Sergi Bruguera Torner 

Born: January 16, 1971 in Barcelona (Catalonia)
Height: 1.87 m
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Spanish tennis had to wait eighteen years for another major title after Manuel Orantes‘ US Open victory of 1975. In the interim, players like José Higueras and Emilio Sánchez reached the top 10 but were never seen as serious Grand Slam contenders. Bruguera, initially, wasn’t either. Though he showed promise as a teenager – nearly upsetting Jimmy Connors in Hamburg in 1989 and then demolishing the veteran “one and one” in Rome a week later – his first pro years were marked by inconsistency.
Bruguera’s straight-set victory over top seed Stefan Edberg in the first round of the 1990 French Open as well as his semifinal in the same city (indoors) a few months later, hinted at his potential. He confirmed his aspiration to be a leading player on clay courts in the 90s, triumphing at Monte Carlo ’91, but it wasn’t until 1993 that he found consistency on the ‘red dirt’ when he decided to be an ultra defensive baseliner. After a mixed start to the season, Bruguera hit his stride, making deep runs in several clay-court tournaments (including his second title in Monaco – the last one at the Masters 1K level), culminating in a dominant performance at Roland Garros. His run to the final was reminiscent of Björn Borg‘s prime, including a triple bagel over former quarterfinalist Thierry Champion. In the final, Bruguera ended Jim Courier‘s twenty-match winning streak at the French Open in a gruelling four-hour battle.
When Bruguera successfully defended his title in 1994, it seemed he might rule Paris for years to come. Yet, despite his huge success, there was little remarkable about Bruguera’s tennis to remember him with sentiment. His game was built on patience and heavy topspin from both wings, frequently manufactured as he was standing two-three meters behind the baseline; the balls struck by him had very high net-clearance. Generally speaking, he waited primarily for his opponents to make mistakes. Although tall, his second serve was more of an entry point to rallies rather than a weapon, and his volleying was average at best. His forehand and backhand, while effective in constructing points from far behind the baseline, lacked the aggression seen in other contemporary Slam champions.
Bruguera’s strength laid in his passing shots, which allowed him to create impressive records against excellent serve-and-volleyers like Patrick Rafter (6-2, with a win even on Wimbledon grass!) and Pete Sampras (3-2); in defiance of his returns being generally unthreatening; he often applied a blocked forehand return. Among his fourteen career titles, only one came on a surface other than clay, a hardcourt victory in Bordeaux ’93, in the final against Diego Nargiso, a talented but underachieving Italian.
Though Bruguera tried to adapt his clay-court game to other surfaces, he never reached a major quarterfinal outside of Roland Garros. Technically-wise, his career peaked with a Masters ’94 semifinal – he was trying to be more aggressive with all his basic shots and almost made the final in Frankfurt. It seemed that he’d be dangerous on faster surfaces, fighting for the position on top of the world, but it never happened. After a semifinal loss in Paris 1995 where he was a double defending champion, he never won another title, despite playing professionally until 2002 (his streak of seven consecutive lost finals began in Rome ’95).
Bruguera’s decline could be attributed to the physical and mental demands of his game, which required him to operate at maximum capacity. By the age of 23, with two French Open titles already in hand, his motivation may have waned. Although he reached three more big finals – at the 1996 Olympics, Key Biscayne in 1997, and Roland Garros the same year – he lost all of them having been easily outplayed. After 1997, he became a mere shadow of his former self, with his shocking 2-6, 2-6, 3-6 defeat to Hernán Gumy at the 1998 French Open serving as a symbol of his fall from the top. “Currently, nothing goes my way, on and off the court,” Bruguera lamented after that first round loss, a fitting epitaph for the twilight of his career. Just four years after his second triumph in Paris, he couldn’t have won a set on his beloved clay losing thirteen in succession, not playing even a tie-break.

Career record: 447-271 [ 267 events ]
Career titles: 14
Highest ranking: No. 3
Best GS results:
Roland Garros (champion 1993-94; runner-up 1997; semifinal 1995)
Olympic Silver medal in Atlanta (1996)