Starting with Michael Chang's championship in 1989, followed by Jim Courier's in 1991 and 1992, and ending with Andre Agassi's in 1999, American men won four titles in a decade at Roland Garros. They also accounted for four runner-up finishes in that span.
Chang ended a 34-year French Open drought for the United States: No U.S. man had won since Tony Trabert in 1954 and 1955. At 17 years, 3 months old, Chang also set a record that still stands for youngest male champion at a Grand Slam tournament.
"I don't think that anybody ever expected an American to hoist the trophy on that final Sunday,'' Chang said in a telephone interview. "And I'm one of them.''
Looking back 20 years later, Chang sounded genuinely surprised he even made it through the fourth round, when he produced a 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 upset of then-No. 1 Ivan Lendl.
But Chang considered quitting because of debilitating leg cramps that began in the fourth set of the 4 1/2-hour match.
"I was walking toward the chair umpire, thinking to myself, 'Hey, let's just call it a day and get some praise in the locker room,''' Chang recalled.
Told Chang nearly stopped playing, Lendl laughed and said: "I wish he did.''
"I was cramping in that match, too,'' Lendl said last week. "I just tried to cover it up.''
Chang made his pain plain for the world to see, guzzling water and standing through changeovers, afraid his legs would lock.
Then there were Chang's unusual tactics, including at 4-3 in the fifth set the most famous underhand serve in the history of tennis (find it on YouTube). Lendl got the odd-looking offering back before missing a volley to lose the point.
Chang hit underhand, he said, because his legs were so weak, he couldn't muster serves stronger than 70 mph. And he remembered at the time that Agassi flustered him years earlier by using underhand serves when they were about 12.
"Ivan got a little bit more rattled after that,'' Chang said. "That's the only time I ever served underhand in my life.''
Later, with Lendl serving on match point, Chang walked all the way up to the service line, something rarely seen at this level.
Lendl double-faulted, ending the match.
"People ask, 'Don't you think it's terrible he served underhand?' or 'He did this, he did that.' Hey, you do what you have to. As long as you can win fair and square, which he did,'' Lendl said. "There is no bitterness. And there never was.''
Chang also moved behind the service box in his next match, against Ronald Agenor, again drawing a double-fault. Chang would go on to beat Agenor in the quarterfinals, Andrei Chesnokov in the semifinals and Stefan Edberg in the final.
"The pressure really was on everybody else,'' Chang said, "because nobody wanted to lose to a 17-year-old kid.''
Courier - who came up through the junior ranks with Chang, Agassi and Pete Sampras - called Chang's breakthrough an "eye-opening experience'' for the group. That quartet would go on to win 27 major titles; Chang's was the first - and his only one.
Still, it was his triumph that made the others think: Hey, we can do this.
Precisely the sort of boost U.S. tennis could use these days, Courier says.
"He was a peer. We recognized very quickly after Michael won that it was not an insurmountable task,'' Courier said. "Something that seemed so far away was right in front of you at that point.''
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