Thomas Muster is an Austrian player who led the clay courts in the 1990’s. He was known to be the “King of the Clay”. Muster was born in Leibnitz Austria on October 2, 1967.
Thomas was already a prominent player while he was still an amateur. He played in the finals of the 1985 French Open junior and the 1985 Orange Bowl juniors. He formally became a professional in 1986 and also won a championship at the Hilversum, Netherlands. After 2 years, Thomas advanced to six tour finals. Four of which he was successful.
He was in the top 20 by the end of the year for the first time in the history of his career. He played in the finals of the Australian Open in 1989. He was able to defeat Yannick Noah at the Lipton International Players Championships semifinals held at Key Biscayne, Florida or the Sony Ericsson Open as it is known today. His victory opened an opportunity for him to compete against no. 1 player Ivan Lendl. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it to the game. He met an accident along the way when a drunk driver struck him. He suffered broken bones and ligaments and needed to go for a quick surgery. This fate forced him to cancel the finals. He only returned playing tennis after six months later.
Thomas’ comeback earned him four more titles, runner-up in three tournaments and reached the semi-finals French Open. He represented Austria in the Davis Cup semi-finals as well. Though Thomas won the singles game against Andre Agassi and Michael Chang, his country was still eliminated by the U.S. team. Thomas won the 1995 French Open.
Muster retired from professional tennis in 1999. With all his achievement after his accident and during the Davis Cup, he was awarded the ATP Tour’s “Comeback Player of the Year”. The apparel named “Toms”, from the Austrian Davis Cup team, was developed in his honor.
