Tennis Factory - Tournaments - French Open - Costa Grows Up

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The French Open
Roland Garros, Paris, France
May 26 - June 8, 2003

Albert Costa
2002 Men's Champion

Costa Grows Up

Matthew Cronin, Sunday, June 9, 2002

He may not be a legend just yet, but with his inspirational, never-say-quit run to the Roland Garros crown, Spain's Albert Costa can now etch his name next to the likes of famous countrymen and former Roland Garros champions Andres Gimeno, Manuel Orantes and Sergi Bruguera. Plus, he can now hold his head up high when talking shop with good friends Carlos Moya (the 1998 champion) and Alex Corretja (a two-time finalist).

"The most difficult thing is believing in yourself and for me to believe that I can win," Costa said. "Now I'm believing. I know I'm going to lose matches but I have different feelings about me."

Costa brought a newly found aggressive game to go with his thunderous thighs and charged over Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1 6-0 4-6, 6-3 to win the crown. "Its unbelievable for me to be in the final and play like that because it was the best match ever for me," Costa said.

It was stunning run for the nearly 27-year-old Costa, long established as one of the tour's premier clay courters but also a guy who would come to the planet's premier clay court event and play nervous, defensive tennis time and time again. But although he hadn't won a title of any kind in three years coming in to Roland Garros (he was riding an 0-66 streak), he had gone deep in Roland Garros warm-up tournaments and felt like he was playing the best tennis of his life.

"I said to myself, 'I cannot have bad thoughts. I just need to stay positive and lets go try to win the tournament.' That's' what I did."

He made his serve into a weapon, was more ambitious with his leaping one-handed backhand, was willing to close out points with sharp volleys and had turned his already giant forehand into a weapon of mass destruction. "The modern game is more aggressive and I needed to be more aggressive too," Costa said.

Plus, Costa had matured immensely since his girlfriend Cristina Ventura gave birth to twin girls 13-months ago, which helped him ease his mind of his past failures as he had to stop obsessing about himself. And here was an added bonus when he tried to free his mind of tennis overload in Paris-- he is to be married to his girlfriend five days after Roland Garros ended. "I'm more relaxed and I'm calmer," Costa said. "I don't feel like if I lose its drama or anything."

Perhaps that why he was able to snap a six-match losing streak to two-time defending champ Gustavo Kuerten in the round of 16, outlast the energizer Argentine Guillermo Canas in five sets in the quarters and then punch out two-time finalist Corretja in the semis. Then he simply overpowered Ferrero.

"I knew against Guga that I could not not just stay in the back and put the ball back in the court, I had to look for something else," he said. "I tried to be aggressive and played unbelievable. The same with Canas, Alex and today, it was better. I was just hitting and no mistakes."

Costa said that watching countryman Corretja, Alberto Berasategui, Moya and Bruguera go deep at Roland Garros motivated him to "fight and try and at the end you have the prize. If you endure long enough, you'll be able to get there at the end...I was practicing with Berasategei and said, 'If he's in the final, why can't I? I play good, almost like him. Then with Carlos and Alex in the final, I was thinking, 'What's happening with me, they're playing the final, I'm not. I was feeling, I'm never going to win Roland Garros.' You start to have negative thoughts."

But Costa turned the corner during the fortnight, fighting like a mad bull and like Kuerten did last year, raising his game to the heavens in his last three matches.

"I was playing so hard, trying all the time, always looking for the point," Costa said. "I was feeling great. I was a little surprised because in the final I was supposed to be nervous and I played unbelievable."

After winning, Costa went up into the Friend's Box to lift his daughters into the air in celebration and the proud papa had now etched his once forgotten name next to the other Spanish warriors who have reigned here.

"It's unbelievable, he said. "It's the happiest moment of my tennis life. I don't believe I won Roland Garros. Did I really? It's the most intense day for me. It's is a big, big day."

Related Links:

"A Logical Win for Widjaja", 6/9/2002

"Serena captures Grand Slam title number two", 6/8/2002