Richard Gasquet in Wimbledon semifinal: blessed turf – L’Observateur

He had felt it coming for ten days. Author of a remarkable first week and first four laps without a hitch, almost, Richard Gasquet delivered Wednesday July 8th a new anthology match in the quarter finals of Grand Slam, face, no doubt, the player furthest current form. Beat Stanislas Wawrinka – a player who never tires and that gets better over the long course of the matches – in five sets in the end suspense over for much of the feat. But we want to see more than that.

Talent, arms, glance, Gasquet them. He always had them. What has changed is everything else. The mental approach, the attitude on court, physical cash, too, and this will yield nothing, not a point. Wednesday evening, Gasquet was not inhabited. He was not in a trance. He has not walked on water. He was just perfectly prepared, and determined. He won a game he practically controlled from beginning to end, even when it was conducted two sets to one against a player with full confidence in the key moments. . Still in perfect control of his shots and his tactical plan

When Wawrinka glued to 5-4 in the fifth set – and many thought that this match was a knife (again) pass it under nose – Gasquet was not frustrated, he did not panic, convinced of its strength on this surface that suits him so well. Sublime offensively and defensively impressive, as he knew the races and multiply efforts to force his opponent to play the extra shot, “Richie” won that quarter after more than three hours of fierce game. And something tells us that it was still under the foot if the fight had to continue for a bit. At 28, the darling of French tennis is (finally) mature. And he probably reached the fullness in all areas of her game.

Facing the “Djoker”, it does not require complex

And now? Eight years after his first semifinal in a Grand Slam, Wimbledon already Gasquet will regain the world number one Novak Djokovic for a place in the final. A huge challenge. For the same Novak Djokovic pulverized it a month ago at Roland Garros in 8th finals and Biterrois often seems devoid of solutions to the Serb. But grass “Wim” has nothing to do with the dirt from the Porte d’Auteuil. And if Richard there, which has other physical and mental resources to Federer in 2007, has a chance to beat the one he has dominated only once in twelve games, it is on that blessed turf.

But for that, he must ignore its liabilities and its complex opposite the “Djoker” and find the right strategy to avoid being too attacked in return. For Wednesday night’s success is not classified in the category of “no future exploits” which the French tennis is too regular. We want to believe.

Nicolas Buzdugan