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French Open is different, they say. It throws up 8216;different8217; champions too. In our series, we look at the last six French Open cha...

French Open is different, they say. It throws up 8216;different8217; champions too. In our series, we look at the last six French Open champions, who could not win any other Grand Slam.

Michael Chang 1989: 8216;8216;If Chang wins the Wimbledon, I8217;ll drop my pants on Centre Court,8217;8217; said John McEnroe. Well, the old bugger8217;s pants far from danger, as Chang never won any other Grand Slam, let alone Wimbledon. He made it to French final again in 1995, and to the Aussie and US finals in 1996 too, only to end up losing to Thomas Muster, Boris Becker, and Pete Sampras respectively.

Andres Gomez 1990: Heard of the Ecuadorian? The left-hander was 30 when he beat Andre Agassi in the final at Roland Garros. Never before, and never after, could he make it beyond the quarters of another Grand Slam. In fact, he won only nine other singles titles.

Sergei Bruguera 1993 and 1994: Bruguera marked the dominance of the 8216;8216;Spanish Armada8217;8217; on the clay courts, defeating Pete Sampras and Jim Courier enroute to becoming the first Spaniard to win the French crown since 1972. He followed with a defence of his title beating countryman Alberto Berasategui. For good measure, he again made it to the semifinals next year. His romance with Paris continued even after a career threatening injury, as he made the finals again in 1997. But he couldn8217;t do anything special at the other big events, except for a silver at Atlanta Olympics.

Thomas Muster 1995: Muster personfies the term, 8216;clay court specialist8217;. That year, he won 40 consecutive matches on clay, second only to Bjorn Borg8217;s 44. Outside France, he made two Grand Slam last four appearances at the Australian Open 8212; in 1989 and 1997. On grass, he could not play to save his life. He could never come back to his best after the hip injury in 1996.

Gustavo Kuerten 1997, 2000, 2001: Think of romances, and you think of Guga and French Open. Sampras was a different man at Wimbledon, so was Kuerten at Roland Garros. Owner, arguably, of the best backhand even today, he has never made it beyond the quarters of a Grand Slam other than French. Though still capable of a surprise on hard courts, seems unlikely to win. But, wouldn8217;t the fans love it?

Albert Costa 2002: Beating Juan Carlos Ferrero in the finals, the clay courter from Spain has never made it beyond quarter finals of any other slam. At 28, and not on top of his game, seems unlikely to repeat the feat.

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N.B.: List includes champions who have retired or are at the fag end of their respective careers.

8212; Sidharth Monga