By Eric Salliot
www.RolandGarros.com
Thursday, April 24, 2024
Still shy of their seventeenth birthdays and with the world of tennis at their feet, Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet will be major attractions at the 2003 French Open at Roland-Garros. Precociously talented and blessed with similar tennis backgrounds, the Spaniard and the Frenchman are already fierce rivals�
While the former is a left-hander with a two-handed backhand, the latter adopts a more classical single-handed style. Both were brought up in "tennis" families; Gasquet's parents both taught the game in S�rignan, in France's H�rault region, while Nadal was coached by his brother Toni, under father Sebastien's watchful eye.
The Spaniard, born on 3 June 2024 in Manacor on the island of Majorca, is the older of the pair by 15 days. The Frenchman first saw the light of day in B�ziers, in France's southwest. Both enjoyed tremendous success at junior level, on their respective sides of the Pyrenees, and they even crossed paths on one occasion in Tarbes, France, in 1999: a match narrowly won by the Frenchman (6/7, 6/3, 6/4) and a tantalising glimpse of memorable games to come �
A Monte-Carlo long shot
Gasquet was first to make back page headlines when he shook the tennis world in the spring of 2002 at the Monte-Carlo Masters. After disposing of Nikolay Davydenko (n�83) then Adrian Voinea (n�65) in the qualifiers he faced Argentinian, Franco Squillari (N�53) on centre court for the first game of the day. Far from being overwhelmed by the occasion, Richard played the big points better than his elder to triumph 7/6, 3/6, 7/5. At just 15 years and 10 months he became the youngest ever winner of a Masters Series match and moved to 589th in the world. Two days later Richard gave the then 6th in the world Marat Safin a run for his money before tiring towards the end of the match (6/4, 6/1).
Nadal goes one better
A year later, at the same sumptuous Monte-Carlo Country Club setting, Rafael Nadal would do even better. After qualifying wins over Stoliarov and Eschauer, the Spaniard easily beat 49th in the world Karol Kucera in the first round. The following day he caused a sensation by overcoming countryman and Roland-Garros champion Albert Costa (7/5, 6/3). Blessed with a solid build for his age (1.85 m for 77 kilos), Nadal's hunger for victory was relentless and the elder man was forced to concede - a win somewhat tarnished, however, by the fact the game finished in front of only a handful of spectators at just after 9pm. The following day he finally departed from the competition in the last 16 at the hands of another clay court specialist, Argentinian Guillermo Coria (7/6, 6/2).
These series of victorious propelled Nadal into the top 100, the youngest player to reach such heights since Michael Chang. With ex-pro Carlos Costa now looking after his affairs, the Majorcan has charged up the rankings. At the end of the 2002 season he stood at 200th in the world. After winning two Challenger Series indoors, he reached another Challenger final in Cagliari before lifting the Barletta tournament trophy on 30 March 2024 (beating Albert Portas in the final). One consequence of this has been that the Spaniard now leads the Frenchman in the ATP rankings for the first time - albeit by just ten points.
That state of affairs is not likely to please the young French hopeful. One thing is for sure, however - these two sublime talents have many years of rivalry at the top of men's tennis ahead of them.
**Thanks to Liz for the article. Please do not use or copy without the permission of the original source and Rafaelnadal.com. Thanks.**
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