 Custom Search Thomas Muster (born October 2, 1967 in Leibnitz, Austria) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Austria. At his peak in the mid-1990s, he was known as "The King of Clay." Career Muster first came to prominence when he reached the final of the French Open juniors 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, Thomas Muster returned to competitive tennis just six months later. 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."
Thomas 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 Bjorn Borg had won 44 in 1977-79). At the French Open, Thomas 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. Thomas 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. Thomas Muster only lost one Davis Cup singles match on clay during his career, to Goran Ivanisevic 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."
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