The Early Days of Young Thomas

Thomas Muster was born on 2 October 1967 in Austria. He played his first professional matches in 1984 when he was only 16 years old, and in the same year he played his first match for Austria in the Davis Cup. 1984 also remained a fond memory for the Austrian, as he also played at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. A year later, he gained the attention of the tennis audience when he made the final of the junior Roland Garros. From that moment on, it was clear to everyone that this could be a birth of a new star on clay courts in the world of tennis.

In the following 3 years, he won 7 ATP tournaments, which brought the 20-year-old Muster to the 16th place in the ATP rankings. In 1989, he made the history of Austrian tennis when he became the first Austrian to play in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. 1989 looked very promising for Thomas, who rewrote the history of Austrian tennis shortly after the Australian Open by becoming the first Austrian ever in the top 10 of the ATP rankings. However, in late March, Muster had a car accident that slowed down his tennis ascent.

The Car Accident Did Not Stop Him

After defeating Yannick Noah in five sets in the semi-finals of a tournament in Florida, later that evening, a drunken driver crashed into Muster and severed the ligaments of his left knee. Due to the injury, he had to default the final match and go to Vienna for knee surgery. Muster was not swayed by the injury. While recovering from the knee surgery, he used a specially designed chair that allowed him to practice hitting a tennis ball. Less than 6 moths after the car accident, the Austrian returned to competitive tennis and began his journey of the absolute king of tournaments on clay.

In 1990, he won three tournaments on clay and one on a hard court. At Roland Garros, he reached the semi-finals and helped Austria reach the semi-finals of the Davis Cup, where he defeated Andre Agassi and Michael Chang. For all the above successes, he was recognised as the sportsman of the year in Austria that same year.

First Appearance in Umag

The following year he won 2 tournaments, and in 1992 he came to Umag for the first time, after he had already won two tournaments on clay. In 1992, ATP Umag was held for the first time in the last week of August, as the first two tournaments were held in May. Muster came to Istria as the 16th player in the world, and was the top seed in the tournament. The Austrian justified the title of the top seed and made the final, where a well-disposed Franco Davin was waiting for him. To reach the final, Franco defeated Àlex Corretja and Andrei Medvedev, but Muster proved himself to be hard to handle, and the Austrian won 6:1, 4:6, 6:4 thus winning his first title in Umag.

Muster decided to return to Umag the following summer as well. He repeated his success, this time defeating Alberto Berasategui in the final 7:5, 3:6, 6:3. With this win, he became the first tennis player in the history of ATP Umag to defend his title, and to date only Carlos Moyá managed to do so as well. For the first time, the final had an international TV broadcast via Eurosport, and the Austrian came out of it with a cup and a 400 thousand dollar prize.

1995, a Year to Remember

1995 was the best year of Thomas Muster’s carrier. He won as many as 12 tournaments, 11 of which were on clay. After 1990, only Roger Federer managed to repeat such success in 2006. The king of clay also won the only Grand Slam title of his carrier that year, winning Roland Garros. Until Dominic Thiem won the US Open in 2020, Muster was the only Austrian ever to win a Grand Slam.

In 1995, the incredible Muster had a ratio of 65 wins and only 2 losses on clay. His spectacular form was also demonstrated in Umag, where he did not lose a single set until the semi-finals. In the final, we was met by Carlos Costa and they played one of the tensest matches in the history of the Umag tournament. After winning the first set 6:3, Costa had a triple match point in the second set. Out of 12 wins in the finals that year, Muster saved at least 1 match point in 6 of them. The indestructible Muster, as throughout his entire carrier, did not give up, saved a triple match point against Costa, and eventually won the final in Umag for his third and last time. The Austrian won the title at the age of 27 years and 11 months which makes him the oldest title winner in Umag.

Nadal Before Nadal

In 1996, Muster also became No. 1 in the ATP rankings. Many protested that Muster got to No. 1 by winning only on clay. Among the dissatisfied were Sampras and Agassi, but the Austrian was not flustered. It was somewhat absurd that the best player in the ATP rankings never won at Wimbledon, but Muster was so good on clay that clay was his whole life. He was somewhat of a “Nadal before Nadal“; he played in 44 clay tournaments, and won 41 of them. He was very successful in final matches, winning 80% of them, which makes him the most successful tennis player with at least 25 final matches played.

He got the title “King of Clay” for a reason. In addition to his game, which was garnished with exceptional speed, Muster was a great crowd favourite. From scoring a point without looking, to returning to the world of tennis in 2010 at the age of 43, Muster was a great joker and entertainer with whom there was never a dull moment. Despite his entertaining streak, he was a hard worker and few would have reached No. 1 after such a knee injury. In addition to how the world remembers Muster, he will always be remembered as the first tennis player to dominate the biggest Croatian tournament.