Is Richard Gasquet the best tennis player in history among non-winners of major tournaments? The end of his 956-week adventure in the ATP top 100, which began the day after a heroic victory against Roger Federer in Monte Carlo in April 2005, allows us to realize Richie’s greatness. 18 years and 9 months in the top 100 is better than everyone, except Roger (22 years and nine months) and Rafael Nadal (20 years and two months). Even Djokovic, who will surpass him in a quarter, is not there yet (18 years and six months). Ironically, it was under the racket blows of another Frenchman – Arthur Fils – that the Biterrois’ series came to an end. The same Arthur Fils, only ten months old when his eldest reached the top 100. A stat which is quite funny. And it’s far from the only one.
The last time Richard Gasquet was outside the ATP top 100…
> Rafael Nadal had not yet won Roland-Garros
> Kylian Mbappé was six years old
> Istres was in Ligue 1
> Karim Benzema had just made his professional debut at OL
> The Champions League was on TF1
> YouTube and Dailymotion were two months and one month old respectively
> Facebook was one year old
> Gabriel Attal got into a disagreement with Juan Branco in the high school courtyard
> The French Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, was mocked for his famous phrase “The yes needs the no to win against the no” while he was campaigning for the “yes” vote in the referendum for the European constitution.
> Nicolas Sarkozy was Minister of the Economy
> Emmanuel Macron was financial inspector
> Crazy Frog pierced (the eardrums) with its famous cover of Axel Foley’s theme
> Star Wars III, Revenge of the Sith, had not yet been released in cinemas (May 18, 2005), unlike Brice de Nice (April 6)
> The Airbus A380 made its first flight
> John Paul II had just died and did not yet have a successor
> Telephony: the Sony Ericsson W800 became the first cell phone to use the Walkmann brand, allowing the phone to also take on the MP3 function. Revolutionary.
> The Nintendo DS was released in Europe a month earlier.
> Baggies were in fashion
> The expression Kikoo was in fashion whereas today it makes you pass for a huge boomer
> Cyril Hanouna wandered on the airwaves of Rires et Chansons where he presented the show Les Peopleries
> Booba was at his prime: he was riding the Panthéon wave and preparing West Side
> Yannick Noah was the last Frenchman to win Roland-Garros… Oh no, it doesn’t work.