Home Pressures Weighing Heavy on Misfiring Gasquet

France's Richard Gasquet, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, has cut an increasingly forlorn and bewildered figure this year with just one win since mid-March. He is currently ranked No9 in the world, although unless he can repeat that Wimbledon run he is likely to fall outside the top 50 this summer.

And that will be a great pity. As the French Open grew nearer, so the pressure on the 21-year-old's shoulders appeared to become unbearable, and yesterday morning, to nobody's huge surprise, he withdrew just before the start of his first round match. A left knee injury was cited - "a blockage of the knee" was the translation. The blockage is in his head.

Amélie Mauresmo, winner of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles, regularly turned to jelly in front of her home fans, who can be some of the most critical in the tennis world even to their own, and especially on Philippe Chatrier court, the equivalent of Wimbledon's center court.

At least she managed to get to the quarter-finals on a couple of occasions whereas Gasquet, in six attempts so far, has only managed four victories, his best run being three years ago when he reached the third round. It is paltry record for a player of such immense talent who, like Mauresmo, possesses one of the most sublime one-handed backhands in the world.

Like Britain's Andy Murray he has a chip on his shoulder concerning the media, though goodness knows the French newspapers and television are far more forgiving and paternal than the British. Gasquet was a wunder kind, appearing on the covers of tennis magazines when he seemed barely old enough to hold a racket steady.

And so the pressure has grown, although his parents attempted to cocoon him from life's more difficult problems, namely that of growing up. Many perceive this to be precisely the problem. His mother, who lost a previous child in infancy, always told him not to worry if matters did not go entirely to plan, cosseting and comforting him, and ensuring he never lost the belief that, in the end, his talent would be enough.

This is not to say that Gasquet has failed to work hard. His progress, without being spectacular in the way of Rafael Nadal, the three-time French Open champion, has been impressive enough. In 2005 he reached the top 20; last year he made the top 10, winning a place in the end-of-season Masters Cup in Shanghai, reserved for the world's eight leading players.

All appeared to be well as this year began but then came a fourth round defeat in the Australian Open by fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who, famously, went on to reach the final. Suddenly, or so it seemed, all the pressure of being expected to be a grand slam winner piled down on Gasquet once again.

Suggestions were made that he should break free of his parents' emotional influence, and that they were killing him softly with kindness. Where was the fight? Where was the steel? When would he grow up? Those questions were being asked again yesterday. Before the tournament began Tsonga pulled out with a serious knee injury that will keep out of Wimbledon.

Then came the news of Gasquet's precipitous withdrawal. Eyebrows were raised; Gallic shrugs abounded. No Frenchman has won the title in Paris for 25 years, when Yannick Noah triumphed, and they are not about to this year, despite France's relative strength in depth with 13 players in the top 100. Small wonder that Murray, Britain's one and only top 10 talent, may get a little tetchy from time to time.