30-year rewind: Bruguera inspires Spanish greats with second crown

His conqueror that day was a Spaniard, a good friend who secured his first Grand Slam title, and a man who sparked a wave of future Spanish success on the terre battue.

In his runner-up speech from that final in 1993, Courier joked with the crowd he had on this occasion fallen to a “vache espagnole”.

“That's right, I lost to a Spanish cow,” he told rolandgarros.com. “It's funny because Sergi and I were good friends. We'd played doubles together. We had a very friendly relationship so he took it the right way, which is nice. He's a great champion, a two-time champion at Roland-Garros, an excellent player across his career. We had a lot of battles and he got me in that final. It was a great match.”

Spanish influence

Bruguera showed he was no flash in the pan when he successfully defended his title in 1994.

He defeated future Grand Slam champion Pat Rafter in the fourth round, and fourth-seeded Ukrainian Andrei Medvedev in the quarter-finals that year without conceding a set.

Seeded sixth, he ran into Courier for the second year running and once again got the better of the American, this time in a four-set semi-final.

In an all-Spanish final, the unseeded Alberto Berasategui managed to take a set before the reigning champion hammered home his dominance at his best major on his best surface.

On the 30th anniversary of Bruguera’s second triumph, Courier hailed the Spaniard’s influence, particularly on his compatriots for whom he raised the bar on how to master clay-court tennis.

Shotmaking trailblazer

“We’re now so aware of how amazing Nadal's forehand is with how much topspin Nadal puts on his forehand,” Courier said. “Sergi, for our time, had that type of a forehand.

“It had so much kick on it, it had so much topspin and bounce, so he was a very physical player to play against. You had to use more energy to get up and get the ball before it jumped out of your strike zone.

“He had great feel, wonderful touch and he was a very smart player, so he was someone that you had to work your way past. I ended up with a great career record against him, but he got me in a couple of real key matches here at Roland-Garros.”

Bruguera’s two crowns in Paris were among 14 tour titles and he retired as the only player to own a winning head-to-head against Pete Sampras (3-2) and Roger Federer (1-0).

A former world No.3, he was also a silver medallist to Andre Agassi at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, but it was his Paris record for which he was best remembered.

Like Courier, he closed to within striking distance of a three-peat in Paris before Michael Chang stopped him in the 1995 semi-finals.

A master of clay

Two years later, as the 16th seed, Bruguera levelled the ledger against Chang en route to an unlikely third final before an unheralded Gustavo Kuerten stopped him.

“Sergi's an incredible clay-court player, Chang told rolandgarros.com. “His ball is just so heavy, it's got so much spin. If you're on a day where he's hitting the ball clean and you're playing on your back foot, you're just chasing balls that are constantly up [high and out wide]…

“I remember playing him in the semi-final in 1995 and I was able to just manipulate the ball a little bit better and kind of take the ball early, use some angles and get him a little bit stretched out, where he wasn't able to take the swings he was normally able to take, because times where he's able to do that he's very, very difficult to beat.

“That was evident in the times that he has won here. His clay-court record speaks for itself. There's no question that he's spurred many great Spaniards to have phenomenal careers and no doubt because so many of them are watching Sergi Bruguera play.”