Thursday 9 July 2015 18:10, UK
According to Novak Djokovic, he’s one of the "most talented" players on the tour, yet it says much about Richard Gasquet that he will be appearing in his second Wimbledon semi-final eight years after his first.
Nicknamed ‘Baby Federer’ well before Grigor Dimitrov arrived on the scene, the man with one of the most beautiful shots in the game - his graceful single-handed backhand - has never quite fulfilled his potential.
While he has been as high as No 7 in the world in 2007, he also dropped out of the top 50 a couple of years later following a doping charge, which was later overturned.
So is this a second wind for the 29-year-old, who was on the cover of French Tennis Magazine aged just nine? Even he sounds unsure: “A new Gasquet? I hear that whenever I win a match, then I lose and we’re back to the same rubbish.”
Certainly there was nothing rubbish about Gasquet’s quarter-final win over fourth seed Stan Wawrinka.
The Frenchman, not known for his mental resolve, could have let the match slip after being broken at 5-3 when he was serving for the match, but he stayed with Wawrinka until breaking him to win 11-9 in the fifth.
“It was a great effort from Richard to win against Stan,” said his semi-final opponent Djokovic.
“The biggest difference with Richard now, maybe comparing to the last couple of years, is his fitness. He has improved a lot. I heard he worked hard to get himself really fit and ready to go the distance, and it’s paying off.”
Coached by Sebastian Grosjean and Sergi Bruguera, Gasquet suffered heartbreak at Wimbledon last year when he blew nine match points before losing to Nick Kyrgios in five sets.
But he avenged that result last week with a four-set win over the Australian to reach the quarter-finals of a major for only the third time in his career.
That stat alone says plenty about the career of the child prodigy and two-time Grand Slam junior champion, but in between his struggles at the majors there have been highlights.
He won three titles in both 2006 and 2013 and this year he has already tasted success in Montpellier and Estoril, even though he has been troubled by back problems, to take his career titles to 12.
Will he ever win a major though? This is his best opportunity for a while, but even he admits he is the firm underdog.
“I’m the worst when you see Federer, Djokovic and Murray and me,” he joked after his win over Wawrinka. “But there is something, I want to enjoy it. I deserve to be in the semi-finals. ... I'm not coming from nowhere.”
The meeting with Djokovic will be his 14th, only one of which he has won back in 2007 on hard courts.
In nine matches since then, Gasquet has won just one set and was swept aside by the Serbian 6-1 6-2 6-3 at the French Open this year.
So what does he think his chances are this time against the defending champion and world No 1?
“Novak is the favourite. Everybody knows that. But I want to take my chance and we will see what will happen,” he said.
“I want to enjoy it. It’s important for me to think I can win this match. That’s the most important thing - to go on the court and think you can win, it’s something I need to do on my mental part, to be there to win.”
The fact that Gasquet is in the semi-finals is something of a surprise given he was beaten in the second round at Queen’s in his only other grass-court tournament this year.
He says experience has played a part, even though his last appearance in the Wimbledon semis feels like a lifetime ago.
"I am older for sure compared to 2007. I'm 29 now. I was 21. I have more experience," said Gasquet.
"I know what it means to be in the semis. It's been a long time; it's been too long. I don't know what to think. It's another life."
