Gilles Muller And His Incredible Run At The US Open 2008
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| Photo by Matthew Stockman / Getty Images |
Gilles Muller is not an uknown name for those who follow men’s professional tennis more closely.
If you don’t remember him from 2004 when he beat Agassi in the semi-finals of Legg Mason Classic in Washington, then you probably heard of him when he beat Andy Roddick in the first round of US Open 2005.
Gilles Muller was born in Luxembourg, is a left-hander and is 195 cm tall.
He turned pro in 2001 and has already earned more than a million dollars on the ATP tour.
He had an incredible run at this year’s US Open when he reached the quarter finals losing to the eventual champion Roger Federer.
Here’s why his run was such an impressive feat:
1. Gilles played many ATP and Challenger series of tournaments this year until the US Open but his results were quite mixed.
He played 4 ATP tournaments and lost 3 times in the first round and once in the second round. His Challenger results are a little better although he was far from being constant; he played 12 Challengers, won 2 of them and lost in others most of the times in the first or second round.
These results still gave him the #130 ATP rankings before the US Open which forced him to play the qualifying.
2. Gilles Muller therefore played the US Open 2008 qualifying rounds with these results:
1st round: Lamine Quahab – 6-7, 7-5, 7-5
2nd round: Adrian Mannarino – 7-6, 7-5
3rd round: Tobias Kamke – 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
Muller:
What I learned is that I know how to deal with a lot of situations, which I couldn’t do before. I mean, for me, the most amazing thing is that this is the first time in my career I’m actually winning a lot of matches. Before I used to win one big match and lost the next one, because I lost focus and I was getting all fired up in my head because I won that match.
But now I’m just staying calm, and like, even today I guess a lot of people think that I should be happy, but actually I’m disappointed, because I think today I had my chances, and I didn’t take them.
3. After Gilles qualified he had a very tough draw ahead of him. Note that he came back from 2 sets to 0 against Tommy Haas and he also won a very tough match against Almagro where he lost the 2 sets to 0 lead:
1st round: Laurent Recouderc – 6-4, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4
2nd round: Tommy Haas – 2-6, 2-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3
3rd round: Nicolas Almagro – 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5
4th round: Nikolay Davydenko – 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6
QF: Roger Federer – 6-7, 4-6, 6-7
Muller:
I wasn’t having that much confidence, because I lost in the quarterfinals in the challenger the week before (the US Open 2008). I came in late. To be honest with you, I was already happy when I qualified. That was already a good thing for me.
But then I guess I had a good draw for the first round, a wildcard. I won that one. Yeah, and then, I mean, the other matches, those are the moments where you have nothing to lose.
I’m playing Tommy Haas. I mean, he’s a great player. I mean, I went on court and I played terrible the first two sets. I said, Come on, Man. You have nothing to lose. Why are you playing so tight? Then I started playing better. Now I know I can turn around matches. That gave me a lot of confidence, and I can beat those guys.
Gilles Muller jumped over 70 places in the ATP rankings because of his great US Open run and is now ranked 68th (15. september, 2008).
My question to you, dear visitor, is: What can you learn from Gilles’ story? Share your tennis thoughts in the comments below!
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September 17th, 2008 at 3:09 am
What a coincidence. Just yesterday I was browsing your tennismindgame, and I stumbled this article:
http://www.tennismindgame.com/quit-and-get-loose.html
I was struck on how Gilles thought he had nothing to lose and from that point on, he was getting his play better and start kicking some (serious) butt in the end.
I think the moral of this is just stay calm, be composed and loosen up a bit, without too many things to worry about. Just focus on the ball and let good nature guide you.
Another lesson in life learned.
But how come the same mantra didn’t work against Federer? Well, I think if the mystery of life is as simple as 1+1=2, then everyone is a Federer
September 17th, 2008 at 4:10 am
Hey Adi,
Actually, I think Muller was pretty loose against Federer too since Roger couldn’t do much against that serve. It’s just that Roger can take his game to one level higher than everyone else…
October 5th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Recently, a new face showed up on the tennis courts in Tennessee. Prior to our first singles match, my opponent told me he had trained at the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in Texas. Because of my limited tennis experience, I expected my opponent to outplay me; however, to my pleasant surprise, I easily won the first set 6-0; however, that’s when the match turned. Prior to the start of the second set, he picked up his cell phone and was talking loud enough for me to hear him. He announced the score of our first set to the person on the other end of the conversation and said he would be home earlier than expected. Right… He won the second set 6-4 and the third-set in a 10-point tiebreaker. That phone call was as effective in changing the momentum as one of the pros taking a fake medical timeout! Over the course of the next 4 weeks, this opponent would defeat me in two more singles matches.
In preparation for our fourth meeting, I decided to re-think my strategy and tactics employed in the previous 3 matches. Having read comments from Tomaz Mencinger, I decided to do most of my thinking off court, rather than do too much thinking on court. Therefore, while off court I decided to change my mind-set to playing a game designed to hurt my opponent, rather than “killing” him. I thought about which would be my best shots in typical situations – when I have a short ball, when I rally from the baseline, when I defend. Once that situation happened in the match, I wouldn’t think about it, the answer would already be stored in my memory.
One of my objectives for the match would be to aggressively look for opportunities to force my opponent into uncomfortable situations from which he would either miss or give me a short ball, which I could attack. I wanted to think about playing the ball back, think about hurting my opponent in any way – either moving him or playing faster. If that proved to be impossible, then I had to think about NEUTRALIZING – preventing the attack from my opponent. My ball had to be DEEP and FAST enough so that my opponent wouldn’t have enough time to set up. The more time he has, the more accurate he can play. Therefore, I had to take time away from him and give myself more time. I had to take time away with faster shots and making him move (so he wouldn’t have the time to set-up). I had to give myself time by playing the ball deep so that it will travel longer to me when my opponent hits it.
Well, to make a long story, short, acting on the advice of Tomaz proved to be very beneficial. After three disappointing losses to this one opponent, I finally won my fourth match against him in a grueling, two-hour, third set tiebreaker. Soon, he’ll make another trip to the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch. Our next match should prove to be interesting.
Like Gilles Muller, I’ll endeavor to remain loose before and during the match by believing and behaving as if I have nothing to lose. Well, at my level, I really don’t have much to lose, except for bragging rights and that’s never been of much value to me. I mainly want to build consistent confidence in order to produce consistent, desireable results and enjoy the experience each time I’m on the court.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Hey Ric,
Thanks for sharing your story! Yes, “hurting” is the key to keeping opponent under pressure and avoiding unforced errors…