A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about a book called Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life by James Blake. I finished the book last week and it was an excellent read. Definitely worth the purchase price. I feel like I know more about the man behind the tennis player now. I cringed when I read about Blake's panic after he broke his neck on a clay court in Rome. I grieved with him as I read about his father's death shortly thereafter. And I felt for him as he battled through zoster and wondered if he'd ever play tennis as a professional again. The great news is, Blake is back and playing better than he ever has.
But I saw a video clip today of the 2005 US Open first round match between Andy Roddick and Gilles Muller and I heard something that inspired me even more. More on that in a minute. For those of you who aren't tennis fans, stick with me because this post is about more than just tennis. Muller, an unknown player from Luxembourg, was ranked number 68 when he met Roddick, but his ranking might as well have been 968. Roddick was expected to breeze through him, but Muller played the match of his life and knocked off Roddick in three straight sets on national television. At the time, Muller was expected to go on and do great things on the court.
By the end of the 2005 season though, his ranking dropped to 76. By the end of 2006 his ranking fell to 105. Going into the 2007 US Open, he was ranked 143--too low to even make it into the tournament without playing and winning three qualifying matches. Turns out that he lost his first round qualifying match and didn't even make the tournament this year. John McEnroe, who is back with the USA Network again covering the tournament, said that Muller has been playing challengers (the minor leagues of professional tennis) just to get his ranking up high enough to play ATP events again.
As much as I admire James Blake and the way he's fought his way back, I think I'm even more impressed by Gilles Muller. Here's a guy who has a career 56-64 professional record, who has tasted success briefly, but now finds himself playing matches that nobody watches. And surely he knows that he might not ever get another chance to play in the spotlight. But he plays anyway.
Do you ever wonder what happens to all of the people who try to succeed in something they love to do but ultimately have to come to terms with the fact that it just isn't going to happen? I wonder about that all the time. Probably because I can relate so well. Well, Muller is one of those people, and you can still find him hacking away on the outer courts of major tennis tournaments and on courts in places like Tunisia and Croatia simply because he's doing what loves to do.
How cool is that?
