Gasquet grateful for fitting home finale

In one last hurrah, Gasquet bookends his magnifique career to conclude his 22nd Roland-Garros campaign.

“It's my last tournament, so it's a bit emotional,” he said. “But I try my best of course when I'm going on the court to try to win, so we will see what will happen.”

Roland-Garros 2025 men's singles draw

Gasquet announced well in advance that 2025 would be his last professional season. Now that the time has come, the 16-time title winner is grateful his closing chapter is at his cherished home major.

This is where he made his Grand Slam debut in 2002 as a wild card, lifted the mixed doubles title alongside Tatiana Golovin two years later, and progressed to the quarter-finals back in 2016.

“It's special, but I'm happy to do this, I'm happy to play here one last time. I'm practically 39-years-old. I never thought I was going to be playing such a long time,” added Gasquet, who has 609 career match wins to his name.

“I'm lucky enough to be able to do it here one last time. I know what that represents, to play in a tournament like this. I'm going to try to enjoy it from beginning to end and give my all. It's sport. You never know what's going to happen.”

As well as his main draw debut in 2002, as a 15-year-old Gasquet triumphed in the Roland-Garros boys’ singles event, with the French press hailing the teenage sensation as the ‘Mozart of tennis.’

But Roland-Garros had been a special place for Gasquet long before then.

“We're lucky to have the CNE (national tennis centre) nearby, to be able to sleep here, to be able to play when you were 13, 14, 15, 16, and the leagues and all of that sort of thing. That's part of us, who we are. That's how we grew up,” he said.

“It wasn't only the tournaments. It was a lot about 13s, 14s, what we were playing, the training, the practice, my friends.

“It's something that's anchored deep within me. It's part of me. Of course it's very important for a young person. It's a very important part of my life.”

What about the next crop of French talent? Gasquet has the silverware and experience to steer his young compatriots at the start of their Roland-Garros journeys.

“Enjoy yourself as much as possible," he advises. "It's such a trite thing to say but you've got to give your best, you've got to interact with the public, you have to feel that the public is behind you, is encouraging you. To be as expansive as possible and to give it all.”

“Feel how lucky you are just to play in Roland-Garros, even if it's hard to go out on the court the first time. It's going to be a moment that's going to change the rest of your life, but it's incredible because you'll always remember it, the first time you played there.”