August 1997 – N°27 – Love for the game – ENGLISH
A completely unknown quantity to the public on the eve of the French International Tennis Championships, Gustave Kuerten, 20, created a sensation when he carried off the prize, leaving the whole Roland Garros arena enchanted by his smile and his easy manner. The new champion tells us, however, that he hesitated for a long time before deciding whether to run after tennis balls or footballs. One could say that his destiny hung on a single rebound.
I started playing football at about the same time as tennis, when I was six or seven. I played a lot of tournaments in the holidays in and around Florianoplis, my native town. Unlike most Brazilians, I played on the beach very little. But I hesitated between tennis and football right up to the age of 14. And then, who knows why, but I finally plumped for tennis. Today, I don’t regret it at all! I keep up with what’s going on in football, and I try to miss as few big matches as possible. In my own country, my favourite team is Avai, the Florianopolis club which is in the third division. With all the travelling I do, it’s not always easy to keep abreast of events. Luckily, thanks to Internet, I manage to find out the gist of what’s going on! In Europe, I’m a wholehearted Paris Saint Germain supporter. Rai and Leonardo are fantastic players and France is very lucky to have them playing in its league! I was lucky enough to meet both of them, together with the rest of the Brazilian team, after my victory at Roland Garros, just after they had arrived for the Tournoi de France. I wasn’t able to talk to them for very long, but it was a wonderful moment for me. It really was a dream come true. We spent about twenty minutes together. Not enough, alas, to get to know each other properly. And you know, I was a bit star-struck, too!
My favourite memory as a spectator was at the Brazil vs Italy match in the 1982 World Cup.
At the time, I was very young (only 7) but I can still remember the game very well. Even clearer is the Brazil vs France match of 1986, which remains one of the biggest disappointments of my childhood. Particularly as Zico was and still is my all-time hero. And to think that he was the one who missed the penalty and lost the game for Brazil!
In my family, we’re “normal” football lovers. I say “normal” because in Brazil there are entire families who are completely bonkers about football, and that’s a category we don’t belong to. During the 1994 World Cup, for instance, I wasn’t in Brazil. I only saw the semi-final against Sweden while I was over in England playing a tournament, and I saw the Final in Colombia! Luckily I was resting at home during the last Copa America, and so I was able to watch all the matches. I was very impressed with the performance of Denilson and Leonardo. With players of that calibre, I believe that Brazil’s chances of retaining the title next year are pretty high. And I hope I’ll have the opportunity to attend at least one or two matches after Roland Garros!
Nowadays I still play football, but only for fun. I actually put myself down to play in a match at the Parc des Princes during Roland Garros, between a team of French tennis players and other players from “the rest of the world”. But as it turned out, I was still up to my eyeballs in the tournament and couldn’t honour my engagement.
When I got back to Brazil, it came home to me how much my victory at Roland Garros had affected people. But my popularity is nothing compared with Ronaldo’s or Romario’s, who are really like gods to us in my country. I can’t put my finger on exactly why the Brazilians are so smitten by football. Maybe it’s simply because it’s a sort of tradition: a father gives his son a football when he’s still only a tiny lad, so he can go and have fun on the beach or in the street. Then the boy usually wants to become a professional, and follow in the footsteps of Pele, Zico and Ronaldo!