Although one might think of the classic opening line from Charles Dickens’s masterpiece “A Tale of Two Cities” in describing the up and down flow of today’s match between Richard Gasquet and Andy Murray, perhaps it was Gasquet himself who said it best minutes after losing another heartbreaking match to Murray after being up two sets and a break in the third before going down 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 2-6, 1-6.
“J’arrivais pas, j’arrivais pas. Je n’en pouvait plus.” – (I couldn’t make it, I couldn’t take it any more).
Although many will talk about the fine shotmaking that both players exhibited through the first two and a half hours or so of the match, all that will be remembered in the history books is that it was once again the less flamboyant but much more rock solid Murray who grinded out the win. Most of France tonight will want to throw blame at the French Open officials for denying Gasquet’s request of having an extra day of rest after winning the Nice event a few days prior, but the fact that Gasquet was only a few games away from the win rests solely on his shoulders. Whichever way you want to look at it, today’s result might finally solidify how Gasquet may never truly reach his potential while Murray’s win proves he may yet still achieve his.
Gasquet is no stranger to losing a tough five set match due to fitness issues. He did so earlier this January at the Australian Open to Mikhail Youzhny after winning the first two sets, losing the next two and then being up 3-0 in the final set before cramping allowed Youzhny the chance to seal the win. And although having played ten matches in a row prior to playing today may have been a factor in Gasquet’s loss, it’s not like Gasquet isn’t the only player coming into Paris who played last week. My point is that despite all of Gasquet’s beautiful shotmaking, it was Murray’s own commitment to fitness in the last few years that saw him through today.
And what of Murray who came into this year’s event having not played his best on the clay this season? Even if this win takes something out of Murray that prevents him from going deep into the next week, I think a lot of people will give Murray credit for fighting back in this match. Murray’s gotten a lot of heat recently, some of it deserved, for his perceived lack of effort at non-Slam events. But today he proved that when it really does matter, and I don’t know where else it does but at a Grand Slam, Murray doesn’t give up. And sometimes that’s all it takes to win a major.
Murray may not do it in Paris this time but one has to think that soon all that fight and hard work will see him through to another second Sunday very soon. I wish I could say the same for Gasquet, but for now at least, he’ll just have to take comfort in some real flashes of brilliance that he showed today. It wasn’t enough, but Gasquet will have to find a way to rise above today and not just settle for saying “C’est la guerre!”
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