He is the only player with a better record than Jannik Sinner in finals but retired with one Grand Slam

Jannik Sinner has won 76.9% of the finals he’s played, winning 30 and losing nine.

Of the players who have contested 20 or more finals, only one man can best Sinner’s win %.

That man is none other than Thomas Muster.

Thomas Muster won 83% of the finals he played during his career

Muster is the greatest Austrian player to have ever picked up a tennis racket.

The 58-year-old was ranked number one in the world and won a Grand Slam title, at the 1995 French Open.

Thomas Muster’s 1995 French Open campaign

• 1R [WIN] vs Gerard Solves, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1
• 2R [WIN] vs Cedric Pioline, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3
• 3R [WIN] vs Carlos Costa, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2
• 4R [WIN] vs Andrei Medvedev, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0
• QF [WIN] vs Albert Costa, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7, 7-5, 6-2
• SF [WIN] vs Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-4, 6-0, 6-4
• F [WIN] vs Michael Chang, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4

It’s no surprise that Muster won Roland Garros; he was given the nickname ‘The King of Clay’, after all.

He also won eight Masters 1000 titles, six of which came on his favourite clay courts.

Muster won 40 clay-court titles, only losing five finals on the surface.

His overall record in finals was 44-11 (83%), while his record in ‘big finals’ was 9-2 (82%).

Thomas Muster’s record in ‘big finals’ (9-2)

When the pressure was on, the Austrian performed at his best, and he proved that time and time again.

Muster only played one Grand Slam final, but you have to imagine that if he had turned some of his semi-final defeats into wins, he might have added a few more major titles to his tally.

Thomas Muster’s best Grand Slam results

• 1995 French Open – Winner
• 1997 Australian Open – Lost in SF to Pete Sampras, 1-6, 6-7, 3-6
• 1990 French Open – Lost in SF to Andres Gomez, 5-7, 1-6, 5-7
• 1989 Australian Open – Lost in SF to Ivan Lendl, 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 5-7
• 1998 French Open – Lost in QF to Felix Mantilla, 4-6, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6
• 1996 US Open – Lost in QF to Andre Agassi, 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 2-6
• 1994 US Open – Lost in QF to Andre Agassi, 6-7, 3-6, 0-6
• 1994 Australian Open – Lost in QF to Stefan Edberg, 2-6, 3-6, 4-6
• 1993 US Open – Lost in QF to Alexander Volkov, 6-7, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 5-7

He retired from tennis in 1999, four years after his French Open triumph, but announced a shock comeback in 2010, at the age of 42.

Muster won several matches at the Challenger level before retiring again in October, 2011.

The Austrian remains the most clinical final performer in tennis history.

However, even though Sinner trails Muster in this one statistic, he has accomplished something the ‘King of Clay’ never did.

Thomas Muster never won a single match at Wimbledon

Sinner recently won his second Wimbledon title, defeating Alexander Zverev in the final.

Muster, on the other hand, not only failed to win Wimbledon, he never won a match at the All England Club.

He only played the event four times (1987, 1992, 1993, 1994), but lost in the first round on each occasion.

In fact, he lost his first nine sets at the event, before the 1994 Wimbledon Championships.

There, searching for his maiden win on the grass in London, Muster pushed the German qualifier Alexander Mronz all the way to a fifth and deciding set.

It still wasn’t to be for Muster, though, as he lost 7-5, 6-7, 7-6, 4-6, 6-8.

For all his success elsewhere, the Austrian couldn’t figure out how to play on grass.