Costa king of Paris
Georges Homsi
Sunday, June 9, 2002

Albert Costa fell on his back in disbelief when Juan-Carlos Ferrero
committed his 4th double fault. He had finally made it. Almost two
years after his 11th and last title in Gstaad, the 27 year-old Catalan
had captured his first ever Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, a
tournament where he had never been past the quarterfinals.

A little over two and a half hours earlier, he didn't go into the
final as the favorite. The odds were in favor of his younger opponent
whose aggressiveness from the backcourt looked superior, just as his
ability to overcome the pressure. But at the end of a surprising battle,
just as Ferrero had seemed to get back into the match after a disastrous
start, Costa was still the boss.

At the start of the final, the sky of Paris was grey and threatening.
A few minutes later, at 1 all 30-0 Costa, rain came to stop the match.
Twenty three minutes later, when the finalists came back on court,
Ferrero looked particularly tense. More than he had throughout the
two weeks. He just couldn't sustain the rallies, committing unforced
errors the one after the other. After 22 minutes of play, he had dropped
the first set 6-1. Yet, Ferrero didn't loosen up in the second set.
And every time he missed an easy shot, he looked devastated, as if he
was in the middle of a living nightmare. He couldn't win a single game
in the second set, losing it in 25 minutes.

And when he captured the first game of the third set with an ace, 11
games after the first and last one, Ferrero raised his arms in the air
in a mixture of relief and irony. And in the very next game, a forehand
wide from Costa offered him his first break point of the match! It
looked like the turning point of this so far totally one-sided final.
Costa missed another backhand giving Ferrero a 2-0 lead. Another match
was starting. Ferrero even found himself with three points for 3-0,
but he couldn't make them, and Costa came back to 2 all. The public
had clearly chosen Ferrero as their favorite, probably because they
were hoping for a longer match. In the 5th game, Ferrero saved 4 break
points before holding. And he was the one to make a decisive break in
the 10th game to capture the set.

Yet, if Ferrero was playing much better than in the first two sets,
he was still far from the level which allowed him to destroy Agassi
and Safin. Although he was sustaining the rallies far better than
earlier, and hitting some beautiful winners, the unforced errors
which he kept committing betrayed a persistent nervousness while
Costa was extremely solid. After missing 2 points for 2-0, Ferrero
dropped his serve allowing Costa to get up 2-1 then 3-1. And when
Ferrero fought his way back to 3 all, he was not able to capitalize
on this come-back. He lost the next 10 points to find himself trailing
3-5 0-30. At 30-40 he saved a first championship point when costa hit
a forehand passing shot too long. But on the second, he hit a double
fault.

After dropping on the red clay, Costa ran to the stands, to hug his
family and his clan, including his twin daughters. Then he came back
on court to receive the winner's trophy from the hands of 1977 Roland
Garros champion Guillermo Vilas. He will rank among the exclusive elite
of Grand Slam winners forever.