Guga Celebrates Carnival In Rio
By Tennis Week
03/07/2003
Smiling with every step, Gustavo Kuerten bounced, leaped and danced with delight Tuesday night. The three-time French Open champion wasn't in action on the court, he was at his playful best celebrating Brazil's most traditional festivity: Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.
Taking a brief break from his practice sessions for the Pacific Life Open, Kuerten and coach Larri Passos flew from Santa Catarina to Rio to see the sights, sounds and shows of the Brazilian Carnival. The former No. 1 spent much of his time in the VIP area of one of his sponsors – Guarana Kuat (a popular Brazilian soft drink of the Coca-Cola company) – and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
By Wednesday afternoon, Kuerten was back on the hard court in Florianopolis practicing with Passos.
"Last year Kuat invited me to come and I couldn’t," Kuerten said. "But this time, I found some time between my practice sessions and had a great time. It is a very beautiful party, everyone should come and see. It was a short visit, but it was worth it."
Coming off two consecutive weeks of strong play that saw Kuerten reach the semifinals of both Buenos Aires and Acapulco, the former Tennis Masters Cup champion plans to begin practicing at Indian Wells today as he continues preparation for the year's first Masters Series event.
"These two weeks that I played in Buenos Aires and Acapulco were very good for me," Kuerten said. "I reached two semis, raised a lot my level of play and got some important points in the ranking as well."
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