Home » Sports » Men's Tennis » A champion returns to form

A champion returns to form

© Joel Hunt

Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten rose from almost complete obscurity in 1997 to win the French Open title. Since then he has had fair results, but nothing to prove that his grand slam win was more than an aberration. However by winning his first Super-Nine title at the Monte Carlo open, Kuerten has established early favouritism to win again at Paris; and proved himself in the eyes of tennis fans and of his peers.

Kuerten's win in the 1997 French Open took the tennis world by storm. Here was a true Cinderella story, a player who had risen from total obscurity to almost instant stardom. Immediately prior to that year's French Open, Kuerten wasn't even playing at ATP Tour level. He was playing in a European Satellite tournament, one rung below the level of the Tour. To have followed up this with a win at a grand-slam was nothing short of extraordinary. This is particularly since it was his first career title.

During the '97 French Open Kuerten certainly proved himself to critics, winning tough 5 set matches against Andre Agassi, Andrei Medvedev and defending champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov in succession. In the final he then demolished the two-time former champ Sergi Bruguera in 3 straight sets.

The public's expectations of Kuerten soared, and he seemed to suffer for it. He failed to follow up his success in 1997, though he did have some fair results on the US hard-courts. In 1998 he reached the semi-finals of the Italian Open; but lost early in Paris.

Perhaps it was only natural that Kuerten suffered a let down. He admitted as much during last week's Monte Carlo Open.

"Maybe I put too much pressure on myself after winning Roland Garros. I am more relaxed now."

In July of last year Kuerten at last followed up his French Open success, claiming his second career title in Stuttgart Germany. His form continued in September with a win in the clay-court event in Mallorca, Spain. His confidence has grown this year, with a first ever Super-Nine title win in Monte Carlo.

With this as his biggest win since the '97 French Open, Kuerten looks to be on track for a repeat performance at Roland Garros this year. But regardless of his result there, it is pleasing to see that he seems to have learnt to cope with the pressure of being a grand-slam winner.

Tennis News

The big news this fortnight is that Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov will claim the number 1 ranking from Pete Sampras next Monday. This is a result of Sampras' continued absense from the tour with injury. Ironically, the Russian will claim the top spot despite not having won a match since late February!