20 Years Ago Today Gaston Gaudio Came To Play: The Surprise Champion

In the social media generation, many fans thought tennis started with the big 3 and especially on clay it was ground zero before Rafa Nadal started dominating. Facebook was in its infancy, Twitter, TikTok and Instragram didn’t exist, matches at 3 of the 4 Grand Slams were decided by advantage sets.  Time does not stand still and this was the last really open event at Roland Garros before the Nadal reign of terror.  

This being said, no one was expected Gaston Gaudio the mercurial Argentine to be standing tall at the end of the fortnight, some surprises are better than others.    The final itself was a ridiculous match with an epic ending.

Most humans like a redemption a story and this was a very popular victory all things considered.  Gaudio was always a very talented player with a gorgeous single handed backhand, excellent touch and knew his away around a clay court.   In spite of his great tennis talent, mentally he was very fragile.   There had been many instances where it was more difficult to lose and Gaudio achieved it.

 

In his own words.   “I'm from Argentina. With us, there are two possible ways: the “Menotti” way and the “Bilardo” way (the only two coaches to lead Argentina to the title of football world champion, before Scaloni.) I've always been a Menottista. I believe in the beautiful game.”

 

The low times

Gaudio started doing well in 2022 winning 2 consecutive titles and losing to the finalist Ferrero.  But the fall came in 2023 with Davis Cup in Malaga.   Coria and Nalbandian the top 2 guys were out.   Gaudio was in poor form at the time, but ended up playing the tie.   Played like crap against Ferrero on Day 1, then big wins in the doubles and Calleri got it to a live 5^th rubber.  Gaudio has the chance to redeem himself but produces another poor performance losing in straight sets and Spain make the final. Yes, Gaudio was poor in difficult circumstances but the level of vitriol and abuse was intense. When he was back in Buenos Aires people would tell him what a shit performance it was, a disgrace and should never play Davis Cup again. Ironically Gaudio never played Davis Cup again this was more due to circumstances (court conditions) or balance of the team.

 

Rejuvenation

There were signs of life during the European clay season he was toying with Lleyton Hewitt at Monte Carlo leading 6-1 5-2 served for the match but choked as he did plenty of times in his career, while he lost the match it was the start of improvement. He reached the Barcelona final beating Moya on the way who was top 10 at the time losing to Tommy Robredo in the final where one of the dodgiest acts of gamesmanship occurred. Robredo up 5-4 serving for the title in the 5th set 15-40 calls for the trainer for cramps. First of all, should only happen at change of ends, the umpire got conned by a bullshit move, while Robredo was celebrating the title better things were along the way for Gaudio. "The doubt prevails. But it was my fault, I got distracted afterwards. He used a great tactic, although I could never do something like that right"

World Team Cup the week before Roland Garros Gaudio won a couple of matches against Verkerk or Hewitt, but nothing to suggest that he was going to perform one of the most surprising, enjoyable Roland Garros tournament victories with a bizarre final that’ll be very difficult to beat for the drama it created. 

Gaudio had never been past the 4th round at any Slam before 2004 Roland Garros nor did he achieve it afterwards. The potential was always there when in the mood the single hand backhand is a work of art, can drive well high or low, ability to change direction, feel on the backhand dropshot, slice wasn’t used so often but used well. The big key to his improvement was the forehand which was used mainly to set up the play for the backhand to finish off. Now the forehand was able to win more points outright with this shot and Franco Davin a calming influence all contributed.

Roland Garros 

As an unseeded player Gaudio wasn’t going to get an easy Very tough first rounder with fellow Argentine Cañas in 5, took out the seed Jiri Novak in 5 sets. Gaudio settled down took out Enqvist and Andreev without too much fuss. 

The quarter final with Hewitt was just brilliant Gaudio hardly any errors at all, the backhand working its magic, no shenanigans about how crap he was playing when the ball missed by the strings by 0.000001mm. Hewitt knew he was beaten by the better man and the Aussie commentators didn’t want to admit it though they weakened eventually. Next up was David Nalbandian in the semifinal it was another brilliant showing from Gaudio, both guys were working the angles with the backhand. Gaudio took the 1st set, Nalbandian served for the 2nd set but Gaudio fought back to get into the tiebreaker, once he won the TB he was seeing the ball so well and Nalbandian had an injury problem as well though he knew early in the 3rd set the fork was in there.

 

Gaston Gaudio wins Roland Garros

 

R128 Guillermo Canas (ARG) 72 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

R64 Jiri Novak (CZE) 14 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3

R32 Thomas Enqvist (SWE) 65 6-0, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4

R16 Igor Andreev (RUS) 77 6-4, 7-5, 6-3

Q Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 12 6-3, 6-2, 6-2

S David Nalbandian (ARG) 8 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-0

W Guillermo Coria (ARG) 3 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6

 

Gaudio vs. Coria

Yes, this has been a very long article before mentioning the man he beat in the final Guillermo Coria. There are just some things that aren’t meant to happen. Pineapple shouldn’t be on pizza, the sun doesn’t spin around the earth, white chocolate isn’t chocolate and only altitude sickness you will get in the Netherlands isn’t through the mountains. These two were just never meant to get on, they had a few incidents and the press loved stirring it up as well since it was good copy.

 

Coria was the kid who was bred to play tennis, whereas Gaudio wasn’t necessarily. Coria got support from the AAT whereas Gaudio and players from his generation didn’t. Before Roland Garros Coria booked a hotel for the celebration for winning the title as he was clearly the hottest player in 2004 on clay and expected to win over his foe. In Viña del Mar Coria won a close match they were giving each other some verbal shots. Gaudio got the revenge in Buenos Aires he unfurled an Independiente flag (the football team he passionately supports) and jogged towards Esteban Cambiasso, the team’s star who was celebrating Gaudio’s triumph. Coria swears that, while Gaudio was going towards Cambiasso, he “hit” him in the face with part of the flag.

 

While these were tasty the best one was in Hamburg 2003 where they played the semifinal Coria won the 1st set, then Gaudio won the 2nd set. Coria then called for the trainer claiming he was cramping, he got treatment and afterwards was running around faster than he did before. It was a brilliant con job which Gaudio lost concentration losing the last 6-0. After the match they had to be separated as to whether Gaudio hit him as was allegedly claimed. The best answer for his was when Gaudio’s friend Lucho Horna who played Coria after the incident when Coria was whining he said “ shut up, I’m not Gaudio I will hit you”.

 

With all this bad blood before the final which both of them wanted to win so badly impacted negatively on the match itself, Gaudio was so nervous could hardly get the ball in court for 2 sets. Coria was very comfortable cruising along, then the French crowd were bored started doing the wave which relaxed Gaudio who started playing better. One moment when Gaudio hit a dropshot which Coria couldn’t quite make he pulled up short at 4-4 in the 3rd, this was when the fun started. After 90 minutes Coria cramps gets treated for it, definitely not due to lack of fitness more like anxiety and pressure.

Gaudio plays better wins the next 2 sets against a guy who can’t move. The 5th set was one of the most ridiculous, bizarre and crazy things to happen on a tennis court. Gaudio so nervous can’t hit the ball into court against a guy who at times can’t run, then explode with others. Coria has 2 match points gets tight, then the moment came 7-6 15-40 on Coria’s serve, Gaudio drills a backhand winner and the moment where his dream became reality. The Paris crowd loved the celebration high fiving the spectators, it was a popular win one because he was a huge underdog, two Coria wasn’t universally liked by his peers because of his sneaky weasel like antics. He was unable to complete his speech at the presentation breaking down in tears, it didn’t help that the father of Argentine tennis Guillermo Vilas was there to present the trophies.

 

 

Gaudio and Coria will always be linked together through this bizarre match, the mutual loathing they had even the fact that Franco Davin had been Coria’s coach previously. Coria was expected to win Roland Garros but never did, yet there is a delicious irony that Gaudio who choked many matches was able to come back from 2 sets down and 2 match points to win Roland Garros. He was never expected to win one, Coria and Nalbandian were meant to be the Slam winners, it’s good to upset the conventions in cases like this.

 

Tennis has a changed a lot from those days, as the sport becomes more professional and a lot less characters.   Is it better, well there is more coverage and like anything it is very subjective.

 

In the words of Gaudio himself.  "To those who were waking up to watch my matches on TV, I tell them that I hope they had a good time with some of my games. Because at the end of the day, that’s what it's all about, having a good time. In tennis and sport in general. I tried. I hope to have brought a bit of joy to someone.”