Tennis Hall of Fame

[gbelday]

Jim Courier, Jana Novotna, Yannick Noah and Butch Buchholz: Tennis Hall of Fame inductees.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/index

[Marcel]

Does anyone know if that Austrian player, Tom Muster has been inducted to the Hall of Fame yet? Because I always liked to watch him playing on sand.

[PKBasu]

No, Marcel, I don't think Thomas Muster is in the Hall of Fame. That is quite sad, really, given that Muster's was a pretty heroic story. He is now remembered for having won just one Slam (the French Open, 1995), but six years before that he had a terrific run on hard courts, making the SF at the Australian Open and then looking unbeatable at Key Biscayne (then often called the "fifth Slam"), where he beat Noah to make the final. He was to play Lendl, but had a freak accident when a drunk driver plowed into him in the tournament's parking lot, tearing ligaments and breaking his knee. That Muster was still able to come back into the top 10 within the next 12 months was a remarkable story. Without that injury, Muster might well have been one of the greats of that era, rather than someone who ended up with just that one Slam, and a reputation as a clay court specialist. 

[Prashant]

Second what PKB said. Muster was on track to be a major force on all surfaces except grass, before that tragic accident. It took astonishing will power to even come back from that injury - if I remember right, both ligaments in one knee were completely severed. To come back & secure the world #1 ranking after an injury like that is pretty amazing. For much of the year after the injury, he was only able to train & condition his upper body, and used to sit on a chair on court & hit ground strokes.

Muster also had one year (either '94 or '95) where he won 12 out of 14 tournament finals, which is quite Federer-esque. He had the longest clay winning streak outside of Borg & Nadal.

As far as I can remember, Muster was the first player I ever watched live (in 1996). I remember being struck by how much larger his left arm was than his right arm.

[rajitghosh]

Leander and Vijay are being inducted into the tennis Hall of Fame. Vijay gets in as a broadcaster though not as a player. Anyway some good news for Indian tennis at last.

[PKBasu]

Here's the announcement in full:

https://www.tennisfame.com/class-announ ... e=hs_email

Leander enters the Hall of Fame as a player, Vijay as a contributor. Richard Evans co-authored Vijay's autobiography "Vijay!" and Leander was trained at the Britannia Amritraj Tennis academy, so this is very much a Vijay-centered show. The greatest honour of course goes to Leander.