Roger Federer still has the same passion as a kid, says Richard Gasquet
In an interview to GQ, Richard Gasquet commented on his rivalry with Roger Federer. The Frenchman enjoyed competing against the Swiss. "I beat him twice even! It counts, yes, but I lost so many times! I'm not the only one. But it's true that his level is pretty incredible, he'll be 38 soon. He has been struggling to win titles in the last months but he is still as passionate as a kid", said Gasquet, who upset the Basel native in 2005 Monte Carlo and 2011 Rome, both times on clay.
About the French Tennis struggling to produce new champions, Gasquet added: "People worry about players struggling to come through, and that the next French generation will not be as strong as the previous one. No doubt about it. I hope it gets better. We had a huge generation with four or five guys in the top 10 and others not too far behind. After that, it has not been so good. Sometimes you don't know why you have a lot of good players coming through. We had a beautiful generation. But it took a lot of hard work to get there. I was a bit out of the system because I wasn't always part of the FFT, but hey Jo, Gael and Gilles Simon came out of the Federation system. They worked, their coaches too. So if it doesn't happen again maybe we missed something. It's also a lack of success sometimes. I was with my dad, it's different. When I was 14, I was in the Federation, but I left afterwards."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2TRs1OY
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