Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander and two of the Musketeers, Henri Cochet and Rene Lacoste.
Jim Courier hopes to add his name Sunday to that impressive list of three-time French Open winners. To do that, he will have to defeat Sergi Bruguera, the No. 10 seed from Spain.Borg won a total of six French Open titles, including four straight between 1978 and 1981. Cochet won four titles and the others three, but never consecutively.
Another French Open title would give Courier his fifth Grand Slam title before his 23rd birthday. He has also won the Australian Open twice, including this year. Borg had six Grand Slam titles before turning 23.
Courier approaches the game in the same, no-nonsense style as Borg did. Like Borg, Courier plays mostly from the baseline, but he has a more aggressive, hard-hitting style. To hear him describe it, winning matches is just a job.
"It's just kind of like going to work and clocking in," Courier said after beating Richard Krajicek 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 6-2, in the semifinals.
Courier goes into the final with a 20-match victory streak at the French Open. Going back to 1991, Courier has won 32 straight clay-court matches in tournament play, although he lost on clay at the Olympics and in a Davis Cup match against Sweden.
Courier hasn't been as dominant as he was last year when he lost just one set on his way to the title. This year, he has dropped a set in each of his last four matches.
But Courier remains a strong favorite against Bruguera, whom he has beaten in straight sets in their four previous meetings.
Bruguera's victims in the top half of the draw included No. 1 seed Pete Sampras and No. 11 Andrei Medvedev.
"This is the first time he has really performed up to his level in this tournament," Courier said of Bruguera. "He is obviously very confident. He has beaten Pete twice in the last couple of weeks and he has got to be feeling very good."
"I definitely know that he has got a game to beat Jim," said Medvedev. "It could be a great match, but pretty much depends on the mental concentration and luck."
Krajicek's serve-and-volley game posed little problems for Courier. Now he faces a baseline specialist in the 22-year-old Bruguera, who won the title in Monte Carlo this spring.