Sergi Bruguera

Sergi Bruguera i Torner (; born 16 January 1971) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and coach. Bruguera won consecutive men's singles titles at the French Open in 1993 and 1994, a silver medal in men's singles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and reached a career-high ranking of world No. 3 in August 1994.

Bruguera is the only player to have a winning record against both Roger Federer and Pete Sampras, leading 3–2 against Sampras and 1–0 against Federer (at the 2000 Barcelona Open).

In 2018, Bruguera became the captain of the Spanish Davis Cup team. He coached Jo-Wilfried Tsonga from 2019 to 2022, Alexander Zverev from 2022 to 2023, and Arthur Fils (with Sébastien Grosjean) from 2023 to 2024.

Career 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.

Early 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 semifinals in Rome. He reached 4th round in the French Open in 1989 and finished the year ranked world No. 26, and was named the ATP's newcomer of the year.

1990–1992: Success on clay Bruguera earned a reputation as a top clay court player in the early 1990s. He reached singles finals in 1990 at Gstaad and Geneva, and captured doubles titles in Hamburg (his 1st ATP Masters 1000 title in doubles) with Jim Courier and in Florence, partnering Horacio de la Peña. In 1991 he reached singles finals at Barcelona and Gstaad along with titles in Estoril, and Athens. He also won Monte Carlo (his 1st ATP Masters 1000 title in singles) beating Boris Becker in the final. "Becker and Bruguera put on a display of tennis that Borg would have been proud of in his glory years". He also won a doubles title at Geneva, partnering Marc Rosset. In 1992 he reached singles finals at Estoril, Bordeaux, and Athens along with titles in Madrid, Gstaad and Palermo.

1993–1994: Peak Bruguera rose to even further prominence in 1993. During the French Open, Bruguera reached quarterfinals without dropping a set, including a rare triple bagel (6–0, 6–0, 6–0) in the second round against Thierry Champion; this remains the last time a player recorded a triple bagel in a singles match at a Grand Slam event. He then defeated Pete Sampras in 4 sets and Andrei Medvedev in straight sets in the semifinals, 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 that lasted 4 hours, becoming the first Spaniard to win French Open since Andrés Gimeno in 1972. Bruguera reached finals at Dubai (his 2nd hard court final), Monte Carlo (his 3rd ATP Masters 1000 final in singles), and Madrid, and captured titles at Gstaad and Prague besides Roland Garros. In August he reached his career-high ranking of World No. 3 and finished the year ranked World No. 4. He was the first Spaniard to finish 2 consecutive years in Top 5. It is also his 4th consecutive year winning at least 3 clay titles in singles.

Between 1990 and 1994 he reached 25 top-level clay tournament finals in singles and 3 top-level clay tournament finals in doubles, out of which he captured 13 clay titles in singles and 3 clay titles in doubles.

1995–1996: Decline and ankle injury Bruguera was not able to keep up his dominance on clay like he did the previous years. Coming into 1995 French Open as the two-time defending champion, he only dropped one set en route to semifinals, where he was defeated by 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang in straight sets, ending his 19-match win streak at Roland Garros. He only reached 1 top-level final, which is his 4th Masters 1000 final, his first in Rome (on clay), where he was defeated in 4 sets by Muster. In December, he tore 2 ligaments on his right ankle while training, which put him in an even worse condition and prevented him to make any significant impact during 1996 season.

He returned to competitive playing in February 1996, having not yet fully recovered from the injury. In 1996 French Open Bruguera was taken out by Sampras in an epic 5-set match in the second round. The highlight of the year was when 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. It was also the only top-level final he reached this year. His Year-End Ranking slipped from previous year's No. 13 to No. 81 much thanks to his injuries.

1997: Comeback Opening 1997 Bruguera was the first ever opponent of Lleyton Hewitt in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at the Australian Open. Bruguera defeated him in straight sets.

This year Bruguera returned strongly from injury previous season and reached finals at Milan, Key Biscaine (his 5th Masters final and his 1st on hard), and Umag. Bruguera also played an excellent tournament at the French Open reaching the final for the third time, en route to the final he defeated former champion and 2nd Seed Michael Chang in the fourth round, then rising star and future World No. 1 Patrick Rafter in the semifinals. But an almost unknown Brazilian player ranked No. 66 named Gustavo Kuerten, who defeated two former champions and notable players en route to the final, defeated Bruguera in straight sets without much effort, although Bruguera was heavily favoured to win his 3rd title at Roland Garros.

Bruguera earned the ATP's Comeback Player of Year award in 1997 after returning from an ankle injury the previous year and improving his Year-End Ranking from world No. 81 to world No. 8.

Later career After 1997, due to injuries, Bruguera was far from his best game. He lost concentration and started to increase his errors during his matches, losing one of his great virtues, his solid style. From 1998 until his retirement the three remarkable showings were the final (1999) and the title (2000) in the Challenger Open Castilla y León (considered best challenger tournament of the world by this date). He also reached the final of the ATP event in San Marino in 2000, losing to fellow Spaniard Alex Calatrava.

Coaching career

Bruguera was selected to captain the Spain Davis Cup team in 2018.

Bruguera became the coach of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga between 2019 and 2022. He then coached Alexander Zverev from May 2022, after he stepped down from his Davis Cup captain role, till the run-up of the 2023 French Open, splitting after the 2023 Mutua Madrid Open due to creative differences.

He co-coached French player Arthur Fils, with Sébastien Grosjean, from the end of 2023 until mid-season 2024.

Outside of 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. During Miami Masters on 28 March 1997, right after the semifinals where he defeated world No. 1 Sampras, 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.

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.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (2–1)

Other significant finals Olympic Games finals

Singles: 1 (1 silver medal)

Masters Series finals

Singles: 5 (2–3)

Doubles: 1 (1–0) Michael Stich7–6, 6–2

ATP career finals

Singles: 35 (14 titles, 21 runner-ups)

Legend Grand Slam (2–1) Olympic (0–1) Tennis Masters Cup (0–0) ATP Masters Series (2–3) ATP Championship Series (0–4) ATP Tour (10–12) Titles by surface Hard (1–3) Grass (0–0) Clay (13–16) Carpet (0–2)

ResultW–LDateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore Loss 0–1 Jul 1990 Swiss Open, Switzerland Clay Martín Jaite 3–6, 7–6(7–5), 2–6, 2–6 Loss 0–2 Sep 1990 Geneva Open, Switzerland Clay Horst Skoff 6–7(8–10), 6–7(4–7) Win 1–2 Apr 1991 Portugal Open, Portugal Clay Karel Nováček 7–6(9–7), 6–1 Loss 1–3 Apr 1991 Barcelona Open, Spain Clay Emilio Sánchez 4–6, 6–7(7–9), 2–6 Win 2–3 Apr 1991 Monte-Carlo Masters, France Clay Boris Becker 5–7, 6–4, 7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–4) Loss 2–4 Jul 1991 Swiss Open, Switzerland Clay Emilio Sánchez 1–6, 4–6, 4–6 Win 3–4 Oct 1991 Athens Open, Greece Clay Jordi Arrese 7–5, 6–3 Loss 3–5 Apr 1992 Portugal Open, Portugal Clay Carlos Costa 6–4, 2–6, 2–6 Win 4–5 May 1992 Madrid Grand Prix, Spain Clay Carlos Costa 7–6(8–6), 6–2, 6–2 Win 5–5 Jul 1992 Swiss Open, Switzerland Clay Francisco Clavet 6–1, 6–4 Loss 5–6 Sep 1992 Bordeaux Open, France Clay Andrei Medvedev 3–6, 6–1, 2–6 Win 6–6 Oct 1992 Sicilian International, Italy Clay Emilio Sánchez 6–1, 6–3 Loss 6–7 Oct 1992 Athens Open, Greece Clay Jordi Arrese 5–7, 0–3 retired Loss 6–8 Feb 1993 Milan Indoor, Italy Carpet (I) Boris Becker 3–6, 3–6 Loss 6–9 Apr 1993 Barcelona Open, Spain Clay Andrei Medvedev 7–6(9–7), 3–6, 5–7, 4–6 Win 7–9 Apr 1993 Monte-Carlo Masters, France Clay Cédric Pioline 7–6(7–2), 6–0 Loss 7–10 May 1993 Madrid Open, Spain Clay Stefan Edberg 3–6, 3–6, 2–6 Win 8–10 Jun 1993 French Open, France Clay Jim Courier 6–4, 2–6, 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 Win 9–10 Jul 1993 Swiss Open, Switzerland Clay Karel Nováček 6–3, 6–4 Win 10–10 Aug 1993 Prague Open, Czech Republic Clay Andrei Chesnokov 7–5, 6–4 Win 11–10 Sep 1993 Bordeaux Open, France Hard Diego Nargiso 7–5, 6–2 Loss 11–11 Oct 1993 Sician International, Italy Clay Thomas Muster 6–7(2–7), 5–7 Loss 11–12 Feb 1994 Dubai Championships, UAE Hard Magnus Gustafsson 4–6, 2–6 Loss 11–13 Apr 1994 Monte-Carlo Masters, France Clay Andrei Medvedev 5–7, 1–6, 3–6 Loss 11–14 May 1994 Madrid Open, Spain Clay Thomas Muster 2–6, 6–3, 4–6, 5–7 Win 12–14 Jun 1994 French Open, France Clay Alberto Berasategui 6–3, 7–5, 2–6, 6–1 Win 13–14 Jul 1994 Swiss Open, Switzerland Clay Guy Forget 3–6, 7–5, 6–2, 6–1 Win 14–14 Aug 1994 Prague Open, Czech Republic Clay Andrei Medvedev 6–3, 6–4 Loss 14–15 May 1995 Italian Open, Italy Clay Thomas Muster 6–3, 6–7(5–7), 2–6, 3–6 Loss 14–16 Jul 1996 Atlanta Olympics, US Hard Andre Agassi 2–6, 3–6, 1–6 Loss 14–17 Mar 1997 Italian Indoor, Italy Carpet (I) Goran Ivanišević 2–6, 2–6 Loss 14–18 Mar 1997 Miami Open, US Hard Thomas Muster 6–7(6–8), 3–6, 1–6 Loss 14–19 Jun 1997 French Open, France Clay Gustavo Kuerten 3–6, 4–6, 2–6 Loss 14–20 Jul 1997 Croatia Open, Croatia Clay Félix Mantilla 3–6, 5–7 Loss 14–21 Jul 2000 San Marino Open, Italy Clay Álex Calatrava 6–7(7–9), 6–1, 4–6

Doubles: 3 (3–0)

ResultW–LDateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore Win 1–0 May 1990 German Open, West Germany Clay Jim Courier Udo Riglewski Michael Stich 7–6, 6–2 Win 2–0 Jun 1990 Florence Open, Italy Clay Horacio de la Peña Luiz Mattar Diego Pérez 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 Win 3–0 Sep 1991 Geneva Open, Switzerland Clay Marc Rosset Per Henricsson Ola Jonsson 3–6, 6–3, 6–2

Singles performance timeline

1. Bruguera withdrew due to a lower back injury at Round Robin Stage after playing the first 2 matches, and was replaced by then World No. 10 Tim Henman.

Top 10 wins

Open era records