Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten, 3-time Grand Slam Singles Champion, was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame on March 08, 2011.Kuerten, from Florianopolis, Brazil and often just called "Guga", won the French Open (Roland Garros) three times, in 1997, 2000 and 2001.
He won 20 career professional titles, and reached World No. 1 in 2000.
In a well-known comment, Guga once reminded us about concentration in tennis, and how critical it can be.
After one unusually long and tortuous match in which he ultimately lost, he confessed that it was "hard to keep my concentration, which is probably one of the most important parts of the game."
Guga retired in 2008 at Roland Garros in Paris.
Congrats, Guga.
Best, Gary
Thanks for this glimpse into the not-so-distant past. I truly had not remembered him as a player of consequence, but now that I've seen this video, I'm really impressed. Wow, what a backhand. It is so nice to see how well a single-hander can be hit with authority back when the two-hander was really starting to take over. These clips look like rallies of most players today, and it really shows where some of the current players gained inspiration.
ReplyDelete