Without the financial help of his grandmother in Germany, Olga Schlösser, Gustavo Kuerten would probably not have made it into the professional camp. Since there was no state support, the family had to pay for the sporting training of their tennis talent themselves. As a six-year-old trained by his father Aldo after his early death by brother Raphael, Gustavo made it to sixth place in the junior ranking. In 1994 he switched to the professional camp. The 18-year-old was not only noticed in individual tournaments. As a doubles player, he won the junior tournament of the French Open in 1994 with Nicolás Lapentti . He was number 421 in the world rankings and made it into the top 200 in 1995. Without a real top result, he climbed to 88th place in 1996.
His breakthrough came at the 1997 French Open , when he won the tournament as unsettled (No. 66 in the world rankings). In the third round he met the then clay court king and French Open champion from 1995, Thomas Muster , whom he defeated 6: 7, 6: 1, 6: 3, 3: 6, 6: 4. In the next round he met Andrij Medwedjew , who had already won the important clay court tournament at Hamburg's Rothenbaum three times. Kuerten prevailed again in five sets (5: 7, 6: 1, 6: 2, 1: 6, 7: 5). In the quarter-finals, he defeated the defending champion Yevgeny Kafelnikow after a 1: 2 set deficit 6: 2, 5: 7, 2: 6, 6: 0, 6: 4, then in the final the two-time French Open winner Sergi Bruguera smoothly in defeat three sets with 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 2.
Kuerten was particularly successful on sand. He won the most important clay court tournament in the world, the French Open , three times . He also won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2000 , making it number one in the world rankings. After two hip operations, he had to take a long break.
After launching its own clothing line, Kuerten tried again in 2007 to establish itself among the world's best. From 2006 he worked again with his former long-time coach Larri Passos , with whom he had celebrated the greatest successes. When Kuerten had to admit defeat to Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 3: 6, 4: 6, 2: 6 in the first round of the French Open 2008 , he ended his professional career after 13 years.
Brazil
French Open (1)
Sergi Bruguera
Stuttgart (1)
Karol Kučera
Monte Carlo (1)
Marcelo Ríos
Rome
Patrick Rafter
Mariano Puerta
Marat Safin
Magnus Norman
Indianapolis
Lisbon
Acapulco
Hicham Arazi
Auckland
Sargis Sargsian
Montreal
Dinu Pescariu Albert Portas
Gstaad
Nicolás Lapentti
Lan Bale Piet Norval
