Career
Bruguera was Spain's national junior champion in 1987. He turned professional in 1988. In his first full year on the tour, 1989, he won the Cairo Challenger title as a qualifier (defeating Jordi Arrese in the final) and reached the semi-finals in Rome. He finished 1989 ranked World No. 26, and was named the ATP's Newcomer of Year.
Bruguera earned a reputation as a top clay court player in the early 1990s, winning titles in Estoril, Monte Carlo, and Athens in 1991, and in Madrid, Gstaad, and Palermo in 1992.
In 1993, following wins over Pete Sampras and Andrei Medvedev, Bruguera reached his first Grand Slam final at the French Open, where he faced two-time defending champion and then World No. 2 Jim Courier. Courier was overwhelmingly favoured to win his third title, but ultimately Bruguera won a gruelling five-set final. The victory was one of five titles Bruguera captured that year. The following year Bruguera defended his title at the French Open, defeating, once again, Courier and Medvedev and fellow Spaniard Alberto Berasategui in the final.
Bruguera won the men's singles silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He was defeated in straight sets in the final by Andre Agassi.
Bruguera reached the French Open final for the third time in 1997. But Gustavo Kuerten defeated Bruguera in straight sets.
Outside tennis, Bruguera is a long-time fan of the Los Angeles Lakers and would often attend their games while playing at tournaments in the United States. In Miami on 28 March 1997, during the same tournament where he defeated World No. 1 Sampras in the semifinals, Bruguera sank three shots (layup, free throw, top of key) during a time-out of a game between the Lakers and the Miami Heat to earn US$500. This money was given to ATP Charities in his name. Bruguera has also played semi-professional Football in his native Spain.
Bruguera earned the ATP's Comeback Player of Year award in 1997 after returning from an ankle injury the previous year and improving his ranking from World No. 81 to World No. 8.
Bruguera won a total of 14 top-level singles titles and 3 doubles titles. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 3. He is currently the director of the Bruguera Tennis Academy Top Team.
In a 2006 interview featuring questions from fans by the BBC Sport website, a question was asked about the frequent comparisons between Roger Federer and Sampras. In his reply, Bruguera claimed that Federer is ten times better than Sampras.
Bruguera is one of the few players to have a winning record against Sampras, winning three of their five matches: 1–0 on hard court, 2–1 on clay, and 0–1 on carpet.
Read more about this topic: Sergi Bruguera
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces every one to take sides. We live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“Like the old soldier of the ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Goodbye.”
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964)