Victorious Kuerten reveals injury concerns

Gustavo Kuerten battled through the pain barrier to rekindle his love affair with the French Open this afternoon.

The Brazilian, known as ‘Guga,’ toppled world number one and top seed Roger Federer 6-4 6-4 6-4 with a typically swashbuckling performance to bring memories flooding back of his three singles titles at Roland Garros.

But there must be serious doubts about whether he can add a fourth next weekend after he revealed he was playing through the hurt of a chronic injury to his right hip.

“It was a pleasure for me just to be here,” said the number 28 seed. “I didn’t expect to play with my physical condition and if it wasn’t for this tournament I wouldn’t be here.

“France is a second country for me. It means much more than just winning money, matches and points. For me what I have done here is forever and that is a wonderful achievement.

“The feelings I have on the court are amazing, especially beating the number one in the world.

“I came here playing bad but something special happens here. The love and passion I have for this tournament is unbelievable.

“But I’m having a lot of problems in my hip. As good as I play I feel a lot of pain. But I tried not to get frustrated.”

Kuerten underwent surgery on the hip in February 2002 to repair a large tear to the labral cartilage and while he came back two months later it has continued to bother him.

He retired from his quarter-final match in Barcelona this April with another recurrence of the injury and had not played again since coming to Roland Garros.

It made his performance – spraying groundstrokes off both wings all around Philippe Chatrier Court – all the more stunning.

From the moment he broke the Wimbledon champion’s serve in the third game of the match after the first two games had both gone against serve it was the ’old Guga’ – the one who drew a heart in the clay after his last victory here in 2001.

Urged on by a huge and vocal Brazilian following he cashed in on a lacklustre display from Federer, finally clinching the match after two hours and four minutes.

He also revealed he had been bothered with his contact lenses which were drying out continually in the sand and the wind.

“I was feeling a bit weak but to finish in three sets was my only chance and luckily everything went great,” said Kuerten.

“My physical condition is not going to change. I have a problem which is going to take a long time to go away. I have to play each match just right, not expending too much energy, playing as relaxed as I can.

“Hopefully then I can run less. If I have to play a five-set match it would be very tough for me. But I have a lot of confidence after a game like that. Tactically I played perfect from the beginning to the end.”

Meanwhile, Federer complained of having problems with the slippery court, though he took nothing away from Kuerten’s performance.

“He served good today and he was better. I tried all I could but it was not good enough,” said Federer.

“I’m not happy with my performance but he wasn’t missing much. The balls are rather slow here, I was struggling with my footwork and I lost my confidence. Now I’m just looking forward to getting out on the grass.”