By Scoop Malinowski
Sergi Bruguera walked by at Miami Open and it sparked the memory of his triple bagel of Thierry Champion at Roland Garros in 1993, the last triple bagel in a major tournament.
Bruguera is here coaching Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who lost in qualifying today to Pablo Cuevas 64 64. The Spaniard was friendly to answer my questions about his perfect performance vs Champion and revealed some interesting details about the rare achievement.
“We started to play a little bit the same from the baseline,” said the 48 year old former ATP world no. 3 and winner of 14 ATP titles including two French Opens. “(Champion) was not able to support me and we were 60 60 50 and he didn’t have one advantage. At the last game I tried to give him the game but he was like nervous about this and that. He couldn’t.”
Bruguera agreed with the possibility it was his finest performance on a tennis court. “Yeah because that match I was coming from double bagel. Because I won 31 games in a row. Was like 17 straight for me against Leconte first match. And then 1-0 for Leconte, 61 60. And then I won 61 60 and then 60 60 60 then I won 1-0 then 1-all then 6-1 in third (round) match against (Magnus) Larsson. Yeah it was ’93 I was playing like this.”
That is a run of clay court dominance that not even Rafael Nadal has equaled… or came close to.
When asked what was the best match he ever played, Bruguera answered, “That year I think all the matches that I played, I played so good. Because also in semifinals, for example, I never beat yet (Andrei) Medvedev. He was winning and the first set I win 60 and I lost eight points. So that year I was playing my best tennis.”
Bruguera beat Medvedev in that Roland Garros semi 60 64 62 before the final win vs Jim Courier, 64 26 62 36 63. Bruguera defeated world no. 1 Pete Sampras in the quarterfinal 63 46 61 64.
With two major titles and a world ranking of no. 3, Bruguera certainly deserves consideration to be inducted to the Hall of Fame in Newport.
Out of curiosity, I asked Bruguera if he remembers what his racquet and specs were for that French Open. He sure did…Kneissel with Technifibre strings, with 21-19 kilo tension.
Bruguera reached fourth round of US Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open and finished with a 447-271 career match record.
(Photo from Sergio Tacchini.)
French Open · Miami Open · Roland Garros · Sergi Bruguera · Spain
