Thomas Muster: The King of Clay

31st March/1 st April 1989: Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida

It was a very humid night at the Tennis Centre at Crandon Park, Key  Biscayne, Florida, hosting the Lipton International Players Championship. A young 21 year old Austrian was battling hard against the Frenchman Yannick Noah, for a place in the Final against the great Ivan Lendl.

Yannick Noah had won the first two sets and looked set to clinch the semi-final. Ivan Lendl the world no.1 had already made short work of the big serving South African Kevin Curren earlier in the evening.

However the young Austrian, who had already reached the no.7 ranking in the world had different ideas. He hung on and with his back to the wall, began to counter punch and made a remarkable comeback to win the next 3 sets and beat Yannick Noah in a 5-set thriller. The young Austrian had booked his place in the final. Thomas Muster he was. The gritty and tenacious Austrian who was difficult to dislodge. The future appeared great for this hardworking player.

However fate had it otherwise and Muster after winning the semi-final met with a car accident. He was just getting something out from the trunk of his parked car, when another car coming from the opposite direction  lost control and hit Muster’s car head on. The car was pushed back injuring Muster seriously. His left leg was in major trouble. The young player was on a wheelchair with his tennis future in deep peril.

Notwithstanding the odds totally stacked against him, Thomas Muster picked up the cudgels against his injury . He defied the odds, worked tirelessly, continued to train with this injured leg, bore pain and eventually returned to tennis in a year’s time, such was the desire of Muster to get back to playing. The world was overwhelmed by the return of Muster and ATP conferred ‘ The Comeback of the Year ‘ award to him in 1990.

Muster continued playing and began to improve. The year 1995 was the year to remember for the great Austrian. The clay court season had begun and so was Muster’s domination. He went unbeaten for 40 matches that year, winning 10 titles on clay and eventually went on to win the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris beating Micheal Chang. It had been a stupendous performance from Muster and at the start of 1996 he became the world no.1 and was named the King of Clay.

Thomas Muster was the only Austrian player to have won a Grand Slam Tournament, until Dominic Thiem won the US Open in 2020, 25 years later.

It was an incredible journey for the Austrian from the wheelchair, from utter despair to be crowned the best player in the world. It was nothing short of a miracle, borne out of extraordinary hardwork , undeterred ambition  and unflinching determination, rarely seen.

Thomas Muster…take a bow.