Gustavo Kuerten - Clay Court Champion

Kuerten turned professional in 1995 when he was nineteen. Within a year he broke into the top 100 rankings of male tennis players worldwide and he became the number one player in Brazil. In 1996 he won his first doubles title with Fernando Meligeni at the Tour de Santiago. Only one year later Kuerten won his first singles title, which also happened to be a Grand Slam championship. Kuerten won the French Open championship at Roland Garros by defeating two-time champion Sergi Bruguera. This was quite a feat since Kuerten was virtually unknown on the tennis scene and ranked only number sixty-six in the world before the tournament. This victory moved Kuerten to number fourteen in the world rankings and he became an overnight star in his home country.

Kuerten won two more clay court singles titles in 1998 at Stuttgart and Mallorca. However, he was unable to successfully defend his French Open title. In fact, Kuerten did not make it past the second round of any of the four Grand Slam tournaments that year and his ranking fell to number twenty-three. In 1999 Kuerten achieved more consistency in his play. He won two more singles titles at Monte Carlo and Rome. He also reached the quarter finals of three Grand Slam tournaments, including Wimbledon, which is his least favorite surface.

Kuerten continued his success in 2000. Although he did not do well at three of the Grand Slam events that year, he did manage to repeat his French Open victory, defeating Yevgeny Kafelnifov, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Magnus Norman to reach his second Grand Slam title. He also won singles titles at Santiago, Hamburg, Indianapolis, and the Master's Cup in Lisbon. In his victory at Lisbon, Kuerten defeated such top players as the number one tennis player at that time Pete Sampras, as well as Andre Agassi, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, and Magnus Norman. He was the only player that decade to beat both Sampras and Agassi back-to-back. He finished the year with the number one ranking, becoming the first South American to hold this position.

In 2001 Kuerten dominated the clay court season, winning five of seven clay court titles. He repeated his victory at the French Open, capturing his third Grand Slam title. His other singles titles were won at Cincinnati, Stuttgart, Monte Carlo, Acapulco, and Buenos Aires. His win in Cincinnati was his first hard court title. Kuerten also reached the finals of the U.S. Open that year. Kuerten spent most of the year ranked the number one male tennis player in the world, although he slipped to number two by the end of the year. "I think I was the happiest number one player in the history of tennis and I really enjoyed the year," Kuerten explained on his official Web site.