Muster received very little luck in his draws at Roland Garros over the years. Perhaps one may say "If Muster was so good on clay, why couldn't he overcome other greats who weren't as comfortable on the surface?" It's a fair question. Even though each was more accomplished at the time, one might've expected Muster to get past Becker way back in the 1988 third round or Sampras in the 1991 first round. Still, those aren't exactly cupcake draws, regardless of the surface.
In 1992 and 1993, just when Muster was truly re-establishing himself following the accident and recovery, he was placed in the same small section of the draw with Courier, who was at the apex of his career. In 1994, Muster, as the 11th seed, had the misfortune of having to face a barely unseeded Agassi in the second round. Muster beat him in five sets, but succumbed to serve and volleying 26th ranked Rafter in the next round. On paper, Muster should've beaten a young Rafter, but again, it wasn't the easiest setup for someone ranked just outside the top ten.
The 1996 loss to Stich is the one that stings the most because Muster had won virtually every lead-up tournament just as he had the year prior, and he was a massive favorite to defend his French title. Stich was the perfect foil in the round of 16 though. He was a former slam winner with a big serve and an all around game that could hamper Muster's rhythm. Plus, having dealt with a number of injuries and nearing the end of his career, Stich was playing with almost no pressure. Stich nearly went on to win the entire tournament, losing in three tight sets to Kafelnikov in the championship match.
Muster entered the 1997 French Open in an odd position. He started the year on fire on hard courts, but had bizarrely struggled on clay. Seeded 5th, Muster was not nearly as favored as in the years prior, but the feeling was that he could still find his game and do damage. Unfortunately, after escaping the first two rounds, Muster had the privilege of running into Gustavo Kuerten. For all of Guga's brilliant flowing backhand winners and deft drop shots, Muster had Kuerten on the ropes at 3-0 in the fifth set. Kuerten upped his level and Muster couldn't close it out. Had Muster found a way past Kuerten, perhaps he could've made a serious run at the title. Kuerten's path was difficult on paper, but Muster had handled players like Medvedev, Kafelnikov and Bruguera very well.
1998 was Muster's last real shot at Roland Garros (He played his last tour match at Roland Garros in 1999 before his brief return in 2010-11). He came in ranked 23rd and unseeded after failing to defend most of his points earned early in 1997, but fresh off some decent clay results in the spring of '98. The draw was again not the most favorable on paper in that Muster was forced to open with the 7th seed Jonas Bjorkman. Muster was in far better form, however, and straight setted the Swede before making a nice run to the quarterfinals, where he ran out of steam against rising clay courter Felix Mantilla.
Muster's 32-13 overall Roland Garros record is not much different than Bruguera's for instance (32-10), but Bruguera obviously had several very deep runs to include back to back titles and a runner-up. The seeding of only 16 players at slams back then impacted the draws tremendously. While it's certainly true that you have to beat great players to go deep in or win grand slams, avoiding playing those greats in the first few rounds is clearly helpful. Muster had the misfortune of drawing and losing to the eventual champion or finalist in the fourth round or sooner four times during his prime years. It's easy to state that Muster underachieved at Roland Garros, but you have to actually dig deeper to understand the full story.
