It’s been a long road back.  On May 9, 2009, it was reported that Richard Gasquet had used cocaine and was provisionally suspended.  The amounts were considered rather small.  Gasquet claimed this was due to kissing a dancer in Miami.  Gasquet was eventually cleared to play just before the US Open and has spent the time since trying to get his game back to where it was.  Gasquet credited Nadal with being supportive during this period.  He drew him in the first round of the US Open where he lost.

Perhaps a player like Andy Murray understands some of what Gasquet went through as a teenage player touted by the French tennis media as the next great player.  France had placed its expectations on Gasquet.  The French system has produced a fair number of very good players much like the Spanish system has, but has not produced the equivalent of Rafael Nadal.  Among the top French players are: Tsonga, Monfils, Simon, Mathieu, Clement, and a number of others.  Gasquet was supposed to be the best of them.

Gasquet’s one-handed backhand is considered one of the best in the game as he’s able to hit winners and recover shots from nearly anywhere in the court.  His forehand is not nearly as spectacular.

Gasquet’s best result of the year has come in Nice where he reached the finals and played perhaps the second hottest player on clay, Fernando Verdasco.  Verdasco has had a full schedule of clay events.  He played all three major clay tuneups: Monte Carlo, Rome and Madrid, but also played Barcelona and the Open de Nice.  He reached the finals of Monte Carlo and won Barcelona, and also the Open de Nice.  Clearly, Verdasco likes to have matches under his belt immediately before the Slam.

This match, which went to Gasquet, was Gasquet’s sixth title, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(5).

In the meanwhile, the finals of the Arag World Team Club held in Dusseldorf concluded.  The format is two singles and one doubles match.  The two finalists were the US and Argentina. Juan Monaco beat Sam Querrey in three sets.  Horacio Zeballos beat Robby Ginepri in three sets as well.  The Bryan brothers won the doubles, but at that point, it didn’t matter.

Richard Gasquet had his best result prior to Nice in Sydney where he reached the finals losing to Marcos Baghdatis.  Gasquet wasn’t able to follow this with much success.  He lost in the first round in every match up to Miami except in Acapulco where he lost in the second round to Almagro.  Gasquet returned to some form on clay getting to the third round in Casablanca, the second round in Monte Carlo and Barcelona (where he lost to Verdasco), and the quarters in Belgrade (losing to Isner).  Last week he played a Challenger event in Bordeaux, which doesn’t count to his official match record.  Add to that his win in Nice, and Gasquet has to be feeling confident heading into the French.

Perhaps if Gasquet had had more success a little earlier, he might have been seeded.  Prior to Nice, he was ranked 68 in the world, up 14 spots from the week before, and he’s likely to jump at least as many spots up or more.  The win gives him 250 points, but it seems he’ll have to drop one of his other results, probably the quarterfinal result in Casablanca, and only have about 205 points net.  Even so, his ranking will shoot up to about 43 in the world.  Even were he a couple of spots higher, he wouldn’t be seeded because the French Open created the draw on Friday which means Gasquet’s rank of 68 was used (and he was unseeded).

This has lead him to the unfortunate first round meeting with Andy Murray at the French Open, a player Richard Gasquet actually has a winning record against.  The two have “met” each other once a year since 2006.  Gasquet won their first encounter back in Toronto (a hardcourt event) and won in straights.  In 2007, they met in Paris indoors where Gasquet won in 3 sets.  They met in 2008 in the fourth round of Wimbledon where Murray came from two sets to love down and won in 5 sets.  This sparked Murray’s play the rest of 2008.  They were to have met in Dubai in 2009, but Murray didn’t play that match (it was a walkover).

It’s hard to say how bad this is for either player.  Gasquet clearly was once a much better player and is coming off a tournament win played in his home country.  He’ll have the French crowd behind him.  Although Nice is a minor tournament, it represents a big breakthrough for Gasquet, and Verdasco is no slouch as a finalist.  It’s not quite like the final of Estoril featuring Montanes and Gil.

Meanwhile, Murray has won no clay court titles.  Indeed, Sam Querrey has more clay titles (1) than Murray.  All but one of Murray’s titles have been on hard courts.  The only other non-hardcourt title he’s won is Queen’s on grass.  He’s also never reached a clay final.  To be fair, he hardly ever plays small clay court events.  Basically, Murray plays four clay events a year: Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid, and the French.  He considered skipping Monte Carlo and indeed, needed a wildcard to play this year.

Murray’s been training hard.  After a dismal lopsided loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber in Monte Carlo, Murray won one round in Rome and lost to David Ferrer, then won two rounds in Madrid, and again, lost to David Ferrer.  The quality of his ground play has improved a fair bit, but it’s arguable whether Murray understands clay very well.  Although he has one of the top clay courters as his coach (Alex Corretja), there’s always been an inkling that you need to combine the style you are comfortable with and make appropriate changes to play on clay.

For example, John McEnroe and Stefan Edberg still served and volleyed on clay because it didn’t make sense for them to win from the baseline.  Similarly, Murray is not ready to throw in huge topspin shots.  Murray’s adjustments have primarily been in the crosscourt backhand, trying to build that up to a good level of consistency and playing enough power shots that he doesn’t get pushed around on clay that much.  He’s also looking to his serve to win a few cheap points and his return to pressure his opponents.

Perhaps against nearly any other opponent, Murray’s chances would be pretty good, but Gasquet  will be a tough guy, and might even be favored after his win in Nice.  Even so, Murray has shown some improvement in training, but who knows how good this is?  We’ll have the answer soon enough when the two square off in Paris!

EDIT: Having watched some of this match tape-delayed, this really was a peculiar match.  Gasquet was ready to close out the second set and then couldn’t get serves in and got broken twice.  Verdasco opened the third set with a break up and was up 4-2, but then got broken back.  Gasquet had been hurting and been getting treatment.  Whether this caused him to do poorly then recover is unclear (or whether it was gamesmanship to try to upset Verdasco’s rhythm).