The French are known for being connoisseurs of cuisine, but Richard Gasquet will tell his countrymen that the best dish of all is revenge. And it is best served cold.
Gasquet savoured his main course on No.2 Court as he dismantled Nick Kyrgios 7-5, 6-1, 6-7(7), 7-6(6) and reached the quarter-finals. He had waited a year to get his own back after the Australian beat him in five sets here last summer and, given another crack at the big man, he was calm and controlled while Kyrgios nearly blew a gasket.
Kyrgios is still getting used to life in the media spotlight. Like any 20-year-old, he is a grown-up but he is still trying to soak up as much experience as he can. There are times when he puts his foot in his mouth (and standing 6ft 4ins, he has impressively sized feet) and there are times when he gets things wrong.
But cast your mind back to your formative years – how many of us made a hash of a delicate situation and said what we really thought rather than what we really ought?
Anyway – those who wish the Australian firebrand to calm down a little should be careful about what they wish for. The big, bold, flashy game is built on a foundation of belief and topped with the exuberance of youth. Kyrgios would not be Kyrgios if he were made to play in a straightjacket.
Gasquet, too, knows all about the pressures of being his nation’s next, great hope. France has been waiting for the world No.20 to win a Grand Slam trophy since he was a boy. He was still only nine years old when France’s Tennis Magazine had him as their cover story and Gasquet has been trying to live up to the hype ever since.
Blessed with one of the finest backhands on the tour, the Frenchman is a joy to watch. Or he is until the tension mounts and he is backed into a corner. Where his shotmaking is rock solid, his confidence can sometimes be a little brittle; winning leads can evaporate, break points can hurt him. But, as he said quite pointedly before today’s encounter, he has reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon before; it is not as if he does not know how to play on this green stuff.
Last year, these two met in the second round, a match that tended to be forgotten after Kyrgios went on to beat Rafa Nadal a couple of rounds later. But it was against Gasquet that Kyrgios announced himself on the world stage, coming from two sets down and saving nine match points in order to beat the Frenchman.
Coming back a second time, Gasquet knew what to expect and was ready for whatever fireworks his Aussie foe had in his kitbag. He even held his nerve as another two match points went begging in the third set tie-break (he may have trashed his racket at the change of ends after that breaker, but he was keeping it together in the heat of battle).
The crowd, too, had come prepared. As ever, the Fanatics were there in force, proudly wearing the gold and green and singing their Kyrgios songs. When their man pulverised Gasquet to take the opening game, up they jumped for a swift chorus of “Let’s go, Nicky, let’s go”, so the French fans responded in kind. “Let’s go Ree-char, let’s go” came the chant. Game on.
By the time Gasquet had broken back, the French fans were giving the Fanatics a run for their money with plenty of “Ree-char” [clap, clap, clap] “Ree-char” [clap, clap, clap]. And by the time Kyrgios had let the second set run away from him and had failed to hold on to a 3-0 lead in the third, the French were on their feet and making up new songs and new verses on the hoof.
He made a better fist of things in the fourth set – he even had a couple of set points – but his inconsistencies were never going to be a match for Gasquet’s stunning winners. The Frenchman dined well on Manic Monday and will be back for another course on Wednesday. Kyrgios, meanwhile, was melting down.
He could do nothing about Gasquet’s laser-guided backhand, a weapon so potent that it can turn even the most hopeless of causes into a screaming winner with just the flick of a wrist. He grumbled, he growled and kept up a running commentary to himself.
“So dumb! So dumb!” he announced as another rally went to the Frenchman. “Slow down!” he howled as another double fault cost him dear. There were other comments of a more industrial nature but it's probably best that they are not recorded here. At one point, he even hugged a ballboy for a little comfort and support. But it was easy to understand Kyrgios’s frustration – he was being thoroughly outplayed.
