Goffin, the tennis player who captivated Roland Garros.
He is Belgian, 21 years old, and this Sunday he was defeated by Roger Federer, but he reminded everyone of Gustavo Kuerten.
247 - Skinny, frail, and audacious. In 1997, on the clay courts of Roland Garros, this was Gustavo Kuerten from Santa Catarina. This Sunday, those who watched the round of 16 match between Roger Federer and the 21-year-old Belgian David Goffin momentarily imagined they were going back in time. With deep, powerful, and precise shots, Goffin made Federer run and was not intimidated by the man who, for many, is the best tennis player of all time.
In the first set, Goffin dispatched Federer 7-5, to the delight of the crowd cheering for him. Coming from the qualifying rounds, the pre-tournament stage for tennis players who don't have the ranking to enter directly into the main draw, Goffin was playing his seventh match at Roland Garros – the same number of matches needed to reach the final when one automatically enters the main draw. And perhaps fatigue caused Goffin to lose the next three sets to Federer.
In the end, the Swiss tennis player praised the Belgian athlete, already pointing him out as a future promise of the sport. Like him, the world number 1 also struggled to advance to the quarterfinals of Roland Garros. Novak Djokovic needed five sets to dispatch the Italian Andrea Seppi. Federer and Djokovic could meet in the semifinals of the tournament. On the other side of the draw, the most likely semifinal is between Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.