THERE is abundant fantasy in his style of play, but only now that Richard Gasquet has been shaken from his illusion of innocence is he offering France a realistic prospect of becoming its men’s singles champion. Considering that the 18-year-old has played a mere six best-of-five set grand-slam matches — two more than Rafael Nadal, the “favourite” — the ask is akin to leaping over the Eiffel Tower in one bound.

Twice in the past six weeks on clay, Gasquet has played Roger Federer, the world No 1, beating him in the grand manner in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Open before succumbing six days ago in the Hamburg Masters final, a match that the Swiss knew he dare not lose. Maybe it was just as well for Gasquet that the result was as it was — imagine the fervent surges in speculation had he beaten again the player few can beat once.

Gasquet has had to deal with the quirky nature of fame since he was pictured, aged 9, on the front cover of Tennis Magazine, tagged the great French hope. Two months before his 16th birthday, he defeated Franco Squillari, the 2000 French Open semi-finalist from Argentina, in Monaco and the predictions seemed well-placed. Adolescence was not easy. His form came and went and after disqualification for tossing his racket and narrowly missing a line judge during qualifying for the US Open last year, he came to his senses.

“I was destroyed,” he said. “When you act like an idiot, you don’t do the right things, you don’t practise well, you lose matches. It is a vicious circle. I came back to France and decided to return to zero; I went to the federation and asked Eric Deblicker (an astute coach) to help me. He made things clear.

“When I got to 18, I needed an extra eye on me, rather than just my father’s. He had made me very strong, very young, but he knew I needed something different. Had I been with Eric 18 months ago, I’m not sure it would have worked. Now it is right.”

Gasquet also spoke to Alain González, the father of his best friend, who deals with adolescents and their problems. “You get to 18 and you can become a little lost in your mind,” Gasquet said. “I found I couldn’t get to the end of matches, my energy was poor and players found that out. It was difficult for me to be a warrior at 17. He (González) asked if I was ready to give tennis 100 per cent because I was in a haze, as many are at that age. I said I was convinced it was what I wanted to do. I had to be strong, to be professional.

“A lot of people think I’m old, that I’m 20 already, but I’m only 18. I made a lot of mistakes last year, but I had the right to do that because I was young. The other players see that I’m not a fantasist any more, that I’m not going to give up. I am arriving in Paris hypermotivated to do well.”

WINNING WAYS