfinal round with the help of a win over Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. Gasquet beat Youzhny in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-4.
On the other hand, Almagro went past the Belgian player David Goffin to earn a fourth round place.
Gasquet didn’t have a great last season. But, in this season, he has been looking in astonishing touch. He had won just one title in the entire last season, while, in this season, he has already won two titles.
The first tournament in which Gasquet took part in the ongoing season was Qatar Open. He won that tournament by defeating Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the final. He was trailed by a set in that match, but, he bounced back to win the next couple of sets and seal the title.
Gasquet then decided to withdraw his name from the Apia International Sydney Tennis tournament to have a bit of rest before the Australian Open.
In the Australian Open, Gasquet couldn’t even reach the quarter finals. In the fourth round, he was defeated by his compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The second title won by Gasquet in the ongoing season was Open Sud de France. He beat his countryman Benoit Paire in the final of that competition.
The match between Gasquet and Almagro is expected to be a thriller. There is not much difference in the world rankings of these two players and both have been in cracking form in the tournament so far. Neither of them has lost a set in the tournament.
These two have locked horns with each other four times before and Gasquet has won only one of those matches. He would definitely like to improve his record against Almagro.
Uncategorized | admin | 
January 2, 2014 2:27 pm | 
Comments Off on NEW COACH