Paris (AFP)
Richard Gasquet was beaten Tuesday in the first round of Roland Garros, for the first time in ten years, by the Spaniard Roberto Bautista, 10th in the world, 7-6, 6-2, 6-1.
The French, 50th in the world, was out of game after his forced quarantine in New York.
He was one of the contact cases of Benoît Paire, tested positive for Covid-19, and had to remain confined for several days on site after his defeat in the second round at the US Open.
He hadn't played in competition since.
"I'm coming out of a very difficult sequence. We were confined to New York for eight days, when I got home I had sciatica, I didn't resume tennis until last Wednesday. So I'm not in good shape," a explained the Frenchman in a press conference.
Facing the seed of N.10, recent quarter-finalist in Hamburg, the 34-year-old Biterrois did not start as favorite.
With a double break and two set points, the Frenchman had a good card to play in the first round.
But, finally embarked on a tie-break, he missed his chance and never returned to the controls of the game.
"I'm not at the level at the moment, I knew that against a player as strong as him, it was going to be very difficult," admitted Gasquet.
"But I still wanted to play, it's Roland Garros, I know I may not have that much left ..." added the French, 34 years old.
In the next round, Bautista will meet Hungarian Attila Balazs, 87th in the world.
Asked also about the refereeing error suffered by Kritina Mladenovic during her defeat against Laura Siegemund, Gasquet considered that "scandalous".
"He has refereeing errors, you have to come to the video, otherwise it's a bit of a lottery", judged the French.
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