GASQUET HAS NEW STYLE

The French team headed into the finals of the Hyundai Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, as they defeated the Spanish team. The French team consisted of Marion Bartoli representing the women’s side and Richard Gasquet representing the men.

Marion had a comparatively easy opponent in the form of Anabel Medina Garrigues, whom she defeated 6-2, 6-4. This gave the French side a 1-0 lead in the 3 match faceoff. Gasquet, however, had a tougher opponent in the form of Fernando Verdasco. But Gasquet had an unbeaten run at this year’s Hopman Cup, winning all of his three matches in the competition. Earlier in the competition, Gasquet took on, and defeated Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and Wu Di of China in the group stages. The Frenchman claimed his third win of the competition by defeating Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-4, the same scoreline by which his partner defeated her opponent.

It has often been said in tennis circles that the French youngster has a backhand, which is better than that of anyone currently in the professional circuit. But critics have also said that he is a player who shows sparks of brilliance in some matches, defeating some big names, but has never maintained that form long enough to get a breakthrough in any of the Grand Slam events. The youngster, however, wishes to change all that this time. He has vowed to develop a more attacking style of play, taking the game to his opposition. By his own admission, he has not attacked as much as some of the big names in world tennis. He used to prefer waiting for his opponent to make a mistake. But at the Graand Slam level, mistakes are hard to come by. His defeat of Verdasco was a major confidence booster, something that he hopes will help him in the Australian Open.