Magnus Gustafsson
Born: January 3, 1967 in Lund (Skåne)
Height: 1.86 m
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
He came into the world in a city by the Baltic Sea where was also born the most famous Swedish actor (Max von Sydow), and began playing tennis at the age of six. For a long time, he trained alongside Jonas Svensson and Christian Bergström, other successful Swedish players; their main rule was, “whoever earns the most, pays for the travel of their colleagues.” A serious injury sidelined him between May ’94 and May ’95 (missing all main-level events between two editions of Roland Garros). In the meantime, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder and dropped from No. 13 to 611 in the rankings. However, with the help of Challenger tournaments in Germany, he rapidly returned to the Top 100, and by early 1997, he nearly regained his pre-injury ranking.
In the early years of his career, he was labeled as a clay-courter, but over time, he improved his volley game, which helped him become a dangerous player indoors (Stockholm ’89 final) and even on grass. At Wimbledon, he equaled his career-best result from Roland Garros. What’s quite peculiar, and I don’t know the reason behind it, he was avoiding regular starts in the United States, except the US Open where he recorded much more defeats than wins. It’s quite strange that he never played a quarterfinal at the French Open (he played a semifinal at Bercy though) having made the last 16 not dropping a set in his debut in 1988; he unfortunately had bad luck with draws in Paris. For instance, in 1995-97, he faced Top 10 players in the initial rounds of three consecutive French Open editions; third time lucky, in 1997, he defeated Goran Ivanišević on Centre Court only to be shocked by Galo Blanco in the following round on an outside court (the nine years younger Spaniard sensationally reached the quarterfinal then).
An extensive forehand was his trademark shot; I assume only Wayne Ferreira could have played with a comparable huge swing in the ’90s generating similar average velocity. Another notable aspect of the Swede’s game was his serve on the ad-court; he used to serve from his backhand corner to start constructing the point with his massive forehand. He was increasing his level representing his nation in the Davis Cup (an impressive 10-2 record for a while), and twice – vs Canada ’92 and Slovakia ’98 – he survived decisive fifth rubbers. In the Davis Cup ’98 final, he easily won his Friday encounter, perhaps the most forgotten vital rubber in the Davis Cup finals of the 90s, helping Sweden to destroy Italy in Milano. Seven years earlier, he collected one more singles win than the great Stefan Edberg when Sweden triumphed at the World Team Cup in Düsseldorf.
Taking into account his entire career, he is one of the most unfulfilled players of the Open Era considering majors. With the potential to play a semifinal at least, the Swede reached the quarterfinals just once in 42 appearances, Melbourne, where he played a competitive four-setter against the eventual champion Pete Sampras (btw, Sampras is the only prominent player of the 90s whom Gustafsson never defeated). He participated in twenty-six ATP finals, the vast majority on clay – the two biggest in Germany (runner-up in Hamburg ’91, triumphalist in Stuttgart ’93). Barcelona ’92 – where he lost the final – had a similar status to Stuttgart at the time.
Career record: 415–260 [ 268 events ]
Career titles: 14
Highest ranking: No. 10
Best GS result:
Australian Open (quarterfinal 1994)
Davis Cup champion 1998
World Team Cup champion 1991
This entry was posted in
Players. Bookmark the
permalink.
Activity: 1986 – 2001
Five-setters: 11–10 (52%)
Tie-breaks: 109–102 (51%)
Deciding 3rd set TB: 11-10 (52%)
Defeats by retirement: 3
Walkovers given: 1