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Journalism of Courage
Tennis has a self-defeating habit of eating its young and restless upcoming masters; of imposing Grand Slam expectations and concerns on physically tough but mentally shaky youngsters. This year it has been a bit rude to Richard Gasquet of France, though he reached Wimbledon semi-finals but was still short of a title.
Then Mumbai came to the rescue of this perpetually surprising world No 14 as he set aside the challenge of world No 66 Olivier Rochus of Belgium in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to pocket his first ATP title for the year in the Kingfisher Airlines ATP Open at here on Sunday.
“I’m happy that finally I managed to win a title this year. I have happy memories of Mumbai and would surely like to come back next year,” said Gasquet after the final. Gasquet wrapped up the final in an hour and 26 minutes in humid conditions.
Gasquet, 21, built on an early break against the eighth-seeded Belgian to win the opening set which featured long baseline battles as both the players preferred to slug it out from the back of the court. The Frenchman never let his break advantage slip. He capitalised it to claim the first set.
“It was very humid so it was very tough to play against a player of Rochus’ calibre,” said Gasquet. “Rochus has a wonderful backhand. But I was playing great, the confidence of beating (Fabrice) Santoro helped,” Gasquet said. It was also Rochus’ first ATP final of the year. The Belgian came back strongly in the second set and was up 2-1 but then some directionless returns proved his undoing. “The result of the match could have been different had I managed to control my shots with a bit of luck. But that didn’t happen,” felt Rochus.
Then another break in the seventh game and Gasquet was well on his way. “He is such a complete player. He makes you run entire courts. He has some amazing forehand. It’s very tough to handle him,” felt Rochus.
