Goodbye Guga Kuerten

Guga, or Gustavo Kuerten, has just finished his last professional singles match. He won 3 times at Roland Garros and it was the only place for him to retire. Beautiful, albeit short, career for one of the greatest clay court players in the history of the sport with the most beautiful backhand I've ever seen in tennis .

Right now he's speaking in a nice French with a strong accent but faring quite well , the crowd is sensational, his opponent Mathieu was very classy throughout the match and actually cried after the match. Such a nice moment, nice way to say adieu. He didn't have the luxury to retire like Borg or Hardenne, in the top at a young age. Guga had his career severely damaged due to a cruel detail, his hip could not keep up with him. Even during his winning campaigns he has had to bring in the physio guys to help him with his back but it finally ended. His retirement came in 2002, but back then it was only his body giving up, his mind managed to keep him trying to recover until now.

We have had Pelé, Garrincha, Zico and others for football, Senna for F1, and Guga for tennis.

Tchau, Guga



















Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2008 11:00PM by Guimengo.

wouldn't happen to be brazilian by any chance? :p




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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2008 06:30PM by LS..

I wasn't around GPG when Pete retired, I'd have done the same back then . And about Justine, I don't really care much about the women's circuit because the level is really so much lower, only a few players are remotely interesting.

Nice from you Guimengo to remind us!



We gonna miss Guga for ages...

Farewell Mr. Kuerten!

And thank you so much.

"There may never be another player like the three-time French Open champion who sambaed his way to titles in 1997, 2000 and 2001 behind long, colourful and devastating strokes. He stunned the world back in 1997 when he came into the tournament as a virtual unknown ranked No.66, flew past Austrian strongman and 1995 champion Tomas Muster, 1996 Roland Garros winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov and two-time winner Sergi Bruguera. He was a true artist, owning one of the best one-handed crosscourt backhands ever seen and a gorgeous, hard-to-read backhand down the line. He had a whippy forehand, a hard, flat serve and vicious kicker to the deuce court, as well as a deft touch at the net and the ability to caress an impossible drop shot at a moment's notice."

[www.rolandgarros.com]







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2008 11:17PM by Guimengo.

Globo just put up a video to celebrate the 11 years of Guga's 1st win:

[video.globo.com]