4 greatest French Open finals of all-time
The French Open is probably the most physically demanding of all grand slams. Winning seven matches in a slow surface paired with high bounce can pose challenges to the best of athletes. Players from Latin American countries and Spain who are accustomed to playing on clay tend to find it easier to win at Roland Garros. It is no surprise then that athletes from countries like Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Spain have lifted the La Coupe des Mousquetaires (English: The Musketeers' Trophy) - named after the four famous Frenchmen who dominated tennis during the early part of the 20th century - Henri Cochet, Rene Lacoste, Jacques Brugnon and Jean Borotra.
Certain players like Rafael Nadal, Bjorn Borg, Gustavo Kuerten were expert clay court players winning numerous titles in Paris. Stade Roland Garros at Court Philippe Chatrier has witnessed many epic battles between legends. We jog down memory lane and look at few of the greatest Men's Singles finals matches played at this great venue.
#1 Andre Agassi vs Andriy Medvedev (1999)
Going into the 1999 French Open, American Andre Agassi was seeded only 13th and few expected him to win the tournament considering that there were some world-class clay court specialists like Gustavo Kuerten, Carlos Moya, Alex Corretja and Marcelo Rios. But Agassi had other ideas as he took out defending champion Carlos Moya in the fourth round.
Unseeded Ukrainian Andriy Medvedev was flawless early on as he romped through the first two sets. Medvedev had put himself in a commanding position to take the match in straight sets, but Agassi tweaked his game a bit and started playing an aggressive brand of tennis to come from behind and remarkable win the next three sets. His won meant that he achieved the career Grand Slam matching his wife Steffi Graf's achievement. Agassi was only the 5th man at the time to achieve the historic feat.