By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty
Two one-handed wonders have received Roland Garros wild cards.
The 38-year-old Frenchman Richard Gasquet and 40-year-old Swiss Stan Wawrinka —who own two of the most brilliant one-handed backhands in Open Era history—lead the list of Roland Garros main-draw wild cards recipients announced today.
World No. 102 Diane Parry leads a list of six Frenchwomen to be awarded main-draw wild cards along with Leolia Jeanjean, Chloe Paquet, Elsa Jacquemot, Lois Boisson and 19-year-old Tiantsoa Rakotomanga-Rajaonah.
The 17-year-old American Iva Jovic and Australian Destanee Aiava round out the list of ladies’ wild-card winners.
Gasquet will retire after his final French Open appearance.
“I think that it is the best moment for me to do it,” Gasquet told French daily L’Equipe last fall. “It is the best tournament to do it. It’s magnificent, we have the chance being French to be able to stop in these kind of incredible places.
“An end, it’s always complicated, all the former great players always told me it’s not easy to announce. You never know when, how, where. Here, in any case, it is obvious.”
Former world No. 7 Gasquet has won 609 matches, 16 ATP titles and more than $21 million in prize money over the course of a distinguished 22-year career.
The man with the wondrous one-handed backhand is a former junior world No. 1.
Gasquet’s 609 career wins are most of any Frenchman in the Open Era.
In the 2015 French Open final, an inspired Stan Wawrinka rode a wave of shotmaking brilliance stunning the top seeded Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to collect his first Roland Garros championship and deny Djokovic the career Grand Slam.
Video: Wawrinka Hits Around the Net Post Winner
On his second championship point, Wawrinka leaned low and whipped a backhand winner down the line, a bolting knock-out blow, then tossed his red racquet aside and raised a fist triumphantly into the deep blue Paris sky.
The eighth-seeded Swiss not only hit the world’s best player right off the red clay doubling Djokovic’s winner total (60 to 30) in snapping the Serbian’s 28-match winning streak, he looked like the least surprised guy in the place by the time he was done with the job.
“I played my best tennis today,” Wawrinka told NBC’s John McEnroe afterward. “It was an amazing match, an amazing day. It was not easy. When you play the number one, you have to go for your shots. I’m really, really happy to get that trophy.”
Roland Garros qualifying begins on Tuesday, May 20th.
Main-draw French Open play begins on Sunday, May 25th.
