Guga Kuerten

[jenhatter06]

sadness

Florianopolis. Brazil
November 8, 2007
'Guga' Kuerten Mourning Death of Younger Brother

Guilherme, the younger brother of former ATP World No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten, died on Wednesday. The 28-year-old, who suffered from cerebral palsy, died at the University Hospital in Florianopolis accompanied by his brothers Gustavo and Rafael and his mother Alice.

Despite his health problems, Guilherme travelled the world with three-time former Roland Garros champion Gustavo.

"I take him everywhere I can," Gustavo said of his brother at the height of his tennis career. "Sometimes, I will take him someplace where you wouldn't expect a handicapped guy to go, like parties. But what's nice, really, is for me to just share moments with him."

The 31-year-old Kuerten was slowed by a continuing hip problem, which limited him to only nine ATP level matches (2-7) this season.

www.atptennis.com/1/en/2007news/guga_brother.asp

[jenhatter06]

Kuerten Makes Emotional Appearance at Institute Ceremony

Former World No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten made an emotional appearance at the fifth annual Gustavo Kuerten Institute Awards ceremony in his hometown of Florianopolis earlier this week.

The ceremony praised the efforts of people, who work for social inclusion and spread solidarity in the Santa Catarina state of Brazil.

The evening was made more poignant as less than two weeks ago his 28-year-old brother, Guilherme, who suffered from cerebral palsy, died.

“This evening, every year, is very special,” said Kuerten. “It is a moment where we can award and also enjoy everything that our projects have learnt along the year, but this time it is even more special, because we can’t help missing my brother Guilherme, who truly enjoyed the event and being handicapped, also took part in several of the projects we work on.”

Kuerten, with his older brother Rafael, presented the special trophy of the evening to his mother Alice. The trophy was dedicated to late younger brother.

“This year’s name of the event is Happiness, and Gui was the perfect translation of pure happiness,” said Kuerten. “Even without speaking he was able to show happiness all the time.”

Kuerten was invited onto the stage by popular Brazilian singer Raimundo Fagner to sing Guga’s favorite song ‘Noturno’.

“It is an honor for me to have Fagner here and it is an even bigger honor to sing with him. I hope I haven’t embarrassed him,” said Guga afterwards.

Kuerten’s girlfriend Leticia and fellow tennis players Andre Sa and Marcelo Melo also attended the event.

The Gustavo Kuerten Institute has helped more than 25,000 people since it first opened seven years ago. The Institute works with projects for people with special needs and with sports projects for children who are socially challenged.

Next week Kuerten intends to be back to Larri Passos’ Academy, to start preparing for the 2008 season. “I want to play singles and not only play doubles, so next week I am gonna be on court getting ready for the next season.”

The 31-year-old, who has been slowed by a continuing hip problem, was limited to only nine ATP level matches (2-7) this season.

[jenhatter06]

gonna miss Guga ......

Kuerten aims to play 'special' events before quitting
Jan. 6, 2008
CBSSports.com wire reports

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten will play his farewell season in 2008, the Estado De S. Paulo newspaper reported Sunday.

The 31-year-old Brazilian plans to play only in a few tournaments before retiring, but said he wants Roland Garros to be among them.

"I want to play in tournaments that are special for me," Kuerten said Friday. "I've been practicing and there are only a few details to finalize my schedule."

He also was expected to play in the Brasil Open and the Master Series in Miami, the Estado said.

Last year, Kuerten said for the first time that he may retire from professional tennis if he fails to stay competitive in 2008.

Ranked 680th by the ATP tour, Kuerten had a 2-7 singles record last season, his first playing regularly on tour since hip surgery in September 2004.

The Brazilian, ranked No. 1 in 2000, won the last of his 20 titles in February 2004. He won the French Open in 1997, 2000 and 2001.

[justsafin]

Gustavo Kuerten has played to big crowds before, but never to the 52 million Brazilians who tuned into TV Globo's newscast on Monday.
FROM ATP.COM

The three-time Roland Garros champion joined presenters William Bonner and Fatima Bernardes. Only three other celebrities in the 38-year history of the Jornal Nacional newscast on TV Globo have ever been invited to sit through the program: football identities Ronaldo and Parreira and President Lula da Siva.

Kuerten flew to Rio de Janeiro, where TV Globo is based, to do the 35-minute show. The presenters introduced Kuerten with a two-minute tribute reviewing his career and noted that he would play his final tournament at Roland Garros later this month. They also interviewed Kuerten for eight minutes.

“It is really an honor for me to be here," Kuerten said of the experience. “Maybe this is already a part of a new life beginning for me. All these months, with the farewell tour, I have been learning a lot. Some time ago it would have been almost impossible for me to catch a plane from Florianopolis, come here, spend the night, miss today and tomorrow’s practice session, but now I can afford to do that and I am enjoying it. It is really special. I know you have been trying to get me to come here for many years.”

About Roland Garros, Kuerten said: “I knew it wouldn’t last forever. It will be my last chance to be close to the crowd, in the tournament that means everything to me. I am looking forward to it, hoping to enjoy it a lot. Lots of friends are coming from Brazil and I want to see how it is going to be with the French crowd, who have always treated me so well, with so much love. This relationship that I have with the French crowd it is like winning a title for me, just because it is amazing the respect and how much they care about me in such a distant and different country from Brazil. It will be good to keep this memory.”

About being compared with Ayrton Senna and being an idol, he said: “For me it was a surprise, but then it makes me proud of being compared to Ayrton Senna. When I was a kid I used to wake up early to watch him and it is satisfying to meet people in the street and say they are gonna miss watching me on Sunday mornings; they thank me for making them happy.

“For me it was a good experience. I learnt how to be an idol. In the beginning I didn’t see myself as an idol, it was difficult to compare myself with Senna. But I grew, I learnt, understood how I could give happiness to the people, how important it was for everybody and I didn’t feel pressure, even when I wasn’t competing, just trying to recover. All my dedication to the sport, could be shown to everybody. They felt close to me.”

Kuerten also took time to praise the ATP's No. 1 and No. 2 players, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal: “I think Federer amazes me every day. He makes tennis look easy. I love watching Nadal too, because of his mental strength. He is a phenomenal player and has this mental power that is very very important.”

Before the newscast Kuerten was given a backstage look at how the newscast is put together. Bonner, who also is the editor of Jornal Nacional, even taught Guga some journalistic terms.

"He was very claim even without any training," said Kuerten's media manager Diana Gabanyi. "He just had to do some shaving."

Kuerten was given the honor of ending the program by saying the traditional 'Boa Noite' (Good Night) farewell to viewers. Jornal Nacional concluded with the image of Kuerten drawing a heart and laying inside it in Paris.

[jenhatter06]

^^ aw, cute Guga

there's video too: www.atptennis.com/1/en/2008news/KUERTEN_NEWSCAST.asp

no idea what's being said, but fun listening to him

[dawaymarat]

OMG, I can't understand anything. I expected to understand at least a bit since I speak a bit of Spanish. Anyway, it's quite funny listening to him like jenhatter06 already said ;D

[Alya10]

Lovely to watch, thanks guys for the link.
Here is a brief transcript
kisses

Guga was asked what was the moment he decided to stop playing.

He said it was not one specific moment, it was a process of realizing he could no longer play with the standards he had always demanded of himself, that he could no longer be competitive. As the limitations he felt increased the struggle to perform became too much when compared with the outcome he was getting. So it was not a complicated decision, he just thought about it, talked with his family, let the idea mature in his head and then realized it was the right moment.

The reporter asked regarding the hip problem if he felt, considering the experience he has now, if something could have been done differently so that he could have avoided having the hip problem.

Guga: with today's knowledge, sure it could, but considering the knowledge I had at the time I have no regrets, because I think I took the right decisions at each moment with the infos I had. I pondered what I had to do and I did what I thought was best. Of course even the surgery nowadays has other options, but back then it was more complicated.

11 years ago when he won his 1st RG title many Brzilian fans said that Sundays were happy days again, as in the time of Ayrton Senna (F1 race driver, killed in the 90s). The reporter asked what he felt about that.

Guga: I was surprised at first but then it made me very proud. Especially today, people come to me and say they miss that feeling of waking up early in the morning to follow me on a match and that they will miss it even more from now on. I understand that because I too had that thing of waking up early in the morning, setting the alarm clock to see Piquet and Senna, (F1 drivers), and also even now with Felipe Massa. I thinks that it's cool to be able to make people happy with tennis, cheer them up with my game and I'm proud to realize that what I do is important to make people feel happy.

About idols - the reporter asked him considering the historic victories he had, but also the defeats, if he considers that it's difficult to be an idol in Brazil?

Guga: No, for me it was a good experience. I learned how to be an idol. In the beginning I had doubts 'am I an idol, am I not...?' (laughs). You can't really measure yourself to such grandor, but I learned how to adjust, I learned to value the image others had of me, what I meant to others, how I could make them happy, and that comforted me and lifted me also.

But doesn't that make it too much pressure?

Guga: No. Not also from the results but also from the way I saw tennis, from the way I fought, especially in the last years with all the dificulties, I realized I could influence and inspire people also by the way I worked hard to overcome the hardships. I tried to see it that way to also escape the pressure that will always exist.

How would you sum up Larry's (Passos) importance in your career?

Guga: Some days you go out to dinner and people ask you - is he your father? No he isn't, but then also yes he is (laughs). That is his role: he is my father, my friend, my brother. He is the guy that completed me, I would say all that I earned and also the person I am off court has a lot to do with him, so I can't speak of Guga without speaking of Larry.

And what about RG? What is the spirit you are taking there this time.

Guga: To try to profit from everything, try to understand what all these years I have been going there meant, the success I earned... To try to value all those things to the maximum, I knew it would not last forever, this year is the last chance to be there, be close to the crowd that was always great to me, a tournament that was the most special to me...
Today I have the notion during this goodbye trip that I have to enjoy these moments. Lot's of friends of mine are going there, and I'm curious to see how the crowd, that was always nice to me, will react to me. That is always in my mind a victory I had, to be loved in a country that far away from ours. It will be another good memory to keep.

Reporter: of today's players which do you most like to watch play?

Guga: Today Federer is the one that most awes me. He makes the game seem easy. But I also like Nadal because of the mental strength which is something I admire in him and that in tennis is fundamental.

Now with 32 years old, and ending your professional carer, what will you do now?

Guga: Now this is a moment at first to reflect individually about my future. Tennis still has challenges to me, but specifically now I still don't know objectively what I'll do, but I want to help Larry in the academy with those kids, to help break some of those barriers. I won RG very early and people think that at 19, 20 years you have to be there already in the Top 10. Some concepts have to be changed in tennis, even if we want to generate more great players, other idols...

... another Guga?

(laughs)...well, for me that would be very gratifying, to raise sports awareness, to make tennis in Brazil grow. Considering that tennis was the sport that was my life, to see another Brazilian with success, achieving the same things I achieved, that would make me very happy.

What image would you like to symbolize your career, from all those you lived, if you could choose?

Guga: Ah, that one with the heart at RG...
(laughs)

[justsafin]

May 8, 2008 16:57:25 GMT 3 Alya10 said:

Lovely to watch, thanks guys for the link.
Here is a brief transcript
kisses

thanks for your hard work, alya!

Guga is cute and nice. I am sure tennis fans will miss him alot!

[hellanvodka]

Obrigado for the translation Xana... Cheers mate
will be missing ya Guga

[helloticky]

After I was seeing the match ...oh Guga he still the king on clay ...I like him when he was playing & this from www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/news/articles/2008-05-25/200805251211738989328.html

Guga bids a champion’s goodbye
Sunday, May 25, 2008
By Matthew Cronin

There may never be another player like the three-time French Open champion who sambaed his way to titles in 1997, 2000 and 2001 behind long, colourful and devastating strokes. He stunned the world back in 1997 when he came into the tournament as a virtual unknown ranked No.66, flew past Austrian strongman and 1995 champion Tomas Muster, 1996 Roland Garros winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov and two-time winner Sergi Bruguera. He was a true artist, owning one of the best one-handed crosscourt backhands ever seen and a gorgeous, hard-to-read backhand down the line. He had a whippy forehand, a hard, flat serve and vicious kicker to the deuce court, as well as a deft touch at the net and the ability to caress an impossible drop shot at a moment's notice.

He trusted his money shots at key moments and always seemed to be brimming with joy. His matches were long celebration of his love of the sport.


Kuerten certainly had his ups-and-downs during his prime, but at Roland Garros, he was a player apart. When asked what tennis meant to him, Guga went deep. “I guess big knowledge,” he said. “All these years I've been learning a lot, and especially these last three or four years that I have to deal with difficult situations. So I had to grow as a person, too. I guess my world started to get larger because of tennis and the success I had. My life just became something much larger than normal people’s. I think I was able to adapt myself pretty well. I was happy being successful, so basically tennis, it was running into my veins, into my blood. I love to be out there and playing. For me, this tournament especially was probably the motivation for myself, probably my heart that keeps the blood flowing.”

On Philippe Chatrier, Guga did a sprite better than Andy Warhol and with his, happy colorful play on the red clay, was no Pablo Picasso during his blue period. It seemed like anytime that he was down, Guga either willed his opponent into an error or came up with a leaping winner. "There is always doubt," he once said. "It can be a temple, but it can be a hole, too. You see yourself in the best and the worst situations."

Kuerten repeated in 2000 by pummeling upstart Juan Carlos Ferrero in the semis and the tough Magnus Norman in the final and became the first South American to end the year at No.1.

In 2001, Kuerten came back from the jaws of defeat when he saved a match point against the ambitious qualifier Michael Russell. Then Kafelnikov predicted he would push him, but the Russian went down 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. "It's difficult playing from behind against Gustavo," said a dejected Kafelnikov. "You give him freedom, he's like Picasso....Every time I run into Kuerten, it seems like that hurdle is unmakeable."

Before his masterpiece final round defeat of Spaniard Alex Corretja, Guga said that if he won, he would not just buy Russell of poster of Vincent van Gogh's "Night Stars" – he would approach the Louvre for the painting itself. "I think Russell deserves a real Van Gogh from me as a present," Kuerten said with a twinkle in his eye.

At the time, that crown meant that Guga joined legends Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander (Hall of Famers all) as the only players to win three singles French titles in the Open era. He danced with Brazilian fans after the win.

Until three-time champion Rafael Nadal came along, it seemed that no player had a better understanding of the confines at Avenue Gordon Bennett than the Kuerten. "When I'm playing my best, I know I can beat these guys. When I'm feeling the ball real well, it's really tough for the guy to come up with the right shots.”

Sadly, Kuerten never raised the trophy again as he was hit by one significant injury after another, most specifically to his hip, for which he underwent surgery twice, His many comeback attempts were mostly aborted and this year, he announced that 2008 Roland Garros would be his last Grand Slam appearance. Even though it might have been a more reasonable idea for him to retire a couple of years ago, he truly loved his sport. "It's what I like," he said. "It's enthusiasm. It's danger. It's the nerves of out there. It's everything I want it to be when I am on court."

Kuerten tried as hard as he could against Mathieu, but his best is no longer good enough to score wins. His hip prevents him from running hard to his right and if it were not for an outstanding serving day and some memorable backhands, he would have been out of the match more quickly as his forehand let him down time and time again.

But there was still a bit of the old magic for fans to get a taste of, like when he hit a forehand passing shot out of nowhere when facing his first match point. But on Mathieu's second match point, a Kuerten drop shot fell sadly into the net. Guga beamed to the adoring crowd for a few moments, but then sat down a cried hard.

He lit up again when French Tennis Federation president Christian Bimes presented with a special gift, the multiple layers of the “Court Central” encased in glass.

“Basically I'm lucky,” said Kuerten. “One stage of my career was very successful, and I was able to get all the goals that I could. Then the second part was really tough. But in the same way, for me it was important to live these years, to grow as a person, to understand what it is to have other things to deal with. There's no regrets at all.” Au revoir Guga…

GUGA THE GREAT

[Jasmine]

It's sad to see him walk away from Cartrier. Very emotional moment for GUGA and his fans.
I will remember you, always..