title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, and he appeared with Romney at campaign events.


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock voted against the $787 billion stimulus plan in February 2009. He also voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010. He has advocated for tort reform and interstate health insurance competition as ways to reduce health care costs.


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock has introduced legislation that would create the Federal Program Sunset Commission (H.R. 606). His proposed legislation would create a bipartisan commission made up of former members of Congress and outside experts to abolish federal programs that are found to be unnecessary or under-performing.


title: Aaron Schock

text: During the debate on the short-term Continuing Resolution that passed the House on February 19, 2011, Schock was successful in banning further funding for the creation of stimulus signs that highlight stimulus-related projects around the country. In July 2010, Schock's bill was selected as a winning proposal in a public outreach effort designed by House Republicans to highlight proposals aimed at reducing government spending.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In February 2011, Schock was one of 23 Republicans who voted against an amendment that proposed cutting funding to the National Endowment for the Arts.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In 2011, Schock and Delaware Democrat John Carney co-sponsored a bill that would use U.S. oil exploration to help fund a five-year federal highway construction project. The bill had not been voted on as of April 2012.


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock has signed the Americans for Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge, promising not to vote for any new taxes. Schock was a supporter of free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, which passed the House in fall 2011.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In September 2011, Schock and Democrat Leonard Boswell introduced the Help Veterans Own Franchises Act, which would allow tax credits for the establishment of franchises owned by veterans. As of April 2012, the bill was in committee.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In 2009, Schock voted to secure $23 million for restoration and conservation of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In April 2010, "Biofuels Digest" named Congressman Aaron Schock as #8 in the top ten groups of individuals that "make it happen for renewables, bioenergy in DC." Schock, who says energy is the issue that people most want to talk about, supports eliminating federal taxes on the production of renewable energy.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In March 2011, Schock signed on as an original co-sponsor to a proposal by Republican Congressman Devin Nunes of California called "A Roadmap for America's Energy future" (H.R. 909), a comprehensive plan focusing on policies that promote the production of a broad range of domestic energy supplies including traditional resources as well as renewable and alternative energy sources.


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock has been an opponent of using federal funds for the transfer of detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to elsewhere in the U.S. In January 2011, Schock introduced legislation with Senator Mark Kirk to deny federal funds for the transfer of detainees to the United States. Similarly, he has fought to require military tribunals, as opposed to civilian courts, for detainee trials.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In August 2009, the Law Library of Congress issued a controversial and disputed legal opinion, "", that had been commissioned by Schock. It featured a legal analysis of the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis with a specific examination of the legality of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya's June 28, 2009, removal from office and expatriation. After the report was issued, Schock argued that the Obama Administration should change its policy towards Honduras by resuming suspended aid and recognizing the upcoming Honduran November 29, 2009, elections, based on the contents of the report. After visiting the country twice, Schock created the congressional Colombia Caucus.


title: Aaron Schock

text: On December 15, 2009, during a discussion on "Hardball with Chris Matthews", Schock stated "I don't believe we should – we should limit water-boarding or, quite frankly, any other alternative torture technique if it means saving Americans' lives" in a "ticking time bomb" scenario or other critical situation. He added that he didn't believe such techniques "should be standard practice."


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock received a zero percent rating from the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT advocacy group and political lobbying organization. Schock voted against amending federal hate crimes laws to include crimes where the victims were targeted on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability. He voted against the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in December 2010.


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock also voted against the Employment Discrimination Law Amendment H.R. 11 and H.R. 12, which were eventually passed on January 9, 2009.


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock voted for House Amendment 1416, which Prohibits Use of Funds in Contravention of the Defense of Marriage Act, adopted 247 to 166 in the House July 19, 2012.


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock is pro-life and has voted to prohibit federal funding for the procedure with House Amendment 95. In addition, Schock voted to pass H.R. 3 "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act".


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock voted against the DREAM Act. However, TheHill.com reported that Schock was "slammed" for calling illegal immigrants "undocumented citizens" and for showing support for a legalization program at a town hall event.


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. After this was done for the 56th time in 2015 without any replacement, the "Peoria Journal Star" stated: "The Affordable Care Act has its flaws, but its congressional detractors, Schock among them, have made it darn hard to conclude they are serious about governing."


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock, along with Senator Marco Rubio, introduced a bill in 2013 known as the Higher Education and Skills Obtainment Act. The bill would narrow the eligibility for people to use certain tax credits related to higher education. To do so, the legislation would take away eligibility for those tax credits from people who aren't students or who "did not attend an eligible institution", according to "Ripon Advance".


title: Aaron Schock

text: During his first term, Schock requested and was given three committee assignments. In addition, he was appointed by Minority Whip Eric Cantor to be a deputy minority whip. He served as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology of the Small Business Committee. Soon after being sworn in to serve his first term, he joined the Republican Study Committee, "a home for deficit hawks", according to the "Los Angeles Times". As of April 2012, he is no longer a member of the Republican Study Committee. Schock was a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group of moderate Republicans who advocate reducing the deficit, cutting taxes, and focusing on education and environmental issues.


title: Aaron Schock

text: At the beginning of his second term in 2011, Schock was appointed to the Ways and Means Committee. On the committee he served on the Subcommittee on Trade, Subcommittee on Social Security and Subcommittee on Oversight. The Subcommittee on Trade has oversight over reciprocal trade agreements including multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations and implementation of agreements involving tariff and non-tariff trade barriers.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In February 2015, "The Washington Post" reported that Schock's congressional offices had been lavishly redecorated in a style inspired by the aristocratic homes in the television show "Downton Abbey". In response to that story, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint alleging Schock could have received an improper gift. CREW's executive director, Anne Weismann, stated, "Again and again, Rep. Schock's seeming obsession with his image impedes his ability to conduct himself in [an] ethical manner." Schock dismissed the criticism with the statement "Haters gonna hate", which was in turn criticized for its apparent flippancy. Schock later stated he intended to pay the decorator. Another investigation had discovered he had spent campaign money on workout DVDs.


title: Aaron Schock

text: Further media scrutiny of congressional expenditure reports showed that Schock had spent over $100,000 in government funds on office decorating and renovations between January 2009 and late 2014, mostly during his first term. In 2015, news company Politico reported Schock had charged thousands of dollars for private flights, legal expenses, new cars, tickets to the Super Bowl and Country Music Awards, as well as cufflinks, massage, "gold equipment" and cigars to his government-funded office account. The Associated Press accessed the location metadata on Schock's Instagram photos and correlated it with private flight records to identify flights that did not correspond to his campaign finance disclosures. In response, Schock's office stated it had begun an internal review of the reimbursements.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In March 2015 there were further reports of spending and disclosure irregularities, including that Schock had accepted money from an outside group, the Global Poverty Project, to cover the cost of bringing a photographer on an all-expenses-paid trip to India organized to discuss sanitation and access to clean water. The Associated Press also reported that much of Schock's personal wealth had been built with the assistance of political donors. Conservative commentators began calling for Schock's replacement. "National Review" called him "a crook" and stated: "Politics shouldn't be a ticket to a celebrity lifestyle on the public's dime. For a man who has enjoyed such a short and undistinguished career, Illinois's Representative Aaron Schock (R) has sure packed in a lot of corruption."


title: Aaron Schock

text: On March 16, "Politico" reported that Schock had requested the federal government and his campaign reimburse him for a total of 170,000 miles that were driven on his personal car, a Chevrolet Tahoe, between January 2010 and July 2014. But when he transferred that car back to the dealer in July 2014, he signed documents saying it had only been driven 80,000 miles. A subsequent investigation by the "Chicago Sun-Times" of reimbursements on Schock's previous vehicle, a GMC Envoy, revealed a similar discrepancy. He bought the Envoy in 2007 while still in the state house. The Envoy had 24,300 miles on its odometer when he bought it. When he sold it in 2009, he'd put an additional 53,100 miles on it in a little over two years. However, during 2009 he billed the federal government and his campaign for a total of 42,300 miles.


title: Aaron Schock

text: On March 17, 2015, Schock announced his resignation from Congress, effective March 31, 2015. The resignation came less than 12 hours after the "Politico" report about the questionable reimbursements went online. On the day he announced his resignation, his spokesman said that Schock had refunded all reimbursements he had received for mileage on his car. By resigning, he avoided an impending congressional ethics inquiry. On March 20, the "Chicago Tribune" reported that federal investigators had opened a "preliminary investigation" into the activities of Schock. In October 2016, Schock agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to the Federal Election Commission for having asked Rep. Eric Cantor to contribute $25,000 to pay for advertisements for Rep. Adam Kinzinger.


title: Aaron Schock

text: On November 10, 2016, the United States Attorney for the Central District of Illinois announced that a federal grand jury had indicted Schock on 24 criminal counts including theft of government funds, fraud, making false statements and filing false tax returns. The charges arose in connection with the spending scandal.


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock pleaded not guilty to all charges when arraigned on December 12, 2016. A trial date was set for July 11, 2017. In March 2017, Schock's attorneys, led by George J. Terwilliger III of McGuire Woods, filed public documents criticizing activities of an FBI confidential informant, a former Schock staffer enlisted after Schock's indictment. On May 19, 2017, Judge Colin S. Bruce set a new trial date for January 22, 2018, but the trial was delayed again in November 2017. On October 23, 2017, Judge Bruce dismissed two of the 24 counts against Schock, but denied Schock's motion to dismiss the entire indictment. On May 30, 2018, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's denial of Schock's motion to dismiss the entire indictment and dismissed his appeal.


title: Aaron Schock

text: On June 26, 2018, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass was removed from the Schock case, and that was followed, in mid-August 2018, by Judge Bruce being bumped from all of his criminal cases for commenting in emails about an unrelated trial he was overseeing, thus causing the U.S. Department of Justice to transfer the case to Judge Matthew Kennelly who, on August 30, 2018, was informed by U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois John Childress that the Justice Department was replacing the prosecutors overseeing the Schock case, that were not named, other than Childress noting that the new prosecution team would be from outside of the Central District of Illinois.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In March 2019 prosecutors reached an agreement with Schock suspending the case for six months and requiring him to be under court supervision. If he stayed out of legal troubles all charges against him would be dropped in six months in exchange for him paying $42,000 to the IRS and $68,000 to his congressional campaign fund. As part of the deal, Schock's campaign committee, Schock for Congress, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of failing to properly report expenses. The six months probationary period ended in September 2019, and all charges against Schock were dropped.


title: Aaron Schock

text: According to "The New York Times", Schock has "cultivated an image that is more about lifestyle and less about lawmaking." Schock was selected "hottest freshman" congressman in a February 2009 reader poll on "The Huffington Post". Schock had been frequently targeted by TMZ.com reporters since his arrival in Washington. Schock told CNN's "Reliable Sources" that such soft media coverage could increase voters' interest in politics. "People who watch TMZ or different mediums don't expect to see their congressman on such a show", he said. "To see their hometown congressman on a show like this kind of raises their interest and gets them a little excited."


title: Aaron Schock

text: In 2009, Schock appeared on "The Colbert Report", during which the host, Stephen Colbert – making fun of the TMZ reports  – "grilled" Schock about his "six-pack abs". Schock went on to appear on the cover of the June 2011 issue of "Men's Health", which one commentator decried as evidence of "a narcissism that never rests". Schock appeared on Season 7 (2010) of "Top Chef", a competition reality-television program, as a guest judge.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In 2012, Schock told "Roll Call" that "I'm a big believer if you want to change people's minds or get someone to vote for you, either a voter or a colleague, you've got to first get their attention. If people don't know who you are, they're not going to listen to your message. And not everybody pays attention to politicians by watching Fox News and CNN." In May 2013, Schock was nominated for and included in a "Time" magazine poll titled "Who's the Most Influential Millennial?"


title: Aaron Schock

text: Since 2004, media outlets have questioned Schock's sexual orientation in relation to his socially conservative voting record. In an interview with "Details" in 2009, Schock said that he was not gay.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In January 2014, journalist Itay Hod made a post on his personal Facebook page accusing an unknown Republican congressman from Illinois of voting against gay rights, while showering with his male roommate and visiting gay bars. "The New York Times" stated that the post "might be described as the world's most obvious blind item", and media outlets considered the post to be an outing of Schock.


title: Aaron Schock

text: In April 2019, Schock was photographed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival with several gay men, and a video was publicized that showed Schock kissing and fondling another man at the same event. In June 2019, a video was released showing Schock tipping a male go-go dancer at a gay bar in Zona Rosa, Mexico City. In October 2019, Schock was seen and photographed at a dance party for gay men in Los Angeles. Schock's actions drew condemnation from gay rights activists due to his past political stances and votes on gay issues.


title: Aaron Schock

text: Schock came out as gay in an Instagram post on March 5, 2020, as well as in a statement posted on his website. In his statement, Schock expressed regret for some of his stances and attributed his voting record to his estrangement from his socially conservative family and struggles to come to terms with his sexual orientation. He furthermore claimed that if he were elected to Congress now he "would support LGBTQ rights in every way [he] could."


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: Fidel Ángel Castro Díaz-Balart (1 September 1949 – 1 February 2018) was a Cuban nuclear physicist and government official.


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: Fidelito (little Fidel), he was the eldest son of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and his first wife, Mirta Diaz-Balart.


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: Castro Díaz-Balart's parents divorced in 1955, prior to the Cuban Revolution in which his father seized power in the country.


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: His mother moved to Miami, United States, with the Diaz-Balart family, taking her son with her. Castro Díaz-Balart returned to Cuba as a child to visit his father, and remained there for the rest of his childhood. In 1959, he appeared as a 9-year-old during an interview with his father on U.S. television.


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: Castro Díaz-Balart moved to Moscow (in what was then the Soviet Union), where he enrolled at Voronezh State University in 1968. For safety, he studied under the code name "José Raúl Fernández", which he claimed to have chosen in homage to world chess champion José Raúl Capablanca and to have later used to publish 30 scientific publications.


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: He initially studied physical education before switching to nuclear physics in 1970. He graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University, and went on to work at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, and to receive his first doctorate from Lomonosov, in 1978. Returning to Cuba, he was placed in charge of Cuba's nuclear power program for a time, leading the Juragua Nuclear Power Plant construction program from 1980 to 1992, during which time he was also the executive secretary of the country's Atomic Energy Commission. He served as a member of the Nonaligned Countries Movement's Coordinating Countries for the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy, and was elected to chair the Second Meeting of that group in April 1983. Castro Díaz-Balart was removed from his positions in June 1992, following a falling out with his father, who cited "inefficiency" as the reason for the removal. Castro then announced the suspension of construction at Juragua in September 1992, due to Cuba's inability to meet the financial terms set by Russia to complete the reactors.


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: Castro Díaz-Balart then returned to further his studies in Moscow, and received his second doctorate at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy in 1999. In the 2010s, he returned to a level of prominence, serving as a scientific advisor to the Council of State, the governing body of Cuba, and as vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. Throughout his career, Castro Diaz-Balart authored articles on the developing role of nuclear energy.


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: In 2012, Castro Diaz-Balart disputed reports that Fidel Castro was becoming senile, describing his father as "lucid" and "working hard", which was similar to the "upbeat assessment" of Castro's health that Castro Diaz-Balart made in February 2007, following Castro's illness during that period.


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: In April 2014, he visited Russia to declare Cuba's recognition of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, also receiving an honorary doctorate at Voronezh State University. In February 2015, during the Cuban thaw towards the end of the Obama administration, when Americans were more freely allowed to visit Cuba, he participated in events to welcome American celebrities to the island, mingling with Paris Hilton and Naomi Campbell. The following month, he visited Novosibirsk, Russia, meeting with the mayor, Anatoly Lokot, and regional governor Vladimir Gorodetsky to improve Cuban relations with scientific institutions in the region.


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: Castro Díaz-Balart had three children – Mirta María, Fidel Antonio and José Raúl – with Natasha Smirnova, whom he met in Russia. After divorcing Smirnova, he married María Victoria Barreiro from Cuba. U.S. Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, currently representing the 25th district of Florida, and former U.S. Congressman Lincoln Díaz-Balart were his maternal cousins.


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: Castro Díaz-Balart died by suicide in Havana on 1 February 2018, at the age of 68. He had previously received outpatient care for depression. The report of his suicide by the Cuban government was described as "unusually public." Fidel Angel Castro Diaz-Balart's first cousin Gabriel Diaz-Balart also died by suicide as a result of depression. "Fidelito" Castro Diaz-Balart was buried on the Central Colon Cemetery in Havana, in the tomb of the Academia de Ciencias, to the right of André Voisin. His grave has no name on it.


title: Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart

text: At his death he still held his positions with the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the Council of State.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Professor Pyg is a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, commonly known as an adversary of the superhero Batman. Pyg was created by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert and debuted as a corpse in the alternate reality story "Batman" #666 (July 2007) before being introduced as a recurring character in the mainstream DC Universe two years later in "Batman and Robin" #1 (June 2009). Professor Pyg was re-introduced following DC's The New 52 comics relaunch in 2011, appearing throughout the continuity and the subsequent DC Rebirth relaunch that began in 2016.


title: Professor Pyg

text: The character's in-world real name is Lazlo Valentin, a scientist who suffered a schizophrenic breakdown that led him to become a supervillain who wears a pig mask. Morrison intended Pyg to seem disconnected from reality, believing him to be one of the "weirdest, most insane" characters in "Batman" comic books. Pyg is an obsessive perfectionist who sees human beings as broken individuals; he commonly kidnaps people and uses surgery and chemicals to permanently change them into mind-controlled automatons known as Dollotrons, and sometimes into human–animal hybrids.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Morrison took the name "Professor Pyg" from the song "Pygmalism" by Momus and Kahimi Karie; the name "Pyg" is also shorthand for "Pygmalion", referring to both the mythical sculptor who fell in love with his own creation and the 1913 stage play, both of which serve as parallels for Lazlo Valentin and his love for his Dollotron creations. The character's origin story alludes to real-life animal testing carried out in the mid-twentieth century. He has a makeshift mother made of nails and boards, from which he associates auditory hallucinations commanding him to constantly improve his surgical work.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Pyg began making substantial appearances in other media in 2013 with the animated series "Beware the Batman" and has since appeared in video games, television, and film. The character has been positively received by entertainment journalists as a strange and disturbing addition to Batman's rogues gallery.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Writer Grant Morrison stated a new Batman villain must have "a gimmick. Creepiness. A distinctive look ... You kind of evolve those themes into new forms". Professor Pyg and his mind-controlled Dollotrons first appeared as crucified corpses in the 2007 story "Batman in Bethlehem" by Morrison and artist Andy Kubert, published in "Batman" #666 by DC Comics. The story is set in a future in which Bruce Wayne's son Damian helms the Batman vigilante persona. Although Morrison had developed a detailed backstory for Pyg, they were unsure the character would be used again. The name "Professor Pyg" originates from the song "Pygmalism" written by Momus for Kahimi Karie, "Pyg" being shorthand for "Pygmalion". The first storyline of the "Batman and Robin" series that ran from June to August 2009 saw the character's debut in the main DC Universe. The story line, titled "Batman Reborn", focuses on Dick Grayson, who takes over the Batman mantle after Bruce Wayne is pronounced dead and partners with a younger Damian Wayne, who is now Robin. In the story, Lazlo Valentin was an "extreme" circus mob boss until something turned him into Professor Pyg, leading him to begin funding his scientific experiments by selling narcotics to the criminal underworld. Batman and Robin learn from interrogating his underlings, members of a gang called the Circus of Strange, that Pyg is planning to spread a mind-control virus across Gotham City to hold the population for ransom. This occurred after the group broke into the Gotham City Police Department precinct that teammate Mister Toad was held in only to find him dead. Pyg is stopped and placed in Blackgate Penitentiary but medics cannot save his infected minions known as Dollotrons.


title: Professor Pyg

text: "Batman and Robin" #13, published in July 2010, marked Professor Pyg's return as part of the "Batman and Robin Must Die" storyline. Pyg had been working for the supervillain Doctor Simon Hurt during the events of "Batman Reborn", and a virus has contaminated the population without Batman (Dick Grayson) or the public realizing it. Grayson discovers this as the virus becomes active. He is swarmed by a mob of infected people in the city streets. Pyg uses the virus as a diversion to escape Blackgate Penitentiary. The following issue focuses on Professor Pyg's business relationship with Doctor Hurt, who says he has "challenged [Pyg] to outline his personal vision for Gotham". As the virus spreads across the city, riots occur under Hurt's command. The story concludes with Bruce Wayne returning to stop Doctor Hurt after being trapped in the timestream. The infected civilians are quarantined and Professor Pyg is captured and transferred to Arkham Asylum.


title: Professor Pyg

text: The character's backstory, including his origin, is significantly expanded upon in "Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes!" (December 2011). Lazlo Valentin was a scientist working for a corrupt United Nations agency known as Spyral and was driven insane by a product that he was developing, which mimics some effects of Alzheimer's disease. Lazlo develops paranoid schizophrenia, leading to drug abuse and self-inflicted surgeries that turn him into Professor Pyg. Lazlo fathered a son named Janosz Valentin, who serves the criminal organization Leviathan and claimed his father taught him to be immune to pain.


title: Professor Pyg

text: In September 2011, DC Comics rebooted their line of comic books under the New 52 banner, establishing a new continuity while keeping landmark stories intact. This iteration of Professor Pyg, still Lazlo Valentin, was introduced in "Batman" #1 (September 2011) among other established Batman villains during an escape riot at Arkham Asylum, which was thwarted by Batman (Wayne) and Nightwing (Grayson). He continued to make cameo appearances as an Arkham Asylum inmate in later comics. In the storyline "Forever Evil", the inmates of Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary battle for control of Gotham. Pyg and his Dollotrons briefly gain control over a district of the city but are usurped by Bane. He is later forced by Scarecrow to ingest the steroid Venom to combat the usurper.


title: Professor Pyg

text: In October 2013, a prequel to "Batman in Bethlehem" titled "Damian: Son of Batman", in which an older Damian Wayne succeeds his father as Batman, was written by Andy Kubert under the New 52 imprint. Having plotted the mini-series in 2008, Kubert wanted to return to that timeline, saying, "I had always wanted to write. In talking with editor Mike Marts, he suggested I come up with a mini-series I would like to write and draw. I really loved that Batman and the whole world that Grant [Morrison] dreamed up. So I thought it would be fun to do a story of how Damian actually becomes that #666 Batman." An aging Pyg appears in the second issue and his henchmen in the third. Batman (Damian) attempts to stop him from experimenting on kidnapped children but Pyg's Dollotrons expel Batman from the area. Pyg is never caught.


title: Professor Pyg

text: The character plays a larger role in the first volume of the weekly series "Batman Eternal", which ran from April to August 2014, beginning with a brief confrontation with Batman in the first issue. Carmine Falcone attempts to take over Gotham City's criminal underworld, initiating a gang war with Penguin. To provide a distraction, Falcone frames Batman for the destruction of Professor Pyg's laboratory. Angry his work has been destroyed, Pyg sends his remaining Dollotrons to assault Batman, who persuades Pyg that Falcone was responsible. Pyg retaliates by destroying the laboratory of one of Falcone's paid scientists. He later turns several people into human–animal hybrids, whom he labels his "farm hands", and finds Falcone. After the farm hands kill Falcone's guards, Pyg straps Falcone to a table with the intention of operating on him but Batman intervenes. He is arrested and sent to Arkham Asylum under the supervision of Dr. Achilles Milo.


title: Professor Pyg

text: In "Convergence", the New 52 crosses over with the previous iteration of the DC Universe, during which Pyg's pre-New 52 counterpart is killed. Pyg is also featured in a chapter of the anthology digital comic series "Sensation Comics, featuring Wonder Woman". During "Robin War", a crossover between several Robin-related publications published from December 2015 to January 2016, Pyg uses an abandoned theatre for his criminal activities while working for the supervillain Brother Blood. Pyg escaped a confrontation with the Teen Titans.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Professor Pyg, voiced by Brian George, became a recurring villain in the 2013 animated series "Beware the Batman", which was intended to focus on lesser-known members of Batman's rogues' gallery to set it apart from previous "Batman" television shows. He appears alongside Mister Toad (Udo Kier), a humanoid toad, as eco-terrorists who hunt people for what they deem to be crimes against the animal kingdom. Pyg is still portrayed as a surgeon, transforming his victims into human–animal hybrids. The character later appeared in a side quest of the 2015 video game "", in which he is voiced by Dwight Schultz. Pyg is described as "a gifted scientist who suffered a schizophrenic break" that caused him to develop his persona. In the game, Pyg uses his Circus of Strange business as a front for abducting people to turn into Dollotrons. After leaving behind a trail of corpses of failed experiments, Pyg is investigated and apprehended in a confrontation with Batman, the player character. Pyg also made minor appearances in the animated series "" and the video game "Injustice 2". In the "Harley Quinn" episode, "There's Nowhere to Go But Down", Pyg makes a brief, silent cameo among the prisoners in Bane's pit.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Lazlo Valentin played by Michael Cerveris makes his live-action debut in the fourth season of the television series "Gotham". The character is introduced under his Professor Pyg alias as a vigilante who slaughters corrupt policemen and dresses their corpses with pigs' heads. Executive producer Bryan Wynbrandt described him as the "big villain" of the first half of the season. The character's "modus operandi" later expands; he targets the wealthy, who he claims "fed on the poor of Gotham". Police captain James Gordon learns "Professor Pyg" is a persona used by Valentin, a contract murderer who impersonates serial killers. He is hired by crime figure Sofia Falcone in a conspiracy to turn the corrupt police against kingpin Oswald Cobblepot and usurp his criminal empire. Falcone kills Valentin to keep the conspiracy quiet.


title: Professor Pyg

text: In May 2016, DC Comics again relaunched their entire line of comic books under the DC Rebirth brand, restoring elements of the DC Universe that were erased under the New 52 while maintaining the continuity. Pyg re-appears in 2017's "Nightwing" #18, operating in Paris and creating Dollotron versions of Grayson and Damian Wayne, known as Deathwing and Robintron. Grayson and Wayne overcome Pyg, who tells them he created Deathwing and Robintron for Simon Hurt. He later appears in "Harley Quinn" #43–44 and "Batgirl and the Birds of Prey". He appears again in "Batwoman" #11, in which Batwoman saves her ally Julia Pennyworth from Pyg after Alice leaks her secret identity to him.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Professor Pyg is among the villains who feature in the intercompany crossover "The Shadow/Batman", in which Batman and The Shadow team up to combat a conspiracy. Pyg makes his film debut voiced by James Urbaniak in the 2018 animated film "", in which he is depicted as an underground surgeon-for-hire for supervillains.


title: Professor Pyg

text: In the limited series "Doomsday Clock", a sequel to the seminal 1986 "Watchmen", Pyg is among the supervillains who attend an underground meeting held by Riddler. In a story in DC's 2018 Halloween anthology "Cursed Comics Cavalcade", Damian Wayne teams up with the zombie Solomon Grundy against Professor Pyg, after he kidnaps a group of children.


title: Professor Pyg

text: In January 2019, the "Mister Miracle" creative team Tom King and Mitch Geralds reunited for "Batman" #62, which was promoted as a "special issue". Pyg holds Batman captive, as he recalls the mythical Pygmalion and considers how he psychologically mirrors Pyg.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Professor Pyg is usually characterized in comic books as someone who is suffering from severe mental illness. Cocreator Grant Morrison envisioned him as "one of the weirdest, most insane characters that's ever been in Batman [comics]" and said, "We hear a lot about Batman facing crazy villains but we tried to make this guy seem genuinely disturbed and disconnected ... Professor Pyg isn't from another world; he's from here, but he's very, very sick". Taking inspiration from the works of David Lynch, Morrison wanted the visuals in "Batman Reborn", illustrated by Frank Quitely, to feel like a real world crossing over with a world of schizophrenia, paranoia, and the use of narcotics. They've stated that when Batman and Robin are facing Pyg and his Dollotrons, they are dealing with "the eerie, creepy, mentally-ill dark corners of life". The character uses drugs, lobotomy, and doll masks permanently molded onto people's faces to turn them into genderless Dollotrons, which he believes are perfected human beings.


title: Professor Pyg

text: The name Pyg is a shortening of "Pygmalion", George Bernard Shaw's play that was adapted into the musical "My Fair Lady" starring Rex Harrison, which tells the story of a professor's attempt to convert a street urchin into an educated, high-society woman. According to Morrison, "Movie enthusiasts will know that Rex Harrison also played Doctor Doolittle, who by strange coincidence was famed for teaching barnyard animals to speak proper, so our Professor Pyg mixes all these characteristics and influences together to create a monster who wants to make everything and everyone 'perfect,' as he sees it". On the DC Comics website, journalist Meg Downey notes parallels between Professor Pyg's view of his Dollotrons and the Greek mythological figure Pygmalion, who carved a statue of a woman out of ivory that was so realistic and beautiful he fell in love with his creation. Morrison referred to the character's experiments to force biology to conform to his will as an "attempt to dominate and redefine the feminine principle", comparing it to the wire mother experiments performed by psychologist Harry Harlow on infant monkeys and to the proto-mother mythologies of Mesopotamia and ancient Babylon: "The shattered mind of Lazlo Valentin has mashed all of these connections into a frightening personal 'mythos', constructed to justify his deranged activities as Professor Pyg". Morrison also said Pyg's deranged rants in "Batman and Robin Must Die" allude to animal experimentation carried out in the US in the mid-twentieth century, including Harlow and John B. Calhoun's Rockville barn rat population research, which collectively influenced the character's origin story. In the comics, Pyg has a makeshift mother constructed from boards and nails from which auditory hallucinations continuously compel him to improve his work. In "Batman" #62, Bruce Wayne compares Pyg's love for his work to his own fixation with vigilantism, having built up his ideals and philosophies since he witnessed his parents being murdered as a boy.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Pyg was adapted differently from the comics in the television series "Beware the Batman"; developer Glen Murakami said, "it's not like we're trying to change it, but we only have 22 minutes to tell that story. The theme that we went in with Pyg and Toad was kind of "Wind in the Willows", but they also became like a twisted [Sherlock] Holmes and Watson. It felt like it flowed, it felt like it had a theme. That seemed more important for that to track rather than all the backstory." Chris Sims of the journalism website "ComicsAlliance" said the changes are "about as far from melting people's faces, stripping in front of a wire mother and dosing Gotham City with a psychotropic drug as you're likely to get". According to "Comic Book Resources" writer Kieran Shiach, the "Arkham Knight" iteration is a very accurate facsimile of the original comic book portrayal, the major difference being the character's new enthusiasm for opera music. Pyg's in-game attributes label him a perfectionist and an amateur opera vocalist. Before his confrontation with Batman, during which Pyg describes his surgical operations as "fixing" his victims who are unique and broken, Batman is warned by Alfred Pennyworth that Pyg is "unhinged, even by Gotham's standards". After Pyg's capture, he claims his mutilated victims are works of art, and while in a police lockup, he expresses concern for how they are being treated.


title: Professor Pyg

text: In the television series "Gotham", Lazlo Valentin is portrayed as a contract killer who impersonates other serial killers. He creates an elaborate persona of a murderer under the Professor Pyg alias to aid Sofia Falcone's rise to power in Gotham City's criminal underworld. Actor Michael Cerveris said of the faux persona, "Professor Pyg is a brilliant and chameleon-like person who has a highly developed sense of what's right and wrong—it just might not be a sense of right and wrong that corresponds with everybody else's". Executive producer John Stephens said the character was chosen for the show because "He hits that sweet spot of being grotesque and terrifying, but also a little bit in that fairy-tale-esque world". Cerveris said Pyg takes delight in his actions and sees himself as a mirror image to James Gordon, who also wants to end corruption in the Gotham City Police Department. Pyg spells his name with a "y" as an homage to Pygmalion and because he wants to remake Gotham City in his own image. He also wants to make Gordon into a better version of himself; according to Cerveris, "He is almost looking at Gordon as an ally, like 'I'm on your side, Jim'. And Jim is saying, 'No, you're actually a sociopath'. So it works in many ways as a seduction on Pyg's part as he tries to pull (Jim) in."


title: Professor Pyg

text: In early episodes of "Gotham", Pyg claims to have suffered at the hands of Gotham City's elite, implying a troubled past for the Pyg persona and a vengeful motive. Cerveris stated Pyg is aware of his actions but may not be comfortable with himself, which may be partly because he is covering his true identity. Layers of his disguise are continuously stripped down and reapplied. Hailing from the southern United States, Valentin uses implanted, shifting metal plates and facial reconstruction to help him hide his true identity. Before the Pyg persona is revealed to be fake, Cerveris said he lacks his alter ego's trademark surgical prowess because it was intended to focus more on his relationship with the city and James Gordon, and that the Dollotrons are not the sole purpose of his existence. Cerveris also said the Dollotrons might be a later part of Valentin's life because the show is about the origins of the Batman mythos.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Professor Pyg most commonly wears a pig mask, a makeshift surgical outfit, and a butcher's apron. Much of his original wardrobe in the comic books was designed by Frank Quitely and is a homage to the Edwardian suits worn by Rex Harrison in "My Fair Lady".


title: Professor Pyg

text: The television series "Gotham" was planned to feature a pig mask that more closely resembled the comic book version but it was deemed "a little too cheery and pink". Executive producer Danny Cannon decided the mask should look like decapitated pig flesh. Cerveris found the change to be simultaneously comical and disturbing; he had some difficulty acting in the mask due to its weight and the heat underneath, and because it blocked his peripheral vision. According to Cerveris, "the mask is a really freeing aspect, and I felt naked when I didn't have the mask on, and couldn't really be Professor Pyg". Pyg retains his apron from the source material.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Professor Pyg's opera suite titled "Ode to Perfection" was composed by David Buckley for the "Batman: Arkham Knight" soundtrack. An action figure of the character was released as part of the third series of "Arkham Knight" figures from DC Collectibles in February 2016.


title: Professor Pyg

text: Meg Downey said Professor Pyg is one of Batman's most disturbing villains. In 2015, IGN writers Jesse Schedeen and Joshua Yehl ranked Professor Pyg as the twenty-third-greatest Batman villain of all time, and in a separate editorial, Schedeen called Pyg "one of the crazier and more unusual" Batman villains created by Grant Morrison. Beth Elderkin of "io9" called the character "one of the weirdest villains to come out of the "Batman" canon" while "Bustle" referred to him as "one of the comics' modern masterpieces, and one of its most horrifying creations".


title: Professor Pyg

text: David Pepose of "Newsarama" praised the inclusion of Professor Pyg and Jason Bard in "Batman Eternal" for emphasizing elements of the DC Universe that were underused following the New 52. "Comic Book Resources"'s Mike Fugere said the character is a "bigger monster" than Solomon Grundy, an undead creature within the DC Universe who Fugere calls "terrifying". He cited the comic book "Cursed Comics Cavalcade" #1 as his reason, a story in which Grundy tries to stop Pyg from mutilating a group of children. According to Fugere, Pyg is "basically Hannibal Lecter on steroids and is a reminder that not all superhero comics are for kids". He also said Grant Morrison accomplished his goal of making Pyg one of the weirdest and most insane characters in "Batman" comic books.


title: Professor Pyg

text: In 2017, John Stephens said Professor Pyg is one of his favorite recently-created Batman villains for being demented, grotesque, and funny. Because the character was created recently, he also said Pyg is more contemporary than the classic rogues and did not have to be revitalized as much. When it was announced Professor Pyg would appear on "Gotham", "Digital Spy" commented, ""Gotham" season 4 is going to introduce its most disturbing villain ever, so forget about sleeping ever again". Charlie Ridgely of "Comicbook.com" stated Pyg's appearance on "Gotham" proved he is "one of the most disturbed" villains who has served as an antagonist to Batman.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances in Grand Slam singles tournaments have been three semifinal appearances, two at the Wimbledon Championships (in 2007 and 2015) and once at the US Open (in 2013). His best performance in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 singles tournaments was being the runner-up in Hamburg in 2005 and Toronto in 2006 and 2012. He won the mixed doubles title at the 2004 French Open, partnering with Tatiana Golovin. He also won the men's doubles Olympic bronze medal in 2012 with his doubles partner Julien Benneteau. Gasquet is best known for his elegant groundstrokes and his one-handed backhand.In March 2021, Gasquet became only the sixth active player on the ATP tour to win 550 matches. He is currently No. 4 on the list of active players with over 580 wins.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet was born on June 18, 1986 in Béziers, France where he was raised. His mother, Maryse, and his father, Serignan, were both tennis teachers and ran a local tennis club in Béziers. This had an influence on Gasquet and he began playing tennis at the age of 4 with his dad at the club. Soon after, he was discovered by former world number 9 Pierre Barthès who ran a tennis camp at the nearby seaside resort of Cap d'Agde.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: When he was 9 years old, Gasquet was touted as a future champion on the cover of the February 1996 issue of French Tennis Magazine.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet played his first junior match in April 1999 at the age of 12 at a grade 3 tournament in France. As a junior, he posted a 44–7 career singles record and a 10–4 career doubles record. He had a career-high juniors singles ranking of world No. 1, attained on 9 September 2002. During the same year, he made the semifinals of the Junior Australian Open and won the Junior French Open and the Junior US Open. His wins at junior grand slams at such a young age caused him to become one of the most anticipated juniors ever and many thought that he would become a future world number 1.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet made his debut on the ATP tour in April 2002, at the Tennis Masters Series tournament in Monte Carlo where he received a wildcard into qualifying and became the youngest player ever to qualify for a Tennis Masters Series event. At the age of 15 years and 10 months, he defeated Argentina's Franco Squillari in the first round of that tournament to become the youngest player to win a top-tier tour (ATP Tour, Grand Prix tennis circuit or World Championship Tennis) main draw singles match since Tommy Ho at Rye Brook in 1988.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet made his Grand Slam tournament debut at the 2002 French Open at the age of 15 years, 11 months and nine days. He was the second-youngest player ever to compete in the main draw there. Despite his lack of experience, he managed to take a set off the eventual champion Albert Costa in the first round. Gasquet finished 2002 as the No. 1 junior in the world and was named World Junior Champion, having won the junior titles at the French Open and the US Open. He was also the youngest player to finish in the year-end ATP top 200.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: In 2004, Gasquet reached his first ATP Tour singles final in Metz, losing to his countryman Jérôme Haehnel in straight sets. He also won the mixed doubles title at the French Open that year, partnering Tatiana Golovin.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet missed the first seven weeks of the 2005 season because of chickenpox. Upon recovery, he won back-to-back Challenger titles in March. In April, riding the momentum of a ten-match winning streak, Gasquet reached the semifinals of the Masters Series tournament at Monte Carlo, handing world No. 1 Roger Federer a surprise defeat in the quarterfinals. He saved three match points before closing it out in a 10–8 tiebreak. As a result, he became the youngest French player ever to defeat a world No. 1. However, the eventual champion Rafael Nadal defeated him in the semifinals.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Fresh off of Gasquet’s win over Federer and having just beaten Paradorn Srichaphan in straight sets, the rising teen disappointingly lost against Andre Agassi in Rome. A month later, he reached the final of the Hamburg Masters, where, this time, he was defeated by Federer in three sets.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: In May, Gasquet won his first Grand Slam singles match at Roland Garros. On 18 June, his 19th birthday, he won his first ATP Tour singles title beating Max Mirnyi in the final of the Nottingham Open in England on grass. He made his Davis Cup debut against Russia in July where he won his first rubber against Igor Andreev but lost second to Nikolay Davydenko.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet had to miss the last two months of the season because of an elbow injury. He finished the year as French number one for the first time.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: In 2006, Gasquet had a slow start after a first-round defeat by Tommy Haas at the Australian Open. He later avenged this defeat in the Davis Cup first-round tie against Germany, where he beat Haas in five sets. However, he lost both his singles rubbers in a quarterfinal tie versus Russia and suffered an abdominal injury in that tie which left him out of action for a month. Having struggled to find any form after his comeback during the clay season, Gasquet went out in the second round of the French Open to David Nalbandian.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Following a disappointing opening half of the season, in the space of three weeks Gasquet successfully defended his title at Nottingham, lost in a first-round meeting with Roger Federer at Wimbledon, and won his second title of the year on clay in Gstaad. Gasquet's form continued to improve heading towards the US Open, as he reached the final of the Masters Series event in Toronto, again being halted by Federer in three sets. He reached the fourth round of the US Open for the second year in a row, where he lost to Lleyton Hewitt in five sets.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: In October, Gasquet won his third ATP Tour singles title of the year, this time on indoor carpet in Lyon, completing his achievement of reaching ATP Tour singles finals on all four surfaces during the year. His season ended when he withdrew from his third round singles match against Marat Safin at the Paris Masters due to illness.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet's 2007 started with a quarterfinal showing in Adelaide, followed by a semifinal appearance in Sydney. He went on to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open, losing to Tommy Robredo in four sets. At Monte Carlo, he notched his first win over a top-10 opponent of the year, winning his third-round match over Ivan Ljubičić, ranked No. 8 at the time. However, he then lost his quarterfinal match to twice former Monte Carlo champion Juan Carlos Ferrero. Gasquet reached his first final of the season two weeks later at Estoril, but the up-and-coming Serbian player Novak Djokovic got the better of him in three sets.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet reached the doubles final of the Monte Carlo Masters with Julien Benneteau, where the French team lost to Bob and Mike Bryan. Despite losing in the second round of the French Open to Kristof Vliegen, he rose two spots to a career high No. 11.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet then made his first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon. He beat fellow Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on his way to a quarterfinal showdown with Andy Roddick. In one of the great Wimbledon quarterfinals, Gasquet recovered from a sluggish start and a deficit of two sets and a break in the third, to upset the two-time finalist by a scoreline in five sets. Gasquet managed to score an amazing 93 winners, many of which were with his trademark backhand down the line. He lost in the semifinals to Federer (who beat him in the first round of the same event the previous year). He made his top-10 debut at No. 7 as a result, his highest ranking to date.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: The following week in Gstaad, as defending champion, Gasquet beat Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo and avenged his Roland Garros loss to Kristof Vliegen, but lost in the quarterfinals to Igor Andreev. He bowed out at the 2007 US Open because of a virus. Gasquet returned to action in Mumbai, India winning his fifth career ATP title by beating Olivier Rochus in the final. He followed this up by reaching the final of the Tokyo ATP tournament, losing to David Ferrer in straight sets.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet took a few weeks break and then played in Lyon where he was defending champion. He lost to Tsonga (whom he beat at Wimbledon) in the third round in straight sets. At the Paris Masters, Gasquet defeated Tsonga in the second round and sixth seed James Blake in the third round. He beat Andy Murray in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals, where he was stopped by David Nalbandian in straight sets. With his performance in Paris, Gasquet qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup, clinching eighth place. At the Tennis Masters Cup, Gasquet was defeated by Rafael Nadal in his first round-robin match. He then defeated Novak Djokovic, but lost to David Ferrer. Gasquet failed to qualify for the semifinals, placing third in his group.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet started out the year as the top seed of the Sydney Medibank International, but made an early second-round exit to eventual champion Dmitry Tursunov. Gasquet played with Tsonga in the doubles final of the Sydney Medibank International, scoring a major upset over world No. 1 duo Bob and Mike Bryan. The French combination came back from two match points down to win the championship and deny the Bryan brothers ever winning the tournament. After defeating Nick Lindahl, Feliciano López, and Igor Andreev, Gasquet lost in four sets in the fourth round of the Australian Open to eventual finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At Gasquet’s next two tournaments, the Open 13 at Marseille, France, and Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, he suffered second-round defeats to Robin Söderling and Igor Andreev. At the ATP Masters Series tournament in Indian Wells, Gasquet lost in straight sets in the fourth round to James Blake. At the next ATP Masters Series tournament in Key Biscayne, Florida, he lost in the first round to Dmitry Tursunov. And at the U.S. vs France World Group quarterfinal Davis Cup match, Gasquet lost in three sets to Blake in the opening round. Then, in a controversial move, he opted out of a key reverse-singles match against Andy Roddick. After winning his first-round match at Monte Carlo, Gasquet's poor form continued as he lost in the second round to Sam Querrey, and then both of his opening-round matches in Rome and Hamburg to Luis Horna and to Andreas Seppi, respectively.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: With a string of disappointing results behind him, Gasquet admitted feeling burnt out, in dire need of a rest from tennis, and a reluctance to play the French Open. He changed coaches immediately ahead of the French Open and pulled out of his first-round match against Florent Serra, citing a knee injury. Gasquet, later announced his decision to not take part in the upcoming Beijing Olympics, preferring instead to prepare for the US Open. He joined fellow top-ten players Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and former top-10 player Tommy Haas, a silver medalist in 2000 at the Sydney Olympic Games to opt out of that year's Olympic Games.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet began the grass-court season at Queen's Club, where he defeated Mario Ančić of Croatia in the second round, and Italian Simone Bolelli in the third round. However, in his quarterfinal match, he fell to David Nalbandian of Argentina. This was Gasquet's first quarterfinal appearance in a tournament that year. At Wimbledon, Gasquet was the eighth seed and defeated American Mardy Fish in the first round. In his next two matches, he defeated a pair of his compatriots, Sébastien Grosjean and Gilles Simon. He went out to Andy Murray in the fourth round despite serving for the match at 5–4 in the third set.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the new tennis rankings posted on 7 July 2008, Gasquet fell five places from No. 10 to 15, the first time in nine months that Gasquet’s ranking fell outside the top 10, the lowest he had been ranked since April 2007. At the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, Gasquet was the second seed and reached his first ATP tour semifinal and final of the year, defeating Spaniard Albert Montañés in the quarterfinals and sixth-seeded Argentine Agustín Calleri in the semifinals. Favourite to win the tournament, Gasquet suffered a surprise defeat in the finals to Argentine teenager Juan Martín del Potro in straight sets. Gasquet began with a first-round win over Frenchman Michaël Llodra in the Cincinnati Masters, after Llodra retired, and then lost in the second round to Dmitry Tursunov in straight sets. Gasquet made a first-round exit from the US Open, losing against Tommy Haas in five sets.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet began his 2009 tour season at the Brisbane International. Gasquet came back from a set down to defeat Marc Gicquel in the first round. He then had a straight-set win over American Taylor Dent in the second round and defeated second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals. He lost to Radek Štěpánek in the semifinals. Gasquet then traveled to Sydney, Australia for the Medibank International. He defeated defending champion Dmitry Tursunov in the first round and second seed and compatriot Gilles Simon in straight sets in the second. Gasquet then defeated countryman Jérémy Chardy, before losing to David Nalbandian in the semifinals. At the Australian Open, he won his first-round match against Argentine Diego Junqueira and defeated Denis Istomin in the second round. In the third round, he lost to Fernando González in a five-set match that lasted over four hours. He held a match point in the third-set tiebreak, but was unable to convert it.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet had to pull out of the tournament in Marseille because of a right-shoulder injury. His next tournament was Dubai. In the first round, he defeated Marat Safin. He then defeated Simone Bolelli and received a walkover into the semifinals following Andy Murray's withdrawal because of illness, where he was then defeated by David Ferrer. He then participated in the Davis Cup with Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Gaël Monfils against the Czech Republic in the first round. Gasquet teamed up with Michaël Llodra (who replaced Monfils) to play the doubles rubber on day two, but they lost in four sets against Radek Štěpánek and Tomáš Berdych. France then went on to lose the tie 2–3, the first time they had exited in the first round since 2000. His next tournament was the BNP Paribas Open Masters 1000 in Indian Wells. He received a bye in the first round, and then defeated compatriot Michaël Llodra, before losing to Fernando Verdasco in the third round.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: In May 2009, Gasquet was provisionally suspended after testing positive for cocaine. Traces of the drug were found in a urine sample taken in March 2009. In July 2009, he was cleared to return to competitive tennis after a tribunal found that "the cocaine entered his system through inadvertent contamination in a nightclub". Gasquet suggested that the cocaine entered his system after he French-kissed a stripper, known only by her first name "Pamela", in a Miami nightclub. The tribunal stated that the quantity of cocaine detected in Gasquet's sample was "very small, about the size of a grain of salt"


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet made his return to the tour at the Pilot Pen championship in New Haven to qualify for the main draw, but lost in the second round of qualifying. Playing his first Grand Slam since January, Gasquet drew Rafael Nadal in the first round of the US Open and lost in straight sets.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet made a solid run at his next tournament, the Open de Moselle in Metz, beating Michael Berrer, Christophe Rochus and Philipp Petzschner to reach his first ATP semifinal since January. He lost to eventual winner Gaël Monfils.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet also made the quarterfinals in the Kuala Lumpur Open 250 tournament in Malaysia, losing to Fernando Verdasco; despite leading 3–0 in the first set.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet began the season at the Brisbane International. He defeated Jarkko Nieminen and Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden, but he lost to Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals. He then entered the Medibank International in Sydney. There, he beat Feliciano López in the first round, and Benjamin Becker in the second. Gasquet then defeated Potito Starace in the quarterfinals and Julien Benneteau in the semifinals. However, he lost in the final to Marcos Baghdatis.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the Australian Open, Gasquet lost to Mikhail Youzhny in five sets in the first round, despite having several match points in the third and fourth sets. Gasquet withdrew from both the Movistar Open and the Brasil Open because of a recurring injury, but returned at the Copa Telmex, where he lost in the first round to Juan Ignacio Chela.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Next, Gasquet played the Abierto Mexicano Telcel tournament, where he defeated Carlos Moyá in the first round. In the second round, however, he lost to defending champion Nicolás Almagro. He lost in the first round of both the BNP Paribas Open to Simon Greul, and the Sony Ericsson Open to Olivier Rochus. In April, he played at the Grand Prix Hassan II tournament, where he defeated Olivier Rochus and Andrey Golubev, before losing to Victor Hănescu in the quarterfinals. At the Monte-Carlo Masters, Gasquet advanced to the second round after a three-set win over Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver, but was defeated by Tomáš Berdych. He lost to Fernando Verdasco in the second round of Barcelona, after defeating Igor Andreev in the first round. Gasquet defeated Olivier Rochus and Andreas Seppi in the Serbian Open, but lost to John Isner despite being two points away from victory and a break up in the final set. Gasquet then played in a Challenger event in Bordeaux, where he defeated Thierry Ascione, Alex Bogdanovic, Olivier Rochus, and Florent Serra in straight sets, before defeating Michaël Llodra in the final.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: As preparation for the French Open, Gasquet entered the Open de Nice. He advanced to the final with wins over Lukáš Lacko, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Olivier Rochus, and Potito Starace. He faced second seed Verdasco in the final and prevailed in three sets, breaking a five-match losing streak against Verdasco. Richard lost his first-round match of the French Open against fourth seed Andy Murray in five sets. Gasquet then played in the Aegon Championships in preparation for Wimbledon, and won against Kei Nishikori and Rajeev Ram, but withdrew in the third round due to a back injury. He also withdrew from Wimbledon as a result.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: After being sidelined for a lengthy period, Richard then appeared at the Suisse Open in Gstaad. Seeded seventh, Gasquet had victories over Farrukh Dustov, Daniel Brands, and fourth seed Albert Montañés to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, he defeated Yuri Schukin for a place in the final, where he lost to Nicolás Almagro. At the Cincinnati Masters, he reached the third round, beating Mikhail Youzhny, before falling to Mardy Fish. At the US Open he brushed aside sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko in the second round, the Russian winning a mere nine games. He lost in the fourth round to Gaël Monfils in straight sets, despite having held set points in both the second and third sets. At the Shanghai Masters, Gasquet advanced to the third round, defeating Ernests Gulbis and Monfils, before losing to Novak Djokovic. He reached the quarterfinals in Basel before falling to Victor Troicki in a lacklustre display. At the Paris Masters, he outlasted Nicolas Mahut in a marathon, winning 9–7 in the third set tiebreak, before falling to Roger Federer in straight sets in the second round. He made the Davis Cup team for France in the final against Serbia.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet began 2011 at the Chennai Open, losing to Björn Phau. He then headed to Australia to play in the Medibank International Sydney, losing to Viktor Troicki. Afterwards he played in the Australian Open, losing in the third round to Tomáš Berdych. He then competed at the Zagreb Indoors, where he reached the quarterfinals after a bye and the withdrawal of Arnaud Clément. However, he retired against Michael Berrer, 2–5 down due to a shoulder injury.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: After a short break, he played in the Dubai Tennis Championships, where he defeated qualifiers Grigor Dimitrov and Sergei Bubka, as well as compatriot Gilles Simon, before he lost to top seed Roger Federer in the semifinals in straight sets, despite serving for the second set.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the BNP Paribas Open, Gasquet defeated top-10 players Jürgen Melzer and Andy Roddick back to back. It was the first time in his career that he had defeated two top-10 players consecutively. He lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. With this result, he made his return to the top 20 of the rankings. In Miami, he played Paolo Lorenzi, who upset Ivan Ljubičić, in the second round. He won that match, but fell to Mardy Fish. Gasquet then played in the Monte-Carlo Masters, where he had a tough first-round victory over Denis Istomin. He then breezed through his second-round match against Guillermo García-López, before falling to Rafael Nadal in the third round.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the Mutua Madrid Open, Gasquet was defeated in the first round by the Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver. At the Italian Open, he played Roger Federer in the third round, and came from behind to claim a spectacular victory in three sets with two tiebreaks. He was defeated by Rafael Nadal in the semifinals.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the French Open, Gasquet cruised through his first two rounds before impressively defeating Thomaz Bellucci in four sets in front of an animated Parisian crowd. He, however, lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the fourth round. He rose to world No. 13 as a result of this run.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At Wimbledon, Gasquet was defeated in the fourth round by Andy Murray. He reached the third rounds of the Rogers Cup in Canada and the Southern & Western Open in Cincinnati, where he was defeated by Nicolás Almagro and Mardy Fish, respectively. At the US Open, he lost in the second round to Ivo Karlović.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Coached by Riccardo Piatti, Gasquet kicked off his 2012 season by competing at the 2012 Hopman Cup alongside top-10 WTA pro Marion Bartoli. The French won all three of their round-robin ties to reach the final, where they lost to the Czech Republic. Gasquet lost in the quarterfinals in Sydney to Denis Istomin. He competed in the Australian Open shortly afterward, defeating Andreas Seppi, Andrey Golubev, and ninth seed Janko Tipsarević en route to the fourth round. There, he faced and lost to fifth seed David Ferrer. Immediately thereafter, he made the quarterfinals at the Open Sud de France, where he lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: In February, Gasquet made the quarterfinals in Rotterdam, before losing to Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets. In Indian Wells, he lost his first match to Albert Ramos. Gasquet reached the fourth round in Miami, but was defeated by eventual champion Novak Djokovic. He reached the final in Estoril, where he lost to Juan Martín del Potro in straight sets. In Madrid, Gasquet beat Thomaz Bellucci and Victor Troicki, before succumbing to Roger Federer. Gasquet defeated Andy Murray in the third round of the Rome Masters, but lost to David Ferrer in the quarterfinals.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet reached the fourth round of the French Open, before losing to Andy Murray. At Wimbledon he lost in the fourth round to Florian Mayer and in the US Open he lost at the same stage to David Ferrer.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Gasquet played in both the singles and doubles competitions. In the singles, he lost to Marcos Baghdatis in the second round. He had more success in the doubles, however, as he and Julien Benneteau defeated Spaniards David Ferrer and Feliciano López in the third-place playoff to win the bronze medals.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet started his 2013 season by capturing the title in Doha. He recorded his 300th match win defeating Grega Zemlja in the second round. In the final, he defeated former finalist Nikolay Davydenko in three sets. He followed that win by reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, where he met and lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets. Gasquet won his second title of the year defeating fellow Frenchman Benoît Paire in the 2013 Open Sud de France final. At the French Open, he lost in the fourth round to Stanislas Wawrinka despite winning the first two sets. As the ninth seed, Gasquet reached the third round at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, before losing to Australia's Bernard Tomic in four sets.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the US Open, Gasquet made it to the singles semifinals, his best run at a Grand Slam event since the 2007 Wimbledon tournament. He defeated David Ferrer in the quarterfinals, once again letting a two-set lead slip before holding his nerve to win 6–3 in the fifth. He was beaten in the semifinals by eventual champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets. Nevertheless, Gasquet's run strengthened his grip on a top-10 position, and he went on to reach the World Tour Finals for the second time in his career, once again being eliminated in the group stage after defeats by Juan Martín del Potro and Roger Federer.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet started his 2014 season in the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open in Doha, where he was the defending champion. He lost to Gaël Monfils in the second round. In the third round of the Australian Open, he was defeated by Tommy Robredo in four sets, despite taking the first set 6–2. Gasquet returned to Montpellier to defend his title at the Open Sud de France, but was defeated by Monfils in the final. At the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Gasquet was defeated in the second round by Philipp Kohlschreiber. He reached the third round of the Indian Wells Masters. At Miami, he defeated Alejandro Gonzalez and Kevin Anderson in straight sets. However, in the fourth round, he was defeated by Roger Federer. Gasquet made his return from back injury at the French Open. He reach the third round, before being defeated by Fernando Verdasco.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet open his grass-court season with a loss to Robin Haase at the Gerry Weber Open. He then reached the final of the Aegon International. In the final, he was defeated by defending champion Feliciano Lopez for the first time in five meetings. Gasquet suffered further misery in the second round at Wimbledon, when he once again relinquished a two-set lead, this time to wild-card Nick Kyrgios, losing a joint Grand Slam record nine match points in the process. Gasquet defeated Denis Istomin and Paolo Lorenzi to reach the third round of the US Open. In the third round, he was defeated by Gaël Monfils. Toward the end of the season, Gasquet struggled with injury and slipped down in the rankings to No. 27. His last match of the year was a very one-sided loss against Roger Federer in the decisive rubber of the Davis Cup final.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet started his 2015 season in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. He lost to Tomáš Berdych in quarterfinal match. In the third round of the Australian Open, he was defeated by Kevin Anderson. Gasquet returned to Montpellier to win his 11th ATP Tour singles title at the Open Sud de France, after his victory in the final over the injured Jerzy Janowicz. He also won his 12th ATP Tour singles title at the Estoril Open beating Nick Kyrgios who reached the final of an ATP Tour tournament for the first time in his career. This victory made Gasquet one of only eight active players to be placed in the top 10 for number of titles, finals and semifinals attained.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the French Open, Gasquet reached the fourth round, where he lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. At Gasquet's first grass court tournament of the season, the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club, he beat Simone Bolelli in the first round before losing to the third-seeded seed Milos Raonic in the second round. At Wimbledon, he defeated three top-30 players, including 2014 Wimbledon semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov, 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Nick Kyrgios and 2015 French Open Champion Stanislas Wawrinka. He was ousted by the defending and eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals in straight sets. This ended his best run in Wimbledon since 2007, where he reached the semifinals as well. Gasquet's good performance at Wimbledon elevated his ATP singles ranking seven places up to world No. 13. He would finish the remainder of the season on a high note. He lost in the quarterfinals of the US Open to Roger Federer and in the semifinals in Stockholm and Basel (to Jack Sock and Rafael Nadal respectively) before losing to Andy Murray in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters. Gasquet's strong play was enough to secure a year-end top 10 finish in the singles rankings for the fourth time in his career.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Shortly before the new year, Gasquet withdrew from the Australian Open due to a back injury. Gasquet then competed at Open Sud de France in Montpellier where he was the No. 1 seed and where he received a bye into the second round. He started his campaign with straight sets victories over Ernests Gulbis and Marcos Baghdatis respectively before defeating Dustin Brown in the semifinals in three sets and Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final in straight sets to retain his singles title and win his third Open Sud de France singles title.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the French Open, Gasquet, seeded ninth, ousted fifth seed Kei Nishikori in four sets in the fourth round to reach his first French Open singles quarterfinal, where he lost to second seed Andy Murray in four sets. At Wimbledon, Gasquet was playing his fourth-round match against Tsonga when the former retired down 2–4 in the first set because of pain in his back intercostal muscles.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet withdrew from the 2016 Olympics tennis tournament because of his back injury. In the men's singles draw, Gasquet was replaced by his compatriot Benoît Paire, while in the men's doubles draw he was replaced by Gaël Monfils, who paired up with Tsonga.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet stated that it was his goal to return to the top ten of the ATP singles rankings in 2017. He also stated he wanted to achieve greater success at the bigger tournaments, which he defined as the Grand Slam events and the Davis Cup (rather than the Masters 1000 tournaments). He started the year at the Hopman Cup, where he won both his singles and doubles matches, securing a victory for France over their opponents Germany. In France's next match, Gasquet once again delivered winning both his matches (singles and mixed doubles) to ensure France's defeat of Great Britain. However, that meant Gasquet would have to play Roger Federer of Switzerland, whom he had lost to on numerous occasions in the past. Predictably, Gasquet lost to Federer in straight sets, the first set being a 6–1 annihilation, however due to Mladenovic's victory over Bencic and Mladenovic and Gasquet's victory over Federer and Bencic in the mixed doubles, France progressed through to the final where they faced the United States. France defeated the United States in the final, after Gasquet and Mladenovic pulled off the decisive victory in the mixed doubles.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet then played at the Australian Open where he lost in the third round to Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets. That match had the honour of being the latest starting match in the history of the Australian Open with a start time of 11.58pm. Gasquet won his singles rubber against Taro Daniel in France's Davis Cup World Group 4-1 first round win over Japan. In early February, Gasquet was beaten in the singles final of the Open Sud de France by Alexander Zverev in straight sets. Gasquet was forced to miss the first three ATP Masters 1000 tournaments of the year (Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo), following appendicitis surgery. He missed the next two ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (Madrid and Rome) due to back injury. Gasquet's best singles results from mid-February to the end of June were in ATP World Tour tournaments in Marseille, Halle and Eastbourne, losing in the singles semifinals of all three of them.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet started the second half of the year badly, losing in the singles first round at Wimbledon and the US Open, and the singles second round in Montreal and Cincinnati. He squandered three match points to the eventual singles champion Alexander Zverev in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 Montreal tournament. In September, he played on the ATP Challenger Tour for the first time since 2010, at the tournament in Szczecin, where he won the ninth ATP Challenger Tour singles title of his career. In October, he lost in the singles quarterfinals of three tournaments - Tokyo, Shanghai and Vienna.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet helped France win the 2017 Davis Cup by winning (he was paired with Pierre-Hugues Herbert) the doubles match in the final against Belgium.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet played his first tournament of the year in Doha. Seeded No. 5, he defeated Víctor Estrella Burgos in the first round before losing to qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round. He lost in the singles third round of the Australian Open to Roger Federer in straight sets, his ninth consecutive loss to Federer. In the 2018 Davis Cup World Group first round tie against the Netherlands, he beat Robin Haase in four sets in the second singles rubber to level the score at 1-1; France won the tie 3–1. In February, Gasquet reached the singles final of the Open Sud de France for the sixth consecutive year, where he was defeated by his countryman Lucas Pouille in straight sets. Gasquet lost his opening singles matches in his next three tournaments - Rotterdam, Dubai and Miami. On 2 April, he dropped to world no. 38 in the ATP singles rankings - his lowest since being world No. 38 on 6 September 2010.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet ended his run of four consecutive singles defeats at the Grand Prix Hassan II, where he was beaten in the semifinals by Kyle Edmund.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the Monte-Carlo Masters, Gasquet recorded his 500th ATP Tour career main draw singles victory with a third-round win over Mischa Zverev. He became the first Frenchman in the Open era and only the eighth active player to achieve that milestone. He was defeated by Alexander Zverev (Mischa Zverev's younger brother) in the quarterfinals, despite winning the first set. Gasquet won only one singles match (in Madrid) in his next three tournaments - Budapest, Madrid and Rome. He lost in the third round of the French Open to Rafael Nadal 3–6, 2–6, 2–6, to fall to a 0–16 match record against Nadal. Gasquet won his 15th ATP career singles title and his third one on grass at the Libéma Open in the Netherlands with a 6–3, 7–6 win over Jérémy Chardy. He lost in the singles first round in Halle and at Wimbledon.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: In mid-July, Gasquet reached his third ATP singles final of the year at the Swedish Open where he lost to Fabio Fognini in three sets. At the German Open in the following week, Gasquet (seeded No. 7) defeated Benoît Paire in the first round before he was forced to withdraw from his second round match against Nicolás Jarry because of injury to his abductors.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: In Tokyo, No. 8 seed Gasquet defeated No. 2 seed Kevin Anderson in the quarterfinals before losing to No. 3 seed Kei Nishikori in the semifinals. At the tournament in Antwerp held in mid-October, Gasquet reached his sixth and final ATP World Tour singles semifinal of the year; he lost his semifinal match to Kyle Edmund in straight sets. Gasquet played his last tournament of 2018 at the Paris Masters where he lost in the second round to No. 16 seed Jack Sock 3–6, 3–6. On 12 November, he withdrew from the Davis Cup World Group final against Croatia that was to be held at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on 23–25 November due to injury.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet underwent groin hernia surgery on 18 January. The recovery process was expected to last for two months.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet played his first tournament of the year on the international circuit at the Madrid Open, where he defeated the Spanish wild card Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his first match (in the main draw first round) before losing his second round match against the No. 4 seed Roger Federer.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Entering using a Protected Ranking, Gasquet reached the semifinals of Cincinnati, defeating Andy Murray (who received a wildcard into the main draw), lucky loser Federico Delbonis, and Diego Schwartzman, all in straight sets, then defeating 11th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in 3 sets before losing to David Goffin 3–6, 4–6.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Richard Gasquet began his season by playing in the 2020 Open Sud de France in Montpellier. He reached the quarterfinals, but retired in the second set against Canadian Vasek Pospisil.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: After playing in the 2020 Open 13, and the 2020 Dubai Tennis Championships, (where he reached the quarterfinal), Gasquet's season was paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdown of the ATP Tour.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet returned in August at the 2020 Western & Southern Open. After that, he played at the 2020 US Open. He reached the second round after beating Ivo Karlovic, but losing to Alex De Minaur. At the US Open, Gasquet had to follow stricter COVID-19 protocols, due to being in close contact with a player who tested positive.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet began his season with a first round loss at the Murray River Open against Mackenzie McDonald. He got his first win at the Qatar Open against Blaž Rola in straight sets to play world No. 8 Andrey Rublev in the next round but withdrew due to injury.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: In March at the Dubai Open, Gasquet recorded his 550th win against Marco Cecchinato in the first round. With the win, he became one of only five active players to have over 550 wins.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: In May, Gasquet made back-to-back quarterfinals at the Lyon Open (losing to Karen Khachanov) and the Emilia-Romagna Open (losing to Jaume Munar). In Lyon, he defeated world number 10 Diego Schwartzman to claim his first win over a top-10 player in almost two years.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the French Open he lost to world No. 3 Rafael Nadal in the second round. At the Wimbledon Championships, he lost to world No. 8 Roger Federer also in the second round.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the Croatia Open in Umag, Gasquet made his first final in over three years. He lost to Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At the 2022 Geneva Open Gasquet defeated top seed and World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in the second round in straight sets. It was Gasquet’s first win over an opponent ranked in the top two of the rankings since he defeated then-World No. 1 Roger Federer in the quarterfinals at the 2005 Monte Carlo Masters. With this win, Gasquet has now beaten a player in every slot between no. 1 and 100 on the ATP Tour. In the quarterfinals, he beat Kamil Majchrzak in straight sets before losing in the semifinals to João Sousa.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: At Roland Garros Richard won the first round by beating Lloyd Harris in straight sets, before losing in the second round to the 27th seed Sebastian Korda.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: With his participation at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships as of 27 June 2022, he is in 5th place on the list of Grand Slam appearances overall with 67, tied with Andreas Seppi. He made the third round of Wimbledon defeating Joao Sousa in five sets and Mackenzie McDonald. He also made the third round at the US Open where he recorded his 68th participation at a Major, tied with Novak Djokovic and Philipp Kohlschreiber.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet is an all-court player, known for his complete and elegant game as well as his single-handed backhand, which is considered to be one of the best ever. His forehand is his weaker wing, and is generally less consistent and slower. For his forehand, he uses a semi-western to Eastern grip with an unusually long take-back. However, upon contact, he hits the ball flat with an eastern grip while flicking his wrist, seemingly combining flat and topspin strokes together. It is due to this that his forehand is sometimes considered "awkward" and less effective.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet's single-handed backhand is considered one of the most graceful, efficient and effective backhands ever. Like his forehand, he winds up very far backwards with a big circular take-back, with his left hand supporting the take-back. Upon release, he flicks his wrist and produces a large follow-through and finish, often above the head, due to the need to impart extreme topspin.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Executing one of the most deadly top-spin single-handed backhands. Gasquet’s backhand is known for its consistency, speed and accuracy, and has been acclaimed by many past players and commentators such as Robbie Koenig, John McEnroe and Brad Gilbert. His ability to create pace and angles with it, from anywhere on the base line, coupled with the amount of top-spin he uses produces problems for numerous players.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet has shown versatility in returning difficult shots to his backhand with various methods, whether by slice, topspin angles, or heavy power. He is also capable of hitting flat returns on high top-spin shots directed to that wing, a shot most single-handed backhand players struggle with.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet has also been praised for his variety and all-court play, and is solid at all parts of the court. His volleys are consistent and he very actively seeks to end points at the net, which complements his baseline ability to push players to the back of the court, buying him time to come up. He is also very crafty, often using drop-shots and fakes to misdirect opponents. He also performs many harder, rarer shots in today's game such as the drive volley, half-volley and occasionally serve-and-volleys. He also plays well on all surfaces, his baseline game and long, winding groundstrokes allow him to do well on clay while his more aggressive, serve-and-volley style gives him an edge on grass courts and the combination of both work well on hard courts. This is shown in his almost equal success on all surfaces, having reached at least the fourth round of all grand slam tournaments on multiple occasions.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Despite Gasquet’s strengths, he also has a few prominent weaknesses, which could be argued are entirely responsible for his lack of success in big tournaments and against top 10 opponents. His first weakness is despite his strength and aggressive potential, he sometimes does not actively seek out winners from his groundstrokes and mainly waits for his opponent to show signs of aggression before replying with his own. He also generally plays far behind the baseline, which supports the slow buildup on his ground-strokes, but leaves him susceptible to drop-shots and angled shots. This aspect of his game in particular has been lamented by his fans around the globe, who see him as being too set in his ways to change this aspect of his approach to the detriment of his results against the best players in the world, who can easily take advantage of it. Indeed, his baseline groundstrokes have previously been characterised as toothless. His serve is also not especially strong, being known more for spin rather than speed.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet currently endorses the Head Graphene Extreme Pro. For his overgrip, he uses the Tourna Grip, which he double grips at only the bottom half of his racquet's handle, since he hits his backhand with one hand. Like many professional players, his racquet bears the paint job of the current Extreme line for endorsement purposes. Underneath the paint is a pro-stock model Head Liquidmetal Instinct Tour XL. He has used the Instinct since 2004. His racquet is strung with Luxilon Big Banger Original 16 string. He wore Lacoste clothing for many years before switching to Le Coq Sportif in 2014. His shoe of choice is from Asics. He also has Lagardère Tags on his sleeves.


title: Richard Gasquet

text: Gasquet has launched the Richard Gasquet Foundation which aims to use sport as a means to bring underprivileged children back to health, and help them build a future. He is a big rugby fan, supporting his hometown team Béziers. He has stated in an interview that if he were not a tennis player he would probably be a rugby player. He is also a fan of football and supports his local team Montpellier, as well as Paris St-Germain. He has described basketball player Tony Parker, who played in the NBA, as a very good and genuine friend. His favourite cuisine is Italian.


title: 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

text: The 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "Bama", or "The Tide") represents the University of Alabama in the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season. This season marks the Crimson Tide's 129th overall season, 90th as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and 31st within the SEC Western Division. They play their home games at Bryant–Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and are led by 16th-year head coach Nick Saban.


title: 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

text: The Crimson Tide finish the 2021 season with a record of 12–2 (7–1 in the SEC) as the defending consensus national champions and SEC champions, beating an undefeated Cincinnati in the College Football Playoff Semifinal before losing to Georgia in the 2022 College Football National Championship (rematch from the from 2021 SEC Championship Game and 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship).


title: 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

text: Over the course of the off-season, Alabama lost 37 total players. 8 players graduated, 6 declared for the 2022 NFL Draft, while the other 23 entered the transfer portal.


title: 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

text: Over the off-season, Alabama added 6 players from the transfer portal. According to 247 Sports, Alabama had the 6th ranked transfer class in the country. The first transfer was running back Jahmyr Gibbs. Gibbs transferred from Georgia Tech. On the offensive side, Alabama also added Georgia wide receiver Jermaine Burton, Louisville wide receiver Tyler Harrell and Vanderbilt offensive lineman Tyler Steen. However, Alabama only took 1 defensive transfer in LSU defensive back Elias Ricks.


title: 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

text: Alabama signed 26 players in the class of 2022. The Crimson Tide' recruiting class ranks 2nd in the 247Sports and Rivals rankings. Nineteen signees were ranked in the ESPN 300 top prospect list. Alabama also signed walk-ons during national signing period.


title: 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

text: Several Crimson Tide players have declared for the 2022 NFL Draft thus far. Wide receivers Slade Bolden, John Metchie III and Jameson Williams, running back Brian Robinson, offensive lineman Evan Neal, defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis, defensive backs Josh Jobe and Jalyn Armour-Davis and linebackers Chris Allen and Christian Harris. They all entered their names into the draft pool. Due to COVID-19, the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to all college athletes, and all could have returned for another year at Alabama.


title: 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

text: The Crimson Tide are scheduled to hold spring practices in March and April 2022 with the Alabama football spring game, "A-Day" to take place in Tuscaloosa, AL on April 16, 2022.


title: 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

text: The 2022 SEC Media days were held on July 18–21, 2022 at College Football Hall of Fame and The Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, GA with Nick Saban (HC), Bryce Young (QB), Jordan Battle (DL) and Will Anderson Jr. (LB). The Preseason Polls were released July 22, 2022. Each team had their head coach available to talk to the media at the event. Coverage of the event was televised on SEC Network and ESPN.


title: 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

text: The 2022 Crimson Tide' schedule consists of 7 home games and 5 away games for the regular season. Alabama will host four SEC conference opponents Mississippi State (rivalry), Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and arch-rival Auburn for the 87th Iron Bowl to close out the SEC regular season at home and will travel to four SEC opponents, Arkansas, Ole Miss (rivalry), Tennessee (Third Saturday in October) and rival LSU (rivalry) to close out the SEC regular season on the road. Alabama is not scheduled to play SEC East opponents Florida (rivalry), Georgia (rivalry), Kentucky, Missouri, and South Carolina in the 2022 regular season. The Crimson Tide's bye week comes during week 9 (on October 29, 2022).


title: 2022 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

text: Alabama's out of conference opponents represent the Mountain West, Big 12, Sun Belt and ASUN conferences. The Crimson Tide will host three non–conference games which are against Utah State from the Mountain West, Louisiana–Monroe from the Sun Belt and to close out the regular season with Austin Peay from the ASUN (FCS) and will travel against Texas (Big 12) in Austin, TX.


title: Al-Ikhlas

text: Al-Ikhlāṣ (, "Sincerity"), also known as the Declaration of God's Unity and al-Tawhid (, "Monotheism"), is the 112th chapter ("sūrah") of the Quran.


title: Al-Ikhlas

text: According to George Sale, this chapter is held in particular veneration by Muslims, and declared, by Islamic tradition, to be equal in value to a third part of the whole Quran . It is said to have been revealed during the Quraysh Conflict with Muhammad in answer to a challenge over the distinguishing attributes of God, Muhammad invited them to worship.


title: Al-Ikhlas

text: Al-Ikhlas is not merely the name of this surah but also the title of its contents, for it deals exclusively with Tawhid. The other surahs of the Quran generally have been designated after a word occurring in them, but in this surah the word Ikhlas has occurred nowhere. It has been given this name in view of its meaning and subject matter.


title: Al-Ikhlas

text: In the early years of Islam, some surahs of the Quran came to be known by several different names, sometimes varying by region. This surah was among those to receive many different titles. It is a short declaration of tawhid, Allah's absolute oneness, consisting of four ayat. "Al-Ikhlas" means "the purity" or "the refining".


title: Al-Ikhlas

text: It is disputed whether this is a Meccan or Medinan sura. The former seems more probable, particularly since it seems to have been alluded to by Bilal of Abyssinia, who, when he was being tortured by his cruel master, is said to have repeated "Ahad, Ahad!" (unique, referring as here to God). It is reported from Ubayy ibn Ka'b that it was revealed after the polytheists asked "O Muhammad! Tell us the lineage of your Lord."


title: Al-Ikhlas

text: 112:1. Say: He is Allah, One. 112:2. Allah As-Samad. 112:3. He begets not, nor was He begotten. 112:4. And there is none comparable to Him.


title: Al-Ikhlas

text: This word (Al-Ahad) cannot be used for anyone in affirmation except Allah the Mighty and Majestic, because He is perfect in all of His attributes and actions.


title: Hunter-class frigate

text: The "Hunter"-class frigate is a future class of heavy frigates for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) to replace the . Construction is expected to begin in 2022, with the first of nine vessels to enter service in 2031. The Program is expected to cost AU$35 billion and a request for tender was released in March 2017 to three contenders: Navantia, Fincantieri, and BAE Systems as part of a competitive evaluation process.


title: Hunter-class frigate

text: The genesis of the Future Frigate Program came in 2009, when the Rudd Government’s Defence White Paper signalled Australia’s intent to "acquire a fleet of eight new Future Frigates, which will be larger than the "Anzac"-class vessels" with a focus on anti-submarine warfare. With an initial tender expected in 2019–20, in 2014 the Abbott Government announced that work had been brought forward, funding a preliminary design study focussed on integrating a CEAFAR Radar and Saab combat system on the hull of the destroyer.