Gasquet could blow up Murray hopes

High hopes: Last year's Wimbledon semi-finalist Richard Gasquet has been earmarked as France's next tennis superstar since the age of nine

Chris Jones|Tennis Correspondent

13 April 2012

When your picture has been plastered across the front page of the leading French tennis magazine with the headline "Richard G: The champion France is waiting for", dealing with massive expectation comes naturally.

The fact that Richard Gasquet was just nine-years-old when he became the focal point for a tennis nation could have turned the youngster into a gibbering wreck, but here we are in the fourth round of Wimbledon today with the boy prodigy - the eighth seed - standing between Andy Murray and a first Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance.

Gasquet, now 22, is a year older than Murray andwhile both share the burden of national expectation, the British No1 has only become of aware of his tennis status in the last three years. For Gasquet, it is the 13th year in the spotlight.

What makes Gasquet more dangerous in 2008 is that he is no longer a man apart, having become a member of Team Lagardere, a revolutionary concept that has seriously challenged the authority of the French Tennis Federation.

In the past the FFT set the agenda for tennis across the Channel but now, thanks to the financial clout of Arnaud Lagardere, that's all changed. Lagardere is CEO of the company that bears his family name with an annual revenue of £10billion and 30,000 employees.

It is a concept that, according to Patrice Hagelauer, one of the team's key members, will be beyond British tennis for "at least another ten years". Given that Hagelauer is the former Performance Director of the Lawn Tennis Association, that is a verdict we should accept without question.

Hagelauer is excited about the recent changes in Gasquet's tennis life, which has seen last year's Wimbledon semifinalist (he lost to Roger Federer), link up with a new coach and become the highest profile member of the Lagardere family that includes, amongst others, Paul-Henri Mathieu, the 2007 French Open quarter-finalist, Julien Benneteau and Gael Monfils, who reached the semifinal in Roland Garros this year.

Guillaume Peyre, formerly Marcos Baghdatis's coach, has been brought in to look after Gasquet and he also works with Nicolas Mahut.

The idea of a coach being "shared" appears unique to this French operation and Hagelauer believes it is central to making it a consistent success.

He said: "Gasquet is sharing a coach and no one is bigger than any other player in the group. Because of the financial opportunities we have, when we needed support for Mathieu we spoke to Mats Wilander and he came on board at Roland Garros. Mats was raised in the team concept in Sweden and he watches the matches of all the other players working with us.

"Gasquet used to be a bit apart in his tennis and now he is part of the team he is so happy. I am certain that as a result of feeling part of the group you are going to see a different Gasquet. He comes out to dinner with us and is just one of the guys. He has always been a special player and now we are seeing him develop with us which is fantastic."

The Team Lagardere concept grew out of the failed Paris 2012 Olympic bid, which saw Arnaud Lagardere tasked with finding financial support for sport in France.

Hagelauer added: "Arnaud decided to try and do something new and found Xavier Moreau in charge of physical training for the FFT based at Roland Garros. Together they decided to develop the "ideal" concept, which was to have a unit where you could have experts in various areas; physical training; technical; tennis coaching and also the medicalassistance. It is successful and still evolving because we started with tennis and now there are seven sports that we are involved with. The FFT calls us the "people from the other side of the road" because we are based in Jean Bouin, which is a stadium close to the Federation headquarters at Roland Garros.

"For so long, the FFT was the only structure to develop players - the only way to become a tennis professional. Now, the monopoly is lost and why should the FFT be the only organisation to produce top players? It's a difficult concept, but it is becoming a reality.

While Gasquet and the other team members are Hagelauer's priority, he has kept an eye on the LTA's fortunes and believes that, finally, steps have been taken in the right direction.

"It was frustrating during my time at the LTA that not as many clubs as I hoped came on board with junior programmes," he said. "To be honest, the performance programme stopped for three or four years and I was disappointed about that. Now, I am happy because it is working again and it is the right way to go forward."

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