More trivia #5

[Kevin Patrick]

Who defended his high ranking by saying that "they don't sell ranking points in the supermarket?"

[Datacipher]

Off the top of my head, I'm gonna take a shot : Moose man?

[Ballmachine]

It was Muster.

[Steve Huff]

You said "high ranking", not "#1 ranking" right? This sounds like something Brad Gilbert would say.

[Sean Dugan]

Yes Virginia, it was Thomas Muster.......after Agassi and/or Sampras went on record to the effect that Muster couldn't win on anything but clay, so his number one ranking was dubious. Tom and his PT280's dominated the clay season in 95. He could play on hard courts, too, but had a bad knee so he consciously limited his training on hard courts.....because as most of us know, hards courts are death to one's knees. Ironically, he hurt his knee in connection to hard court success. At Key Biscayne in 89, he made it to the finals v Lendl, but was injured the night before the final when a drunk driver plowed into a car Muster was standing behind. That car rolled into Muster severing knee ligaments. Ouch! Actually, Muster seemingly made more of an effort to play effectively on hard surfaces after that criticism was levied. . He won in Key Biscayne (then the Lipton) v Bruguera.. Also made it to the finals in Cincy that year, losing to Sampras. His game was built for clay, extreme grips, endurance, grind it out baseline tennis. But he could play on hard courts too. Did not like grass, and hardly ever played at Wimbledon. Bottom line, he deserved to be number one after the clay season he had in 1995. I think his clay record was something like 65-3 (winning 40 matches in a row) that year including a win at RG.

[Mikael]

He did like grass... saying they are the most beautiful courts and that he enjoys playing on them... he just didn't play well on it. I know, just nitpicking... but this is a trivia thread after all

[Datacipher]

Originally Posted by Mikael

He did like grass... saying they are the most beautiful courts and that he enjoys playing on them... he just didn't play well on it. I know, just nitpicking... but this is a trivia thread after all

Interesting Mikael, I wonder if he really meant it or was just trying to be a good sport?

[Mikael]

Well, considering it wasn't an interview for a British newspaper and that it wasn't during Wimbledon, I think it's fair to say he meant it...

[Sean Dugan]

Perhaps he was referring to marijuana. ;o) Muster's results on grass speak for themselves. Maybe he liked grass, but grass didn't seem to like him much. Not his best surface. It's easy on the knees though. I miss watching "the animal" play. What a character!