Thomas Muster

Thomas Muster
Country	Austria
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Date of birth	October 2, 1967 (1967-10-02) (age 42)
Place of birth	Leibnitz, Austria
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Turned pro	1985
Retired	1999
Plays	Left-handed;
Career prize money	$12,225,910
Singles
Career record:	626–271
Career titles:	44
Highest ranking:	1 (February 12, 1996)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	SF (1989, 97)
French Open	W (1995)
Wimbledon	1st (1987, 92, 93, 94)
US Open	QF (1993, 94, 96)
Doubles
Career record:	56–91
Career titles:	1
Highest ranking:	94 (November 7, 1988)
Mixed Doubles
Career record:	{{{mixedrecord}}}
Career titles:	{{{mixedtitles}}}
Highest ranking:	{{{highestmixedranking}}}

Thomas Muster (born October 2, 1967 in Leibnitz, Austria) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Austria. He was one of the world's leading clay court players in the 1990s, and at his peak was known as "The King of Clay."^[1] He won the French Open in 1995.

Career

Muster first came to prominence when he reached the final of the French Open junior tournament and the Orange Bowl juniors tournament in 1985. He turned professional later that year and won his first tour title at Hilversum, (Netherlands) in 1986.

In 1988, Muster reached six tour finals, winning four of them. He finished the year ranked in the world's top 20 for the first time.

Early in 1989, Muster became the first Austrian to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open and, shortly after that, the first Austrian to be ranked in the world's top 10. In March, he defeated Yannick Noah in the semifinals of the Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne, Florida (now known as the Sony Ericsson Open) to set up a final match with World No. 1 Ivan Lendl. But in the hours that followed that semifinal victory, Muster was struck by a drunk driver, severing ligaments in his left knee and forcing him to default the final. He flew back to Vienna to undergo surgery. With the aid of a special chair designed to allow him to practice hitting balls while recovering from knee surgery, Muster returned to competitive tennis just six months later.^[2]

Muster's comeback continued in 1990, when he won four titles (three on clay and one on hardcourts), was runner-up in three tournaments, and reached the semifinals of the French Open. He also helped Austria reach the semifinals of Davis Cup, where they were eliminated 3–2 by the United States despite Muster winning both his singles rubbers against Andre Agassi and Michael Chang. For these achievements, Muster was named the ATP Tour's "Comeback Player of the Year."

Muster won two more titles in 1991 and three in 1992 (all on clay courts).

In 1993, he reached nine tournament finals, winning seven of them. He won 55 of 65 matches on clay.

Muster won three clay court titles in 1994. He also beat Michael Stich of Germany in a first round Davis Cup tie in Graz. Muster won the five-set, 5 hour 25 minute match 12-10 in the final set. The match was the longest professional tennis match in the world that year.

In 1995, Muster won 12 tournament finals in 14 attempts, which is a record. Between February and June, he won 40 consecutive clay court matches (the longest winning streak on the surface since Björn Borg had won 44 in 1977-79). At the French Open, Muster won his first and only Grand Slam singles title, when he defeated former champion Michael Chang in the final 7–5, 6–2, 6–4. Muster had a 65-2 win-loss record on clay during 1995; however, his record on other surfaces was less impressive.

Muster continued to rack-up clay court victories in 1996. He won seven tournaments, six of them titles he successfully defended after winning them in 1995. His win-loss clay court record in 1996 was 43-3. This made his 1995-96 record on the surface 111-5 – the best two-year clay court record since the open era began in 1968. In February, Muster attained the World No. 1 ranking. He held the ranking initially for just one week and then regained it for five weeks in March and April. Muster remains one of the most controversial World No. 1s because almost all his tournament victories were on clay courts and he was beatable on all other surfaces.

Muster achieved his best results on hard courts in 1997. He won two hard court titles, was the runner-up at the ATP Masters Series event in Cincinnati, and reached the semifinals of the Australian Open. At both Cincinnati and the Australian Open, Muster lost to Pete Sampras in straight sets. He compiled a 29-8 win-loss record on hard courts while slumping to 9–9 on clay.

Muster reached his last top-level tournament final (on clay) in 1998. He retired from the professional tour in 1999.

Muster only lost one Davis Cup singles match on clay during his career, to Goran Ivanišević in 1997. He won 29 Davis Cup singles matches on that surface.

When his playing career finished, Muster moved to Australia and lived on a large farm with his wife (Jo Beth Taylor) and child. He has since moved back to Austria, where he has served as coach of the Austrian Davis Cup team and established an apparel brand called "Toms."

Grand Slam singles final

Win (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1995	French Open	Michael Chang	7–5, 6–2, 6–4

Singles finals

Wins (44)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	4 August, 1986	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Jakob Hlasek	6–1, 6–3, 6–3
2.	11 July, 1988	Boston, U.S.	Clay	Lawson Duncan	6–2, 6–2
3.	1 August, 1988	Bordeaux, France	Clay	Ronald Agenor	6–3, 6–3
4.	15 August, 1988	Prague, Czech Republic	Clay	Guillermo Pérez-Roldán	6–4, 5–7, 6–2
5.	26 September, 1988	Bari, Italy	Clay	Marcelo Filippini	2–6, 6–1, 7–5
6.	8 January, 1990	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Jimmy Arias	3–6, 6–2, 7–5
7.	12 March, 1990	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Guillermo Pérez-Roldán	6–1, 6–7, 6–2
8.	21 May, 1990	Rome, Italy	Clay	Andrei Chesnokov	6–1, 6–3, 6–1
9.	17 June, 1991	Florence, Italy	Clay	Horst Skoff	6–2, 6–7, 6–4
10.	16 September, 1991	Geneva, Switzerland	Clay	Horst Skoff	6–2, 6–4
11.	27 April, 1992	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Aaron Krickstein	6–3, 6–1, 6–3
12.	15 June, 1992	Florence, Italy	Clay	Renzo Furlan	6–3, 1–6, 6–1
13.	31 August, 1992	Umag, Croatia	Clay	Franco Davín	6–1, 4–6, 6–4
14.	1 March, 1993	Mexico City, Mexico	Clay	Carlos Costa	6–2, 6–4
15.	14 June, 1993	Florence, Italy	Clay	Jordi Burillo	6–1, 7–5
16.	21 June, 1993	Genova, Italy	Clay	Magnus Gustafsson	7–6, 6–4
17.	9 August, 1993	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Javier Sánchez	6–3, 7–5, 6–4
18.	16 August, 1993	San Marino	Clay	Renzo Furlan	7–5, 7–5
19.	30 August, 1993	Umag, Croatia	Clay	Alberto Berasategui	7–5, 3–6, 6–3
20.	4 October, 1993	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Sergi Bruguera	7–6, 7–5
21.	28 February, 1994	Mexico City, Mexico	Clay	Roberto Jabali	6–3, 6–1
22.	2 May, 1994	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Sergi Bruguera	6–2, 3–6, 6–4, 7–5
23.	20 June, 1994	Sankt Pölten, Austria	Clay	Tomás Carbonell	4–6, 6–2, 6–4
24.	6 March, 1995	Mexico City, Mexico	Clay	Fernando Meligeni	7–6, 7–5
25.	10 April, 1995	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Albert Costa	6–4, 6–2
26.	17 April, 1995	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Magnus Larsson	6–2, 6–1, 6–4
27.	1 May, 1995	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Boris Becker	4–6, 5–7, 6–1, 7–6, 6–0
28.	22 May, 1995	Rome, Italy	Clay	Sergi Bruguera	3–6, 7–6, 6–2, 6–3
29.	12 June, 1995	French Open, Paris	Clay	Michael Chang	7–5, 6–2, 6–4
30.	26 June, 1995	Sankt Pölten, Austria	Clay	Bohdan Ulihrach	6–3, 3–6, 6–1
31.	24 July, 1995	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Jan Apell	6–2, 6–2
32.	14 August, 1995	San Marino	Clay	Andrea Gaudenzi	6–2, 6–0
33.	28 August, 1995	Umag, Croatia	Clay	Carlos Costa	3–6, 7–6, 6–4
34.	18 September, 1995	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Gilbert Schaller	6–3, 6–4
35.	30 October, 1995	Essen, Germany	Carpet	MaliVai Washington	7–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4
36.	11 March, 1996	Mexico City, Mexico	Clay	Jiří Novák	7–6, 6–2
37.	15 April, 1996	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Andrea Gaudenzi	7–6, 6–4
38.	22 April, 1996	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Marcelo Ríos	6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 6–1
39.	29 April, 1996	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Albert Costa	6–3, 5–7, 4–6, 6–3, 6–2
40.	20 May, 1996	Rome, Italy	Clay	Richard Krajicek	6–2, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3
41.	22 July, 1996	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	6–2, 6–2, 6–4
42.	16 September, 1996	Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Nicolás Lapentti	6–7, 6–2, 6–3
43.	17 February, 1997	Dubai, UAE	Hard	Goran Ivanišević	7–5, 7–6
44.	31 March, 1997	Miami, U.S.	Hard	Sergi Bruguera	7–6, 6–3, 6–1

Runner-ups (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	19 September, 1988	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Kent Carlsson	6–3, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1
2.	24 October, 1988	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Horst Skoff	4–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–2
3.	3 April, 1989	Miami, U.S.	Hard	Ivan Lendl	W/O
4.	30 April, 1990	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Andrei Chesnokov	7–5, 6–3, 6–3
5.	7 May, 1990	Munich, Germany	Clay	Karel Nováček	6–4, 6–2
6.	18 January, 1993	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Hard	Pete Sampras	7–6, 6–1
7.	25 October, 1993	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Goran Ivanišević	4–6, 6–4, 6–4, 7–6
8.	7 August, 1995	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Albert Costa	4–6, 6–4, 7–6, 2–6, 6–4
9.	23 October, 1995	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Filip Dewulf	7–5, 6–2, 1–6, 7–5
10.	11 August, 1997	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Pete Sampras	6–3, 6–4
11.	13 April, 1998	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Alberto Berasategui	3–6, 6–1, 6–3

Singles performance timeline

A = did not participate in the tournament
NH = tournament not held

References

1. ↑ Muster, King of Clay, Gets His Slam Crown
2. ↑ Back In The Swing

External links

• Thomas Muster at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Thomas Muster at the International Tennis Federation
• Thomas Muster at Davis Cup

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Rudolf Nierlich	Austrian Sportsman of the year 1990	Succeeded by Stephan Eberharter
Preceded by Thomas Stangassinger	Austrian Sportsman of the year 1995	Succeeded by Andreas Goldberger
Sporting positions
Preceded by Andre Agassi Pete Sampras	World No. 1 February 12, 1996 – February 18, 1996 March 11, 1996 – April 13, 1996	Succeeded by Pete Sampras Pete Sampras