Thomas Muster

Tennis

Thomas Muster’s triumphs made Austria tennis crazy for more than a decade.

Starting in his youth, Muster turned the heads of fans and experts by reaching the finals of the Junior French Open and winning the prestigious Orange Bowl in 1985. He turned pro in the same year and won his first tournament a year later in Hilversum. Overall, Muster won 44 tournaments, the highlight naturally being the French Open 1995, where he beat American Michael Chang in three straight sets.

Muster climbed to no. 1 in the world as the only Austrian to date, holding this position for 6 weeks. He finally called it a career in 2011 at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna where he lost to his successor Dominic Thiem.