Country: Luxembourg
Born: 9th May 1983 (Luxembourg)
Lives: Leudelange, Luxembourg
Plays: left hand
Career High: 59



I've got a feeling Adele's song "Rolling in the deep" is in some sort about Gilles Muller 's tennis. The player from Luxembourg is probably one of these who defeated the biggest amount of top 10 competitors among guys ranked outside of top 100. And he really was supposed to "have it all."

In 2001 he won the junior US Open and played in the Wimbledon final, and he was ranked as #1 between the 18-year-old. He has always been recognized as one of the huge serving and clinical volleying guys. At the same time it's difficult to say whether he's ever had a real breakthrough or not. Was it in 2004 when he defeated Andre Agassi? Or maybe one year later, when he took Rafael Nadal out of Wimbledon?

"I remember when I played here the juniors like four, five years ago, the bounce was much lower. It's true that it's different than then. But still I think if you're serving well and if you're playing a lot of serve and volley, it's tough for the real clay court players to play well on this surface. But they are better than before, that's for sure. I mean, like I said, the bounce is higher so they can use their forehand more. It's much easier for them than before. But still I think maybe Nadal is never going to win Wimbledon," he said after that match. Good that he sticks to playing tennis and not telling the future.

However, the win everybody remembers is the one over Andy Roddick in the same 2005. Roddick was destined to grab the crown at US Open. There was a huge marketing campaign the American was the main face of. Nobody could tell in their wildest dreams Roddick would lose in the first round in three tie-breaks to some guy from Luxembourg...

"Well, strategy? I mean, I know -- I'm a lefty, and I know he has sometimes problems to hit backhands when you go to the net, when you force him to the backhand. That was kind of my strategy before the match. But, I mean, first of all I was trying to hit some returns in the court and then I would see after," simplified Muller.

The story of his life is that he didn't back it up against his doubles partner in that tournament, Robby Ginepri. He confessed he was too excited after the big win. The phones didn't stop calling and he felt obliged to write back to all the text messages. The phone rang even during the warm up before the second round match. It crept Muller off. He lost.

Brad Gilbert offered him help at that time, but the Luxembourgish man could have not afforded such an expensive coach. He practised in Paris and then in Barcelona. Obviously some sponsor could have helped, yet nobody appeared to be interested. Muller couldn't go on with his wins and eventually fell into a challenger oblivion. He considered finishing career due to expenses overgrowing the prizes.

Another miracle happened in 2008 when 130 ranked Muller stormed through the US Open qualification and wasn't stopped by Tommy Haas, Nicolas Almagro (won from 0-2 in sets), nor Nikolay Davydenko, until he met eventual champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinal. Since June 2008 to June 2011 he played in seven challenger / futures finals and... lost all of them. He is considered as a clutch tie-break player when in shape, but the finals seemed to overgrow him for some time. The change happened in Nottingham on grass where he beat Matthias Bachinger from Germany. Despite being seen (and rightly so) as a grass specialist, he tended to lose at Wimbledon quallies - for example to Jaroslav Pospisil. In 2011 he received in Wimbledon his first Grand Slam wild card. Yes, it took ten years since he made his junior run until he received any significant wild card. "Politics..." people from Luxembourg say.

He is the member of his country's Davis Cup team. I had the pleasure of watching Gilles live several times during the Athens tournament of III Euro zone, where he helped Luxembourg advance to zone II. Their team didn't socialize with the other chaps and also stayed in a better hotel. Posh. Reportedly he is a nice, down to Earth guy regardless. He plays poker and likes football. He's a fan of Borussia Dortmund. His parents names are Marcel (he's a postal worker) and Miriam (takes care of the house), Gilles also has one older brother, Patrick. Gilles Muller speaks - apart from Luxembourgish - also English, German and French.

Nathii

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