Keli,
Watching Richard Gasquet play yesterday I was amazed to see the guy playing scintilating shots in an all court attacking style. A backhand overhead crosscourt volley gave me an idea of how confident or may be overconfident this guy is about his ability. He plays a risky but very entertaining brand of tennis. He can be a champion player he cuts down his aggression and develops defensive play. I would love to see more of him but Berdych may cut short his progress. Berdych is very good form and now have loads of confidence havng broken the da vinci code a few weeks before.

I would love to see Richard do well. He and Rafa used to be rivals when they were juniors.
I'm concerned Berdych may be riding high from having done well at IW and Miami.
Allez Richard!

Two people who always seem to get support are Baghdatis and Gasquet. There is something about the latter that compels you to wish him well. I was glad to see him get through the first round. Not sure about this meeting with Berdych, tbh. Berdych in 2010 is very different from years past. Pity it had to happen so early in the draw. We'll see. :)

i dunno, neither Gasquet nor Berdych has much business going further than the second or third round of a clay-court Masters event

Gasquet actually has a good chance on clay against Berdych. On any other surface, obviously the "new" Berdych would have a huge edge.

"New" Berdych just crushed Gasquet.

Friends,
That's it. Berdych stopping progress of Gasquet is what I guessed and I was proved right. Berdych is playing very well with loads of confidence. Lets watch.

Kelli, I think it's the beautiful game -- a friend of mine particularly loves Richard's backhand -- and the fighting spirit.

It certainly didn't feel right to me to hear (I didn't see the match, sounds like thank goodness) he was bageled. Particularly not by Berdych.

I agree with you- it was very unfortunate. I didn't expect Gasquet to win, but this result was more dire than I thought. Some people suggested he return to the Challenger events to earn wins and confidence. I'm curious to know if our TT family agrees with that suggestion or not.

He's one of my very faves. It's a pity to see him struggle so.

THE NEW BERDYCH

no way, Gasquet's comeback is progressing slowly but surely. He just ran into the new Berdych today and there was NOTHING he could do, not even on clay. He just got taken to the woodshed.

Gasquet has never been the strongest mentally, so it's not like he tried to change anything as Berdych was firing from everywhere on the court. The non-mental part of Gasquet's game is actually doing OK.