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http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/news/articles/200304221118020d9dd503a533257100256d10005425ce.html
Nadal and Gasquet: hungry young guns
By Eric Salliot
Thursday, April 24, 2003
Still shy of their seventeenth birthdays and with the world of tennis at
their feet, Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet will be major attractions
at the 2003 French Open at Roland-Garros. Precociously talented and blessed
with similar tennis backgrounds, the Spaniard and the Frenchman are already
fierce rivals…
While the former is a left-hander with a two-handed backhand, the latter
adopts a more classical single-handed style. Both were brought up in "tennis"
families; Gasquet's parents both taught the game in Serignan, in France's
Herault region, while Nadal was coached by his brother Toni, under father
Sebastien's watchful eye.
The Spaniard, born on 3 June 1986 in Manacor on the island of Majorca, is
the older of the pair by 15 days. The Frenchman first saw the light of day
in Beziers, in France's southwest. Both enjoyed tremendous success at junior
level, on their respective sides of the Pyrenees, and they even crossed
paths on one occasion in Tarbes, France, in 1999: a match narrowly won by
the Frenchman (6/7, 6/3, 6/4) and a tantalising glimpse of memorable games
to come …
A Monte-Carlo long shot
Gasquet was first to make back page headlines when he shook the tennis
world in the spring of 2002 at the Monte-Carlo Masters. After disposing
of Nikolay Davydenko (no.83) then Adrian Voinea (no.65) in the qualifiers
he faced Argentinian, Franco Squillari (No.53) on centre court for the
first game of the day. Far from being overwhelmed by the occasion, Richard
played the big points better than his elder to triumph 7/6, 3/6, 7/5.
At just 15 years and 10 months he became the youngest ever winner of a
Masters Series match and moved to 589th in the world. Two days later Richard
gave the then 6th in the world Marat Safin a run for his money before
tiring towards the end of the match (6/4, 6/1).
Nadal goes one better
A year later, at the same sumptuous Monte-Carlo Country Club setting,
Rafael Nadal would do even better. After qualifying wins over Stoliarov
and Eschauer, the Spaniard easily beat 49th in the world Karol Kucera in
the first round. The following day he caused a sensation by overcoming
countryman and Roland-Garros champion Albert Costa (7/5, 6/3). Blessed
with a solid build for his age (1.85 m for 77 kilos), Nadal's hunger
for victory was relentless and the elder man was forced to concede - a
win somewhat tarnished, however, by the fact the game finished in front
of only a handful of spectators at just after 9pm. The following day he
finally departed from the competition in the last 16 at the hands of
another clay court specialist, Argentinian Guillermo Coria (7/6, 6/2).
These series of victorious propelled Nadal into the top 100, the youngest
player to reach such heights since Michael Chang. With ex-pro Carlos
Costa now looking after his affairs, the Majorcan has charged up the
rankings. At the end of the 2002 season he stood at 200th in the world.
After winning two Challenger Series indoors, he reached another Challenger
final in Cagliari before lifting the Barletta tournament trophy on 30 March
2003 (beating Albert Portas in the final). One consequence of this has
been that the Spaniard now leads the Frenchman in the ATP rankings for
the first time - albeit by just ten points.
That state of affairs is not likely to please the young French hopeful.
One thing is for sure, however - these two sublime talents have many years
of rivalry at the top of men's tennis ahead of them.
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