Google News Richard Gasquet absolutely thrilled with his Ultimate Tennis Showdown experience
by DZEVAD MESIC | VIEW 3894
French tennis player Richard Gasquet, 33, absolutely enjoyed his first match at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown and he is a fan of the event and its specific format. The Ultimate Tennis Showdown -- created by coach Patrick Mouratoglou -- is taking place at the Mouratoglou Academy and it features a number of rules different to traditional game.
Some of the format basics are: "Points are played nonstop for 10 minutes with two serves each for four quarters, on-court coaching is allowed with timeouts, sudden-death decides the winner if players are tied after the four quarters played, there's just 15 seconds between points.
Gasquet -- who has been a professional for over a decade and a half now -- imposed over David Goffin in the overtime as he beat the Belgian 13-11 12-14 12-11 10-15 2-0. "Honestly, I liked it, it was nice. It's new. The format was perfect.
It was intense as it should be. It was fun, fun to play, really nice. Right now, there are no competitions, it's the best thing we can do. There is zero doubt. Excellent conditions, the Centre Court is beautiful. I can only dream of being here," Gasquet told L'Equipe, as quoted on We Love Tennis France.
Richard Gasquet picks up a surprise win
Gasquet, ranked at No. 50 in the world, entered the match as the underdog against world No. 10 Goffin but still found a way to beat the Belgian. Gasquet opened up an early 7-3 lead but Goffin worked his way back to the quarter as he leveled it to 11-11.
But the Frenchman kept his focus as he won the following two points to take the first quarter. Goffin started well the second quarter as he took a 5-2 lead but Gasquet recovered from the deficit as he found himself up by 10-9 later in the quarter.
The Belgian then won four points in a row to take a 13-10 lead and there was no way back for the Frenchman. Goffin, the 2017 Nitto Atp Finals runner-up, made a slow start to the third quarter as he dropped the first four points but worked hie way back to take an 11-10 lead.
But still he failed to complete a comeback as Gasquet won the following two points to win the quarter and take a 2-1 lead. The Belgian then dominated the fourth from the beginning until the end to force a sudden death -- which Richard Gasquet won to claim a tight win.