Thomas Muster

Considered to be one of the most physically fit players on the Tour...Had special chair designed so he could practice hitting balls after knee surgery after his accident in 1989...Has been quoted as saying he lives for tennis...In 1985, reached the French Open Juniors and Orange Bowl finals...Enjoys photography and occasionally shoots tennis matches...Named ATP Tour Comeback Player of the Year in 1990...Also likes to play the drums, enjoys abstract art and painting...Has 45-18 career Davis Cup record (36-8 in singles)...Coached and managed by Ronald Leitgeb...Fitness trainer is Christian Hoeflehner (since August 1998).

1986 -- Won first Tour title in Hilversum (d. Hlasek)...

1987 -- Reached the SF in Vienna and added three QF...

1988 -- Won four of six finals...Won his first U.S. title in Boston, beating Agassi in the QF and Lawson Duncan in clay court final...Also captured claycourt titles in Bordeaux, Prague and Bari...Finished in the Top 20 for the first time...Won first and only doubles title in Bari (w/Panatta)...

1989 -- The first Austrian to reach Australian Open SF and also became the first Austrian ever to reach the Top 10...In March, was struck by a drunk driver in Miami, only hours after defeating Noah to reach final in Key Biscayne, severing ligaments in his left knee...Unable to play final against Lendl and flew back to Vienna for surgery...Returned to tennis less than six months later...

1990 -- Won titles in Adelaide (on hardcourt), Casablanca and Rome...Also reached the finals in Monte Carlo and Munich and SF at French Open...Finished in the Top 10 for the first time and qualified for the ATP Tour World Championship in Frankfurt...Helped Austria to Davis Cup SF (6-0 record)...

1991 -- Captured two claycourt titles in Florence and Geneva...Compiled a 30-13 record...

1992 -- Won three clay titles - Monte Carlo, Florence and Umag...

1993 -- Won seven of nine finals and compiled a 77-21 match record...Led the Tour with 55 claycourt wins (10 losses)...Served as alternate for the ATP Tour World Championship...

1994 -- Won three clay-court titles - Mexico City, Madrid and St. Poelten...Defeated Stich 12-10 in the fifth set in a 5:25 marathon (longest match of year) in the fourth match of the 1st RD Davis Cup tie in Graz...Compiled a 37-9 record on clay...

1995 -- Won a career-high 12 titles in 14 finals, highlighted by his first career Grand Slam title at the French Open...Opened his claycourt dominance (65-2 record) in Mexico City where he won for the third consecutive year (d. Meligeni)...That was the start of 40 consecutive clay-court match victories (from February to June) and seven titles - Estoril (d. A. Costa), Barcelona (d. Larsson), Mercedes Super 9 stops in Monte Carlo (d. Becker) and Rome (d. Bruguera), French Open (d. Chang) and St. Poelten (d. Ulihrach)...Streak ended in July in the 1st RD of Gstaad to Corretja...The clay streak was the longest since Bjorn Borg won 44 in a row from 1977-79...Led the ATP Tour with a 12-3 record vs. Top 10 opponents...Made his second ATP Tour World Championship appearance...

1996 -- Won seven ATP Tour titles, including six repeat performances from 1995...Biggest highlight came on Feb. 12 when he became the second-oldest player to rank No. 1 for the first time (at 28 years, 4 months)...Held the top spot for one week and then again for five weeks from March 11-April 14...Compiled a 46-3 record on clay, bringing his 1995-96 total to 111-5...It is the best consecutive claycourt record in Open Era play (since 1968)...In first five months, defended titles in Mexico City (d. Novak), Estoril (d. Gaudenzi), Barcelona (d. Rios) and Mercedes Super 9s in Monte Carlo (d. A. Costa) and Rome (d. Krajicek)...Had an 18-match winning streak snapped by Moya in SF of Munich...Won in Bogota in September (d. Lapentti), giving him career titles on five continents...Suffered a hip injury in October and retired in opening-round matches in Stuttgart and Paris...Qualified for his third ATP Tour World Championship (1-2 in round-robin play)...

1997 -- Compiled his best results on hardcourts with titles in Dubai (d. Ivanisevic) and Key Biscayne (d. Bruguera)...Also a finalist in Cincinnati (l. to Sampras) and SF at Australian Open (l. to Sampras) and Indian Wells...Finished with a career-best 29-8 mark on hardcourts (9-9 on clay)...Appeared in his fourth ATP Tour World Championship as an alternate when Rusedski withdrew with an injury...Oldest player (30) in year-end Top 10...

1998 -- Reached final in Estoril (l. to Berasategui) and reached SF in Indian Wells and Mallorca.

1999 -- The veteran Austrian played a limited schedule, playing in 11 tournaments during season...Opened campaign by reaching SF in Sydney with victories over three Top 30 opponents -- No. 24 Bjorkman, No. 5 Moya and No. 30 Stoltenberg -- before losing to eventual champion Todd Martin..Did not win back-to-back matches in his 10 other tournaments...Advanced to 2nd RD in Dubai and Monte Carlo where he beat No. 18 Johansson...His last event of year was at Roland Garros in late May when he lost in 1st RD to Lapentti in four sets...Took remainder of season off to reflect on his career and enjoy flying his helicopter in Noosa Heads, Australia, his other residence.