Last chance to go ga-ga over Guga

Gustavo Kuerten isn’t the French Open’s best player, but he’s one of its most loved.

PARIS (AP) — Gustavo Kuerten kept smiling that wide-open smile of his and snickering at his own jokes as he spoke about the final tournament of his career.

One thing always has been clear about the three-time French Open champion and former No. 1: The guy everyone calls “Guga” knows how to have fun.

Chronic hip problems are forcing him to retire at 31, depriving the sport of one of its true characters. If some consider the occasion sad, do not count him among them.

“What better way could there be for me to say good-bye?” he said, looking ahead to facing 18th-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu when the clay-court Grand Slam begins today. “I see it in a very positive way.”

There are better players than Kuerten at the moment, men who are ranked far higher and consider themselves contenders to win the French Open.

No. 3 Novak Djokovic, for example, the Australian Open champion who also plays today, against Denis Gremelmayr of Germany. Or No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who is 21-0 at Roland Garros and begins his title defense Monday against Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil. Or No. 1 Roger Federer, who will begin his bid for a 13th major championship, but first in Paris, Tuesday against Sam Querrey of the United States.

Kuerten, though, carries a “joie de vivre” with him everywhere he goes. It’s an attitude fans sensed right away in 1997, when he was 20, ranked 66th and without a single ATP title to his name before surprisingly winning the French Open.

“I was able to laugh. I was able to enjoy my greatest moments. Enjoy sometimes the loss, too, because I have some free time then to go out and [see the] sights,” he said through a grin, his bushy hair poking out from under a white baseball hat. “For me, it was fun. And naturally, I think people got very connected with me because of that.”

They certainly did, particularly the spectators in France, which is why Mathieu can expect to hear his countrymen cheering his Brazilian opponent.

They are scheduled to play on Court Philippe Chatrier, the main stadium at Roland Garros and the site of Kuerten’s finest moments as a professional. That includes his victories in the 1997, 2000 and 2001 French Open finals, of course, but also his fourth-round escape against qualifier Michael Russell of the U.S. in 2001.

It was after that five-set masterpiece, in which he lost the first two sets, then saved a match point in the third, that Kuerten used his racket to sketch a heart in the court’s clay before dropping to his knees and blowing kisses to the crowd.

“That was the highest and the best feeling I’ve had on the tennis courts, for sure,” he said. “I was lucky, too, that day to find a way to express myself so well.”

He finished 2000 ranked No. 1, and 2001 ranked No. 2. But less than a year after that match against Russell, Kuerten had the first of three operations on his hip. And so began a series of long periods of inactivity and a slide down the rankings.

Asked if his hip hurts when he plays, Kuerten said it does, then added: “And when I sleep. When I sit.”

Because he’s managed to play fewer than 15 matches over the past three seasons, he’s now ranked outside the top 1,000 and needed a wild card from tournament organizers to get into the French Open field.

“It’s been pretty tough the last couple of years to watch him sort of go out there and basically not be able to play anywhere near where he was,” U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe said. “This guy just brought so much charisma to the game.”