Gustavo Kuerten hadn’t exactly cleaned up on clay during the first four months of 1997: He won exactly one ATP-level match on dirt prior to Roland Garros. But playing with passion in Paris, Kuerten proceeded to turn the draw upside down, producing an eye-popping trifecta of upsets in taking down three former French Open champions.
Sporting a wide smile and bouncing around the court as if ready to slide into a spontaneous samba, the 66th-ranked Brazilian employed his balance on both wings, an authoritative serve, and punishing return to craft a rousing run to the title. Kuerten first surprised 1995 champion Thomas Muster in the third round, 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, sending shockwaves through the City of Light. That victory would have been the upset of the tournament, had Kuerten not followed it up by rallying to beat defending champ Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 5-7, 2-6, 6-0, 6-4.
But the 20-year-old from Florianopolis wasn’t done. Kuerten crushed two-time champion Sergi Bruguera in the final, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, to become the first Brazilian man to rule Roland Garros. The previously unheralded player whose hometown had only a handful of tennis courts as he grew up was left in disbelief.
“I cannot believe it,” Kuerten said afterward. “It’s two weeks of my life I just cannot believe it.”
The charismatic Kuerten bowed to his childhood hero, Bjorn Borg, before receiving the title trophy from the former French Open champion. Kuerten became Brazil’s first Grand Slam champion since Maria Bueno won the 1966 U.S. National title.
“If you look at my history, I really had a very small chance [of succeeding as a pro player],” Kuerten told us recently. “When I start to play the game, tennis was very rare in Brazil. In Florianopolis, we did not have more than five tennis courts in the 1980s. So if not for the support and push of my father, I never would have made it.”
At the time, Guga became the second-lowest ranked man to win a Grand Slam title (only Mark Edmonson, ranked No. 212 when he won the 1976 Australian Open, was ranked lower). In collecting his first major championship in just his third Grand Slam tournament, Kuerten equaled Mats Wilander’s record as fastest man to master a major.
The victory consummated Parisians’ love affair with Kuerten, who would go on to win three French Open championships, famously drawing a heart in the red clay to show his appreciation for fan support after his dramatic 2001 comeback win over American qualifier Michael Russell.
