TNT Sports
Muller faces familiar foe
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Published 01/09/2005 at 13:10 GMT+1
On Thursday, they were doubles partners. Now American Robby Ginepri must face Gilles Muller, whose victory over Andy Roddick has so far been the upset of the tournament. "It's a pity I have to face him," the Luxemburger tells Eurosport ahead of their seco
Eurosport
Image credit: TNT Sports
"I would have prefered to play someone else but that's the luck of the draw," a fatalistic Muller told Eurosport.
Ironically, it was the luck of the draw in Los Angeles that brought the two together in the first place.
"We don't know each other all that well," Muller told us.
"I beat him in Los Angeles and afterwards we decided to play some doubles together, here at the US Open and also in Asia a few tournaments."
Muller prevailed 7/6 7/5 in Los Angeles over the Florida native in the quarter-finals and finished runner-up to Andre Agassi.
GRAND IN THE GRAND DUCHY
In fact, he refuses to single out his win over Roddick as his greatest achievement, having beaten Agassi a year ago at Flushing Meadows and upset Rafael Nadal in the second round at Wimbledon this year.
Nonetheless, coming from a country whose only other prominent athletes are cyclists, the upset over Roddick makes Muller the new standard-bearer for Luxembourg sports.
He follows Anne Kremer, who has been as high as 18th in the WTA rankings:
"It's always difficult in Luxembourg because the tradition there is to finish school and then to find a good job," says Muller.
"When I stopped studies at 17-year-old, everybody around me was worried, they were telling me: "Are you sure ?". But I think that If you've got talent, you don't have to hesitate and you have to take your chance. I took mine and I'm happy it worked out. I hope now that others will follow our example."
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