To mark the end of another exciting season, ATPTour.com unveils our annual ‘Best Of’ series, which will reflect on the most intriguing rivalries, matches, comebacks, upsets and more. Diego Schwartzman and Fernando Verdasco led Part 1 of our “Best Of” retirement story. Today Richard Gasquet and Fabio Fognini can be seen in part 2.
Richard Gasquet
The February 1996 edition of Tennis Magazine featured a striking cover showing a then nine-year-old Gasquet about to unleash a one-handed backhand. The headline read: “Le Champion que la France present?” In English that means: “The champion France is waiting for?” Twenty-nine years later, the Frenchman left the sport as champion, falling to Jannik Sinner in his last match at Roland Garros.
In 1999, Gasquet won the prestigious international junior tournament Les Petits As in France, and three years later he became the No. 1 junior in the world as a 16-year-old. But the Frenchman’s first big splash came earlier that year when, as a 15-year-old, he won his ATP Tour debut at the 2002 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.
Gasquet first broke into the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings on September 29, 2003, shortly after his 17th birthday. From April 18, 2005 through January 14, 2024, he spent nearly 19 consecutive years in the Top 100, rising to No. 7 in his career. The 38-year-old has racked up 609 tour-level wins, more than any Frenchman ever recorded according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.
Over the course of his career, the 16-time ATP Tour title winner became known for his artistic play, creating unthinkable angles with his one-handed backhand and playing aggressively with his forehand when necessary. Gasquet was as meticulous with his strategy as he was with his grip, redoing it with almost every change, more so than anyone on the ATP Tour.
Fabio Fognini
Fognini has been entertaining fans around the world since he made his tour-level debut in 2006 in Buenos Aires, where he pushed former world number 1 Carlos Moya to three sets. Like many great artists, Fognini seemed to delight in teasing us with his talent, taunting us with his irritability, and ultimately thrilling us with his bursts of genius.
Like the flawed hero in a Greek tragedy, Fognini possessed both heroic traits and obvious weaknesses. Fognini seemed to be in a constant battle against his inner self more than against his outer opponents, but he often succeeded.
The Italian finished his career with 426 victories at tour level. The 38-year-old rose to a career No. 9 in the PIF ATP Rankings and won nine ATP Tour titles, including his only ATP Masters 1000 victory in Monte Carlo in 2019. Fognini recorded 17 career wins against Top 10 opponents, highlighted by his five-set comeback victory against Rafael Nadal at the 2015 US Open and the victory against the then world No. 1. 1Andy Murray in Rome in 2017.
The Italian retired from tennis in typical Fognini fashion at Wimbledon this year, where he put on a signature show to push Carlos Alcaraz to five sets in an epic first-round encounter.
“It was the perfect way to say goodbye to this sport,” Fognini said at Wimbledon. “I was able to play in an era that will probably be the best era in sports forever. I played against Roger, against Rafa, against Nole. Winning a Slam was impossible for me. I have to be honest.”
Fabio Fognini waves goodbye to the Wimbledon crowd. Photo credit: Getty Images
Kyle Edmund
Edmund was among the top of the sport in 2018. The Briton won his first title in Antwerp that season, reached his career high of No. 14 in the PIF ATP Rankings and advanced to the semi-finals at the Australian Open. During that run in Melbourne, he upset then world number 12 Kevin Anderson in the first round and world number 3 Grigor Dimitrov, just after his victory in the Nitto ATP Finals, in the quarterfinals.
Edmund’s second tour-level title came in New York in 2020, but the 30-year-old has struggled with injuries over the past five years, undergoing surgeries in November 2020, March 2021 and May 2022.
“It’s hard to look at the journey and bite it as much as possible. It just felt right with the things and my injuries in the past,” Edmund said. “Especially around 2020, 2021, I had three surgeries and tried to get back for four or five years and had ups and downs along the way.
“But [I] never [was] fully able to return to perhaps my purpose and purpose. That was the main reason for this decision, but the coming weeks and months will be a great time to reflect, do other things, spend more time at home with family and appreciate the journey a little.”
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Rohan Bopanna
Bopanna, the former number 1 player in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings, brought down the curtain on a twenty-year career in November. The Indian star won 26 tour-level doubles titles during his career, including the 2024 Australian Open with Matthew Ebden. With that triumph, Bopanna rose to number 1 in the world for the first time and, at 43, became the oldest man to do so.
Bopanna grew up in India’s quiet coffee region of Coorg, far from tennis centers and with only limited access to the professional game. As his talent grew, he drew inspiration from legends like Ramanathan and Ramesh Krishnan, the Amritraj brothers and later Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, whose professionalism he observed first-hand in the Davis Cup dressing room.
Their influence, along with his partnership and camaraderie with Sania Mirza, highlighted by their participation in the mixed doubles final of the Australian Open in 2023, helped him rise from squatted local courts to the top of the ATP Tour.
“For me to travel from a small town like Coorg across the world and become world number 1, especially at the age of 43, is a journey far beyond what I imagined,” said Bopanna. “Most importantly, I am extremely grateful to every partner, every competition, every city and everyone who has supported me over the years.”
Ivan Dodig
A consistent champion on the doubles tour for more than a decade, Dodig ended his career at the US Open in August. The 40-year-old reached No. 29 in the PIF ATP Rankings, No. 2 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings and won 24 tour-level doubles titles, including three majors and six ATP Masters 1000 crowns.
“Usually players break the Top 100 at the age of 20, 21. I broke the Top 100 [when I was] almost 24. But then I stayed there for a long time, 15, 16 years,” Dodig told ATPtour.com in November. “I achieved a lot and played so much tennis in singles and doubles. So it’s quite a long career for me, I’m very happy with it and I’ve had a lot of fun all these years.”
In singles, the Croatian achieved his greatest success in 2011, when he won his only ATP Tour title on home soil in Zagreb. The same year, Dodig stunned then world number 2 Rafael Nadal 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Canada and also recorded multiple wins against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Milos Raonic and Marin Cilic during his career.
Tim van Rijthoven
Van Rijthoven notably became one of the sport’s best underdog stories in 2022 when he won the ATP 250 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch by ousting three Top 15 players. Van Rijthoven entered that week ranked number 205 in the PIF ATP rankings, without any match wins at tour level. He followed his title run with a fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. He retired from his career in July at the age of 28 due to a persistent elbow injury.
“Due to a persistent elbow injury that does not recover despite all rehabilitation and medical procedures, I am forced to say goodbye to the sport that I have practiced all my life,” Van Rijthoven wrote on social media in July. “I would have liked to see it differently. I would have liked to say goodbye on my own terms, with a racket in hand and the audience in the stands. But sometimes the body decides differently than the head. Yet I look back on it with an incredible amount of pride and gratitude.”
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