Kuerten must accept grass-court challenge

French Open: Brazilian secures place in Parisian hearts with dominant performance while Capriati adds chapter to captivating story

One of the early surprises at the French Open, which ended last Sunday, was the sight of Emilie Loit and her coach, Georges Goven, playing with a rugby ball on the Philippe Chatrier Court as part of Frenchwoman's warm-up for her first-round match against Jennifer Capriati.

Goven, head coach of the women's game at the French Tennis Federation, would throw the ball to Loit, who would throw it back and move in anticipation of a return pass. Loit is not the slenderest of players, and the idea was to improve her footwork and coordination.

Chatrier, the late president of the French Tennis Federation and the International Tennis Federation, would have approved of a rugby ball being tossed around on the most hallowed clay court in the world. He loved rugby with almost as much passion as tennis. And the exercise seemed to work for Loit, who moved well enough to push Capriati in the second set before the American won, 6-2, 7-5.

The oval ball also revived fond memories of Capriati's first visit to the French Open, in 1990, when she became the youngest ever singles semi-finalist, aged 14. Capriati and her younger brother, Steven, were taken on a sight-seeing tour of Paris by Chris Evert and an NBC television crew.

When they arrived at Notre Dame, Jennifer wanted to know where the footballers were. She later explained to Steven that Napoleon was "that little dead dude".

Those were the innocent, carefree days before the teenaged Capriati buckled under the weight of expectation and cried for help by shoplifting and possessing marijuana. Happily, her recovery has received as much publicity as her downfall, and her triumph at the French Open, five months after winning her first Grand Slam singles title in Australia, enriched one of the most positive and inspiring sports stories of the year.

The women's final also showcased Kim Clijsters' strength of character as the 18-year-old Belgian kept the result in doubt until Capriati edged the third set, 12-10. Clijsters' compatriot, Justine Henin, 19, whom she defeated in the semi-finals, also showed that the future of the women's game looks healthy, even if some of the leading players of the moment appear to be anything but.

Capriati and the Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten captivated Paris with their skills and sensibility, the men's champion breaking his opponents with a deceptively lean, loose ruthlessness and then drawing hearts on the clay for an adoring public. He does not feel a similar sense of belonging at Wimbledon; nor will he unless he is prepared to shake the clay off his shoes and soldier on, even though his mind and body are screaming for rest.

Perseverance worked wonders for Kuerten at Roland Garros, enabling him to recover from two sets and a match point down against Michael Russell, an American qualifier, in the fourth round, and to grind down Alex Corretja in Sunday's final before sweeping the experienced Spaniard aside.

In the course of conversations with several past masters of clay courts, including Andres Gimeno, of Spain, the oldest male ever to win the French title, aged 34 in 1972, it became clear that a player cannot be considered complete without accepting the challenge of the lawns at the home of tennis.

Irrespective of the question of seedings, the new breed of clay court players, such as Juan Carlos Ferrero and other Spanish and Latin American youngsters, who have developed a more aggressive style on the slower surfaces, need to play ­ and probably lose ­ at Wimbledon year after year in order to learn to adapt to the grass and discover that it is possible to move forward behind their serve.

What we saw in Paris was that even Andre Agassi, a champion on every surface, can fall flat on his face on a big occasion, especially if he finds himself upstaged by a former American president. Bill Clinton's bonjour became Agassi's au revoir amid French allez over Sebastien Grosjean's spectacular advance to the semi-finals.

Jim Courier, tongue in cheek, said to John McEnroe on television: "When I was asked to come over to present the men's trophy, I was sitting at home in Florida thinking back to my final with Andre 10 years ago. 'I'd love to give the cup to Andre,' I said to myself. But the president gave Andre a whammy." Not that Agassi realised Clinton was there, of course.

Kuerten was the man who received the trophy from Courier, the last player to make a successful defence of the title (beating Agassi in the 1991 final), and also as the top seed. Commenting with McEnroe during Sunday's final, Courier noticed how frustrated Corretja was becoming. "If I was in Alex's position right now I'd probably have a conversation with my towel," Courier said. "And I'd have to change my racket," McEnroe said.