A headline only a Noo Joisey paper could love...
OPEN HOTDOG IS SMOTHERED BY MUSTER
BY AL PICKER
The Star-Ledger
Newark, NJ
Thursday, August 31, 1995
NEW YORK -- IT IS DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE THAT THE THIRD-RANKED PLAYER IN THE WORLD IS HARDLY CONSIDERED A THREAT FOR THE U.S. OPEN TITLE. BUT THAT'S THE CASE WITH THOMAS MUSTER, WHO'S NOT MENTIONED IN THE SAME BREATH WITH NO. 1 ANDRE AGASSI AND NO. 2 PETE SAMPRAS.
MUSTER IS THE KING OF CLAY, BUT HE IS CONSIDERED TO HAVE CLAY FEET WHEN IT COMES TO COMPETING FOR THE AMERICAN GRAND SLAM TITLE AT THE NATIONAL TENNIS CENTER IN FLUSHING MEADOW.
THE AUSTRIAN LEFT-HANDER HAS WON 10 TITLES ON THE TOUR THIS YEAR, THE MOST OF ANYONE, BUT HE IS STILL THE RODNEY DANGERFIELD OF THE U.S. OPEN. NO RESPECT. SIMPLE REASONING. MUSTER DOES HIS WINNING ON CLAY SURFACES. HE HAS A 69-10 MATCH RECORD IN 1995, BUT IS ONLY 8-4 ON A HARD COURT. ON CLAY, HE'S A MASTERFUL 60-2.
MUSTER'S SEASON HIGH CAME IN PARIS, WHERE HE WON HIS FIRST GRAND SLAM TITLE, A FRENCH OPEN TRIUMPH OVER MICHAEL CHANG.
MUSTER LOOKED AWFULLY GOOD YESTERDAY, ESPECIALLY AS HIS OPENING-ROUND MATCH PROGRESSED AGAINST LUKE JENSEN BEFORE AN AFTERNOON CROWD OF 21,092. GETTING STRONGER AND STRONGER, HE FINALLY DISMISSED THE WILD-CARD ENTRY, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-0, IN 93 MINUTES.
MUSTER LOOKED IMPRESSIVE, BUT JENSEN WAS ONLY RANKED 279TH.
ANOTHER PLAYER WHOSE SPECIALTY IS KEEPING OPPONENTS CONTINUALLY ON THE RUN FOLLOWED MUSTER INTO THE STADIUM ARENA. MICHAEL CHANG, THE PLAYER THROUGH WHOM ONE HAS HAD TO PASS TO WIN THE OPEN TITLE DURING THE PAST FOUR YEARS, CAME IN WITH A BREEZE AND BLEW OUT NO. 90 GIANLUCA POZZI OF ITALY IN ONLY 63 MINUTES, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0.
NO. 5 CHANG, OUSTED BY THE OPEN CHAMPIONS OF 1991-94, COULD NOT HAVE BEEN ANY SHARPER IN HIS FIRST OUTING. THE LOSS OF ONLY ONE GAME WAS THE MOST LOPSIDED SINCE 1988 WHEN IVAN LENDL DISMISSED BARRY MOIR, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.
STEFFI GRAF, THE WOMEN'S FAVORITE, PACED THE FIELD INTO THE THIRD ROUND, KNOCKING OFF NO. 96 RITA GRANDE OF ITALY, 6-1, 6-3, IN ONLY 44 MINUTES BEFORE A NIGHT TURNOUT OF 19,908. GRANDE HELPED HER OWN DEMISE WITH 31 UNFORCED ERRORS.
THIS IS THE WAY THE GERMAN STAR LIKES IT: SHORT AND SWEET. IN THE FIRST ROUND, GRAF, 34-1 FOR THE SEASON, WAS EXTENDED THROUGH THREE SETS AND TWO HOURS BY AMANDA COETZER.
BORIS BECKER, THE MEN'S FOURTH SEED, WRAPPED UP THE NIGHT SESSION BY ROLLING TO A 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 DECISION OVER NO. 118 CARSTEN ARRIENS OF GERMANY IN 1:41, A SOLID PERFORMANCE BY THE 1989 U.S. OPEN CHAMP.
BESIDES GRAF, OTHER WOMEN SEEDS TO ADVANCE WERE NO. 2 ARANTXA SANCHEZ VICARIO, NO. 6 MARY PIERCE AND NO. 9 GABRIELA SABATINI.
CHANDA RUBIN, WINNER OF THE PATHMARK CLASSIC SUNDAY IN MAHWAH, JOINED THE FAVORITES IN THE THIRD ROUND WITH AN UPSET OVER 15TH-SEEDED HELENA SUKOVA OF CZECH REPUBLIC, 6-1, 6-3. PATHMARK FINALIST MAGDALENA MALEEVA DID NOT HAVE A GOOD DAY, THE NO. 8 SEED FROM BULGARIA FALLING IN AN UPSET TO RISING 14-YEAR-OLD STAR MARTINA HINGIS OF SWITZERLAND, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
NOT TOO MANY STADIUM FANS WOULD HAVE GIVEN HINGIS MUCH OF A CHANCE AFTER SHE DOUBLE FAULTED AWAY THE FIRST SET WITH A SERVE THAT LANDED SQUARELY IN A RECEIVER'S BOX. UNFORTUNATELY, IT WAS ON HER SIDE OF THE COURT.
THE TEENAGER REGROUPED AND DOMINATED THE NEXT TWO SETS IN HER FIRST MATCH IN THE STADIUM. "IT WAS A GOOD FEELING TO BE OUT THERE, BUT YOU HAVE TO GET USED TO THE AMERICAN FANS," SHE SAID. "THEY ARE UNDISCIPLINED. BETWEEN EVERY BALL, THEY GO ALL OVER THE PLACE, WALKING AROUND."
MONICA SELES AND ANDRE AGASSI WILL BE BACK FOR SECOND-ROUND ENCOUNTERS ON TODAY'S DAY AND NIGHT PROGRAM. SELES WILL BE FEATURED THIS AFTERNOON AGAINST ERIKA DE LONE IN THE SECOND STADIUM MATCH, WHILE AGASSI HAS A 7:30 P.M. DATE WITH ALEX CORRETJA.
THE FOURTH DAY WAS A MEMORABLE ONE FOR NEW JERSEY'S LONE ENTRY IN THE MEN'S DRAW, JUSTIN GIMELSTOB OF NEW VERNON. THE 18-YEAR-OLD UCLA SOPHOMORE, AN AMATEUR, DISPLAYED PLENTY OF GUTS IN UPSETTING NO. 65 DAVID PRINOSIL OF GERMANY, 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, IN HIS U.S. OPEN DEBUT. HIS REWARD FOR THE NEAR THREE-ROUND MARATHON VICTORY WILL BE A SECOND-ROUND MEETING TOMORROW AGAINST 12TH-SEEDED RICHARD KRAJICEK OF NETHERLANDS, A 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 WINNER OVER CZECH KAREL NOVACEK.
EIGHTH-SEEDED MICHAEL STICH, RUNNERUP TO AGASSI LAST YEAR, OPENED WITH A 6-2, 6-3, 6-0 VICTORY OVER NO. 46 JAVIER SANCHEZ OF SPAIN.
MUSTER, A QUARTERFINALIST AT THE U.S. OPEN THE PAST TWO YEARS, DOESN'T EXPECT MUCH DURING THIS FORTNIGHT DESPITE THOSE EFFORTS. HE SURELY DIDN'T PREPARE MUCH FOR THE U.S. OPEN. WHILE OTHER PLAYERS WERE GETTING THEIR GAME ACCLIMATED TO HARD COURTS, THERE WAS NARY A HARD-COURT TOURNAMENT ON MUSTER'S SCHEDULE. HE PLAYED ALL SUMMER ON CLAY.
LAST WEEKEND, HE WON TITLE NO. 10 IN CROATIA. NO SUPERMAN FLIGHT TO GET TO THE OPEN.
"I LEFT SUNDAY NIGHT (FROM UMAG), TOOK A PRIVATE PLANE TO PARIS," MUSTER SAID. "SLEPT AT THE AIRPORT AND LEFT IN THE MORNING 11 O'CLOCK, CONCORD, ARRIVED HERE AT 9 O'CLOCK, PRACTICED AT 3."
THAT'S MUSTER. EVERYTHING BY THE CLOCK. AND LIKE CLOCKWORK, HE DISMISSED JENSEN, WHO DESCRIBED HIS CONQUEROR QUITE GRAPHICALLY: "THE GUY REALLY IS AN ANIMAL. HE'S ONE OF THE MOST FIT PLAYERS. HE MAKES YOU WORK FOR POINTS. HE JUST CHEWS YOU UP AND SPITS YOU OUT. HE GOES, 'NEXT VICTIM, PLEASE.' "
JENSEN, KNOWN AS THE TOUR'S MOST COLORFUL PERFORMER, DESPERATELY TRIED TO GET THE FANS INVOLVED. BUT THAT'S DIFFICULT WHEN YOU'RE CONSTANTLY OUT OF BREATH FROM
RUNNING FROM ONE SIDE OF THE COURT TO THE OTHER TO TRY AND CATCH UP WITH MUSTER'S MASTERFUL SHOTS.
MUSTER EASILY COULD HAVE FELT HE WAS PLAYING SEVERAL DIFFERENT PLAYERS.
FIRST, JENSEN IS AMBIDEXTROUS. NOT ONLY DID HE SERVE WITH EITHER HAND, BUT HE SWITCHES HANDS DURING RALLIES. HE STARTED WITH A BLACK SHIRT WITH THE NUMERALS 42 PLASTERED ACROSS HIS BACK, QUITE AN UNUSUAL ATTIRE FOR A GRAND SLAM BUT ONE THAT HAD BEEN APPROVED BY THE TOURNAMENT COMMITTEE.
"THE 42 WAS A TRIBUTE TO RONNIE LOTT -- THE BIGGEST, BADDEST FOOTBALL PLAYER OF THE MODERN ERA," SAID JENSEN, WHO, WITH BROTHER MURPHAY, FORM ONE OF THE STRONGER DOUBLES TEAMS ON THE CIRCUIT. "I WENT TO SOUTHERN CAL AND MET HIM BEFORE I SIGNED UP. I STARTED WEARING BLACK SHOES ON THE COURT BECAUSE OF HIM."
UNFORTUNATELY, FOR JENSEN, HE HARDLY HIT WITH THE SAME VELOCITY OR ACCURACY THAT LOTT DID IN HIS DAYS AS THE PREMIER LINEBACKER IN THE NFL.
WHEN YOU HAVE JENSEN ON THE COURT, YOU ALSO EXPECT TO SEE THINGS OTHER THAN SHOTMAKING. LIKE AN ENTIRE WARDROBE. HE STARTED WITH A BLACK SHIRT, CHANGED TO A BROWN ONE, THEN A GREEN ONE AND FINISHED IN BLUE.
JENSEN, THE MATCH ALREADY IN THE BAG FOR MUSTER, DREW A BROAD SMILE FROM THE USUALLY AUSTERE AUSTRIAN AND SOME LAUGHS FROM THE CROWD WHEN HE LINED UP IN A DOUBLES FORMATION ON MUSTER'S SIDE OF THE COURT FOR THE FINAL GAME.
HE SLAPPED HANDS WITH MUSTER AND THE FAVORITE WENT RIGHT TO WORK. NO MERCY. MUSTER OPENED WITH A SMASH. AN ACE WAS NEXT. THEN A FOREHAND CROSS COURT INTO AN OPEN COURT. ANOTHER FOREHAND WINNER AND IT WAS OVER.
JOKINGLY, MUSTER SAID: "THIS WAS REVENGE. I LOST TO HIM 15 YEARS AGO AND NEVER MET HIM UNTIL TODAY."
NOTHING BOTHERED MUSTER.
THE CIRCUS ATMOSPHERE? "IT WAS HIS SHOW, MY WIN. SO IT WAS ALL RIGHT," HE SAID.
JENSEN'S ATTIRE? "WE ARE IN AMERICA, WHERE EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE, LET HIM DO IT," MUSTER SAID.
THE LEFT-HANDED AND RIGHT-HANDED SERVING?
"IT BOTHERS HIM MORE THAN ME. HE HAS TO THINK TWICE BEFORE THE SERVE," MUSTER SAID.
JENSEN WAS STEAMROLLED. BUT HE DOESN'T GIVE MUSTER ANY CHANCE OF WINNING. "HE JUST KICKED MY BUTT, BUT THE FIELD HERE HAS SO MUCH DEPTH," JENSEN SAID. "I THINK YOU HAVE TO HAVE REAL MAJOR WEAPONS LIKE ANDRE AGASSI OR PETE SAMPRAS. HE IS GOING TO HAVE TO DO A LOT MORE THAN JUST HIT GROUNDSTROKES BECAUSE THERE ARE GUYS HERE WHO CAN RUN FASTER, SERVE BIGGER, HIT BETTER VOLLEYS.
"PUT DIRT HERE AND IT WOULD BE DIFFERENT."
SANCHEZ VICARIO, ANOTHER NO. 3-SEEDED PLAYER WHO DOESN'T GET MUCH RESPECT DESPITE HER OPEN VICTORY LAST YEAR, OUSTED NO. 37 JOANNETTE KRUGER OF SOUTH AFRICA, 6-3, 6-4. PIERCE BLEW AWAY NO. 107 TATYANA JECMENICA OF YUGOSLAVIA, 6-3, 6-0, IN 47 MINUTES AND 1990 OPEN WINNER SABATINI ELIMINATED NO. 173 NAOKO KIJIMUTA OF JAPAN, A QUALIFIER, 6-4, 6-3.