Thomas Muster
Once known as ‘The King of Clay’, Thomas had an illustrious tennis career throughout the 1990’s, and since retirement he has enjoyed playing on the ATP Champions Tour alongside running his own clothing business and owning a vineyard.
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, The Netherlands, in 1986.
Early in 1989 Muster became the first Austrian to be ranked in the world's top 10. In March of that year though, following a semifinal victory at a tournament in Key Biscayne Florida, Muster was struck by a drunk driver, severing ligaments in his left knee and forcing him to default the final in order to fly 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. For this achievement, Muster was named the ATP Tour's "Comeback Player of the Year" in 1990.
In 1995, Muster won 12 tournament finals in 14 attempts, which is a record. At the French Open that year, he won his first and only Grand Slam singles title, defeating former champion Michael Chang in the final. The following year Muster attained the World No. 1 ranking, holding it for a total of six weeks. Again he went on an astonishing clay-court run, only ended by Michael Stich in the quarterfinals. Unlike everyone else that Muster was battering off the court, Stich mixed up his game, charging the net and throwing in short angles. He ultimately came out on top and reached the final himself. Muster reached his last top-level tournament final in 1998 and retired from the professional tour the following year. He has one son, and Thomas now lives in Graz, Austria.
