Richard Gasquet has been part of a great generation of French tennis players including Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and others.
The French veteran is still kicking around despite his best days beyond him but he is not very optimistic about the future of French tennis. A great and proud tennis nation doesn't have a top 10 player at the moment with no bright talent in sight either. He referenced the issue when talking about Roland Garros saying:
"It was very, very bad that you don't have a Frenchman in the round-of-16 of a Grand Slam, But we (Gasquet, Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon) are 35 or 36 years old, less should be expected from us."
Gasquet further said:
"With the Forgets, Piolines, Grosjeans and then us, for years we had guys in the top-10. Next year is an important year for young /French) players. I hope we have a guy in the top-10. We didn't have a top-10 player this year and it is worrying."
The next stop for Gasquet is the Australian Open and he confirmed that he is vaccinated and will go. Talking to L'Equipe he said:
"I'm leaving on December 27th. for the Australian Open, it will come quickly. Glad to be able to play it again The
end can come, so I'm happy to do it this year. We must try to set off
again and prepare well for a good season. I managed to finish in the top
100 in 2021, I hope to do the same this year. And as long as I can
play, it's nice to continue."