French tennis pro Richard Gasquet recently said he couldn’t cope with the on-court prowess of 36-year-old Novak Djokovic. Djokovic currently tops the world rankings.
Gasquet has been on Tour since 2002. The Frenchman was once ranked seventh in the world and currently sits at No. 131 in the ATP rankings. In addition, Gasquet has not been able to win the championship since lifting the ASB Classic men’s singles trophy in January 2023.
Earlier this week, he lost to Robert Bautista Agut 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of Open 13 in Marseille, France. The 37-year-old suffered a similar fate at the Australian Open and South of France Open last month.
Gasquet recently gave an interview to French newspaper El Pais L’Equipe And claimed he was hitting rock bottom.
“It’s definitely going to get worse. Except for Novak Djokovic, who is almost 37 years old and has already won a Grand Slam,” he said.
The Frenchman further noted that while players are expected to fade away after the age of 25, Djokovic still dominates the field.
“Have we ever seen this in sports other than (Michael) Jordan? (Lionel) Messi is playing in Miami and others are playing in Saudi Arabia. He (Novak) is the world’s No. 1 One…I can’t explain myself that I feel like a guy like that is so good at that age. At 37-38, typically, you’re a lot worse than you were at 25. You know. I never said to myself that I would play the same game I did that year. At 38 years old. It’s unimaginable,” Gasquet added.
Novak Djokovic beats Richard Gasquet 13 times in 14 games
Novak Djokovic and Richard Gasquet have met 14 times, with the former leading 13-1. The first time the two met was in the top 32 of the 2006 Madrid Open. The Serbian team defeated Gasquet 7-6(2), 1-6, 6-1.
Djokovic won another victory in this confrontation, and then Gasquet defeated Djokovic for the first time in the round-robin match of the 2007 ATP Finals with a score of 6-4, 6-2.
The Serbs have been in impeccable form ever since. His last match against Gasquet was at the 2018 U.S. Open. Djokovic defeated the Frenchman 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in the third round and finally won the championship at Flushing Meadows.