Gasquet "No Show"...
Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, was expected to play in the recent Davis Cup tie against the United States. Gasquet reportedly had blisters on his racket hand (how does this happen so often to Gasquet since he plays with the same racket, grips, etc.?) and a sore knee so he did not play in the opening matches on Friday. After the French doubles team of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra beat the Bryan brothers on Saturday, there
were more questions about whether Gasquet would play against Andy Roddick in the first, and potentially deciding, match on Sunday. Given the fact that Mathieu actually had match points in his five set loss to Blake on Friday and the French doubles team won on Saturday, the French team had a real chance to upset the defending American Davis Cup champions. In the end, Gasquet didn’t play against Roddick (who did beat Paul-Henri Mathieu), but then Gasquet did play in a meaningless “dead rubber” two out of three set match against James Blake (which Gasquet lost in three sets). It’s all rather puzzling and reminiscent of Gasquet’s withdrawal from the U.S. Open in the middle of the tournament because he had a cold, sore throat, etc. There are many attributes that are necessary to become a champion and talent alone can carry a player very far, but not to the ultimate winner’s circle. Gasquet definitely has the talent to win a Grand Slam title and lead the French Davis Cup team to another title… but he will need to find something that’s been missing to this point in his career in order to achieve those goals.
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