In his pomp back in the front half of the 1990’s Sergi Bruguera was known for being almost unbeatable on clay, twice winning the French Open, and unleashing forehands with such extreme top-spin on them that the tennis ball appeared to make a humming sound as it fizzed over the net. More than ten years on, all of these references still apply.

When the Spaniard joined the Champions Tour last year, he arrived in Paris, just a stone’s throw from the site of his greatest triumph, Roland Garros, still boasting a six-pack stomach, quick feet and unerring accuracy. He won the title at a canter.

But, you may not recognise him when he initially arrives on court. These days, the man from Barcelona has shoulder-length hair that he sometimes wears in a pony-tail, and so it is difficult to believe that he is really the same boyish, neat-looking player that endured such torturous clay-court battles with Jim Courier and Thomas Muster.

Fitness will not be a problem. He keeps himself at the peak of physical condition by playing regular football in a semi-professional team in Spain, and ‘warms-down’ by reeling off a couple of hundred push-ups and sit-ups.

Naturally shy, Bruguera never felt particularly comfortable in the spotlight, but he is a markedly more relaxed character since retiring. These days when he plays watch out for one of the best smiles in tennis.