Thomas Muster
Austrian ace Thomas Muster is a former World No. 1. In 1989, the ace, despite having only one Major title to his name, was considered one of the best clay-court specialists and a very successful player on that surface. That is not to say, however, that the then-22-year-old Muster was not a successful player. Just the previous year, he had reached six Tour-Level finals, and in 1989 reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, losing to then-No. 1 Ivan Lendl.
Soon after, Muster set up another big match against Lendl, this time at the finals of the Lipton International Players’ Championships in Florida.
But fate had different plans for Muster: only a few hours after his win, the 22-year-old was struck in the road by a drunk driver. Forfeiting the trophy – and potentially ending his career with the injury, Muster flew back to Austria for treatment.
Those injuries may well have spelled the end for his – or any other player’s career – but Muster was seen, soon after his surgery, practicing tennis with a twist. The Austrian had a wheelchair designed specifically for him, from which he would practice tennis every day.
In September of 1989 – only five months after the surgery, Muster returned to competitive tennis.
To say that he quickly came back to form would be unfair to the Austrian – by 1990, Muster not only won three Clay Court Masters titles, but reached the semi-finals of the French Open that year, only losing to eventual winner Andres Gomez.
Over the next three years, he won twelve Tour level titles, nearly half of them Masters-level.
He had immense success over the next few years, the best of his career, and seven years after a drunk driver nearly ended his career, Muster hit the World No. 1 rank in 1996.
After a number of successful years, Muster took his first retirement in 1999. At 42, over a decade later, Muster announced that he would be returning to professional tennis. He had middling results over the next couple of years, finally retiring in 2011.
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