Former world No 7 made big retirement announcement hours before Rafael Nadal news
Richard Gasquet has confirmed he will retire from tennis at the 2025 French Open – in an announcement made shortly before Rafael Nadal confirmed his own retirement.
Gasquet’s announcement, revealed in L’Equipe, has now partially been overshadowed by the news that 22-time Grand Slam winner Nadal will end his career at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
However, the Frenchman also had a career worthy of huge celebration.
The 38-year-old reached a career-high of world No 7 back in 2007 and won 16 ATP Tour titles across his two-decades-long career, reaching a further 17 finals.
Gasquet also won the mixed doubles title at the 2004 French Open and picked up a men’s doubles Olympic bronze medal at London 2012, alongside reaching two Wimbledon semi-finals and a US Open semi-final.
He made his debut at Roland Garros back in 2002 and has played his home major 21 times, reaching the second round in 2024.
Speaking to L’Equipe, Gasquest said he believed the French Open would be the “best moment” for him to retire.
“I think that it is the best moment for me to do it,” he said.
“It is the best tournament to do it. It’s magnificent, we have the chance being French to be able to stop in these kind of incredible places.
“An end, it’s always complicated, all the former great players always told me it’s not easy to announce.
“You never know when, how, where. Here, in any case, it is obvious.”
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Gasquet was part of a strong generation of tennis players, also featuring Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Gilles Simon.
With Tsonga and Simon both having retired in 2022, Gasquet’s announcement means that Monfils will be the last of the four still playing after Roland Garros next season.
Gasquet is just one of just three active men – alongside Nadal and Djokovic – to have won more than 600 ATP Tour matches, while his 605 match wins are more than any other Frenchman in the Open Era.
He reached five Grand Slam quarter-finals across his career and finished inside the top-10 in four separate seasons, twice playing at the ATP Finals.
However, he has struggled to maintain his previous consistency in recent seasons, with his last tour title coming at the Auckland Open in 2023.
Gasquet is currently ranked 133rd in the world and lost in round one of the Orleans Challenger in his most recent tournament last month, also falling in Wimbledon and US Open qualifying this year.
