by Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
It’s hard to remember the last time there was a men’s singles final at Roland Garros that did not feature Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer.
It was way back in 2004!
It was the first-ever major final played between two players from Argentina – Gaston Gaudio against Guillermo Coria. Roger Federer, incidentally, was the No. 1 seed in the tournament and Rafael Nadal, at age 18, was injured an unable to play Roland Garros for the first time. Novak Djokovic was 17 years old and ranked No. 338 in the world
The following is how the International Tennis Hall of Fame journalist and personality Bud Collins described what happened in one of the strangest Grand Slam finals ever from his definitive book “The Bud Collins History of Tennis” (which is for sale and download here: https://a.co/d/4AtRb2Z) which is excerpted below.
Unseeded Gaudio, ranked No. 44, was gripped by nerves and lost the first set in 24 minutes to the third-seed Coria, then regarded as the best clay court player in the world. At the 60-minute mark, Coria was up two-sets-to-love, 6-0, 6-3. The French crowd attempted to rally Gaudio by chanting his name and doing the wave around Court Central. Suddenly, Coria began to unravel— just two games from victory at 4-3 in the third—and lost the third set. Early in the fourth set, Coria was treated for cramping legs and meekly surrendered the set 1-6. The fifth-set featured nine
service breaks, Coria taking a 4-2 lead, but in his faltering physical and mental condition, was unable to hang onto his lead. He held his first match point at 6-5, ad-in, but missed a backhand after a long rally. A point later, he had championship match point No. 2, but missed a forehand after another long rally. Gaudio soon broke Coria for 6-6, held for 7-6 then broke for the incredible 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6 victory.
Gaudio was the first unseeded champion since Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten in 1997, and there was Vilas to present the
trophy to his successor after 27 years. Gaudio was also the first man to save a match point in a French final since 1934 when Germany’s Gottfried von Cramm bested Jack Crawford of Australia.
Britain’s Tim Henman served and volleyed his way to an unlikely semifinal showing, there stopped by Coria, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, 7-5, while three-time champ Kuerten defeated an uncertain top-seed Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round, en-route to the quarterfinals, the last good showing for the injury-plagued Guga. Defending champ Juan Carlos Ferrero—returning to professional tennis after a bout of mononucleosis—was lethargic in a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, second-round loss to young Russian Igor Andreev.
