Think about Sergi Bruguera (Barcelona, 1971) is to think of the man who came to rescue Spanish men’s tennis in the 90s. A generation that lost the score to win Grand Slama until Sergi, guided by his father Lluís, gave us back greatness in our most famous square: Roland Garros. That has been three decades, although his record has not stopped growing, in recent years as captain of Davis Cup. A legend of our sport who has wanted to go through the channel of Break Point to tackle the most exciting points of your career. Here we leave you the interview and the headlines.
Elimination against Russia
“It was tough, especially after everything we’ve been through. We had the best Davis team ready, there was a moment where we thought we could move forward, but I prefer to lose like this even if it’s more painful. We wanted to be strong to at least compete in that tie and the players gave 110%, we had them on the ropes in every game. All points were decided by details ”.
The disappearance of the ‘specialist’.
“I like that nowadays you can watch tennis, before there were tournaments where you couldn’t pass two balls, I at Wimbledon was forced to play serve-net with first and second serve. Now I think they have gone the other way, today we see the same type of match at Wimbledon as at Roland Garros, the game would have to be more diversified to have more interesting matches. Now everything is more fun, but the surfaces are no longer so important ”.
The king of clay
“In my good days, when I played on clay, I always thought that the game depended on me, I came out convinced that if I played well I was going to win. Then I lost many times, but I always entered the court thinking that he depended more on me than on the other. If I had played now, with these surfaces, I am sure I would have had a very different track record, but it is what it is. Each one has its time and its conditions ”.
Bruguera against Nadal?
“I imagine that sometime I would have beaten him, but I am convinced that he would almost always beat me (laughs). My obsession was always winning Roland Garros and I was lucky to win it twice, also beating very strong players along the way like Courier or Medvedev. Rafa Nadal is the best clay court player in history, a long way from the next one, so on that side I’m glad I didn’t find him in my time (laughs) ”.
¿Grand Slam the Olympic medal?
“I’d rather win Roland Garros than an Olympic medal, putting both achievements on top. The Olympics is the quintessential event in sport, but I grew up dreaming all my life of winning Roland Garros, I never thought of winning a medal because there was still no tradition of Olympic tennis. You have to be very proud of what you have won, but I am sure that most of the players would rather win a Grand Slam than a medal. In my case, I would rather have a third Roland Garros than a gold one ”.
Your place in the history of Spain
“I would put myself top5 for sure, although there have been a lot. Rafa is the undisputed number 1, then Santana would come, then there are spectacular players like Orantes, Gimeno, Moyá and Ferrero. Another who won a Grand Slam was Albert Costa, perhaps he would be a step below these, the point is that Rafa would be at the top and then maybe Santana. What I would have liked is to extend my career a little more, but the injuries did not let me ”.
Relationship with the press
“I have always been very reserved, now I am more open, but when I played I did not do interviews. I didn’t like it, I didn’t feel comfortable with the media, I didn’t want to be on television. This then at the level of image has its consequences, but I am concerned about the fact of being more or less unknown, I am left with having done my job well and the affection of the people who remind me ”.
The anecdote of his victory against Federer
“We have made a lot of jokes about it, even an anecdote with him. I was working with Gasquet and he knew that I had beaten him 6-1 and 6-1. One day we met Federer and he said: ‘Roger, here’s someone who beat you up in his day.’ And there he replied: ‘Yes, yes, I remember, I thought I was going to beat him easily that day because he came from an injury, but he beat me 6-2 and 6-1’. So he made it easy for me to say: ‘No Roger, it was 6-1 and 6-1, don’t play too many games’ (laughs) “.
The triple 6-0 against Thierry Champion
“To this day they still remind him of him and make jokes on him, it was very hard for him, it was at Roland Garros Headquarters and on television. I remember that going 6-0, 6-0 and 5-0 I tried to leave the game so that it would not be a triple donut, but he got so nervous that he threw them all out ”.
‘Yes’ to coaching
“Ban the coaching It is putting limitations on your work, it is a nonsense thing, a rule from 500 years ago in case some player in the tournament could not afford to pay their coach and they all had the same conditions. This today is ridiculous, apart from the fact that we know that everyone does it, but there is a lot of permissiveness. If you help your player to play better it is good for the show, regardless of whether he later wins or loses ”.
Will you continue as captain?
“Being captain is a brutal wear and tear, in 2019 I ended up devastated physically and mentally, it took me many weeks to recover, something that did not happen to me even in my time as a player. Now I finish my contract, but we still haven’t talked. They will tell me if they want to renew or not. I love the Davis Cup, I really enjoy it, so if they tell me to continue, I will be delighted. And if not, then it will have been a pleasure to have lived these four years ”.
.
