Gasquet catching the eye as French plan pays off

Every so often, while casting experienced eyes on the qualifying events for prestigious tournaments, shrewd judges of talent glow with admiration at the speed of a junior player's transition to the big time. Word gets round faster than a Rusedski serve.

Richard Gasquet is the latest example. The 15-year-old French prodigy has been awarded a wild card into the main draw of the pre-Wimbledon Stella Artois Championships on the lawns of Queen's Club, London (10-16 June). He has already graduated from a wild card into the qualifying draw at last month's Monte Carlo Open to a wild card for the main draw of the men's singles at the French Open, which starts on Monday.

The headquarters of the Lawn Tennis Association is situated in the grounds of Queen's Club at Barons Court, and the sight of Gasquet going through his paces as the youngest player ever to compete in the main draw at the Stella is bound to cause envy, if not the blowing of a gasket.

Tim Henman, the only world-class British-born player of his generation, was a semi-finalist in Monte Carlo and watched Gasquet's progress to the second round. "The LTA would give a lot of money for a player like him," Henman said.

Patrice Hagelauer, the LTA's performance director, was instrumental in creating the successful tennis development system in France, where the sport at club level is far more conducive to coaching juniors and creating a competitive environment.

Gasquet, like Henman, was born to tennis. The 27-year-old from Oxfordshire's family background is steeped in the sport, and both Gasquet's parents are tennis teachers in Beziers. They trained him from the age of four. "It was always natural for me to start tennis young," says Gasquet, who left southern France last October to be trained at the French Tennis Federation's academy at Roland Garros in Paris.

The LTA's quest to find and nurture talent includes winter training on clay courts at La Manga in Spain, a move Henman applauds. "There's no better foundation than to get a good game on clay," he says. "Technically it gives you much more time to groove your shots and to learn to be patient and to develop the mental stamina to hit 20 or 30 shots to really work an opening. It's much easier to adapt your game from slow courts to fast courts than it is from fast courts to slow courts."

Gasquet won his place in the main draw in Monte Carlo by defeating Adrian Voinea, of Romania, in the final round of qualifying. (Last week in Hamburg, Voinea eliminated Henman in the second round.) Gasquet went on to overcome Franco Squillari, of Argentina, becoming the youngest player to win a match in a Masters Series tournament. Since arriving at the Monte Carlo Country Club, Gasquet had beaten three players inside the world's top 100 and was on his way to No 115 in the ATP Champions Race.

Marat Safin, of Russia, the 2000 United States Open champion, a former world No 1, and current leader of the Champions Race, ended Gasquet's run in Monte Carlo, 6-4, 6-1, after saving seven set points in the opening set. "You don't have to look at his age any more," Safin said, "because he showed that he can play great tennis. He has a very good and great shots. I like his game. He has a nice one-handed backhand and hits his serve very well."

Andy Roddick, the 19-year-old American prospect, marvelled at the maturity of Gasquet's play. "I was trying to learn how to tie my shoes at 15," Roddick said.

Gasquet's style also impressed Guillermo Vilas, icon of Argentinian tennis, who observed that, "He doesn't play exactly like the French school; he is very good in the middle of the court and moves forward without rushing. You can see he has spent a lot of time playing in Spain."

Gunther Bosch, the Romanian coach who guided Boris Becker to spectacular early success, liked the variety of Gasquet's game. "He can become a very good all-round player," Bosch said. "He does not play with power, but with timing, and is good with the slice and the drop-shot. I think his game will also adapt well to grass."

Ian Wight, tournament director of the Stella, needed no further convincing. "With a testimony like that we think Richard deserves his chance," he said.

Although comparison will be drawn with Boris Becker, who in 1985, aged 17, won at Queen's and three weeks later lifted the All England Club trophy as the youngest ever men's singles champion, Gasquet is not "Boom Boom".

Unlike Becker, whose sheer power and aggression intimidated opponents, Gasquet, 5ft 11in, constructs points adroitly. However, one thing he does have in common with Becker is that his potential was recognised early.

At the age of nine, Gasquet featured as a cover story in the French magazine, Tennis. As he begins to show signs of fulfiling his potential, leading French tennis writers are supportive but cautious, anxious to allow him time to develop without undue pressure.

Gasquet, who turns 16 on 18 June, will not be the youngest player ever to compete in the men's singles at the French Open. He will be three months older than François Errard, of Charleville, who in 1983 was 15 years, eight months and nine days. That was the year Yannick Noah was the last Frenchman to win a singles title at Roland Garros.