Gilles Müller
 |
 | |
| Country (sports) |  Luxembourg |
|---|---|
| Residence | Schifflange, Luxembourg |
| Born | May 9, 1983 Schifflange, Luxembourg |
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) |
| Turned pro | 2001 |
| Plays | Left-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Prize money | $1,369,466 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 72–83 |
| Career titles | 0 |
| Highest ranking | No. 59 (1 August 2005) |
| Current ranking | No. 71 (25 July 2011) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | 3R (2009) |
| French Open | 1R (2005, 2006, 2009) |
| Wimbledon | 3R (2005, 2011) |
| US Open | QF (2008) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 17–33 |
| Career titles | 0 |
| Highest ranking | No. 147 (10 October 2005) |
| Last updated on: 26 June 2011. | |
Gilles Müller (born May 9, 1983) is a Luxembourgish professional tennis player. He was a US Open junior champion and is the most successful male tennis player in the history of his country. He was born, raised and currently resides in Schifflange.
Career
Junior tennis
In 2001, the year Müller turned pro, he reached the final of the boys' singles at the 2001 Wimbledon Championships, but was defeated by Swiss Roman Valent by a score of 3–6, 7–5, 6–3. Later that year, Müller managed to win the boys' singles final at the 2001 U.S. Open by defeating Taiwanese Yeu-Tzuoo Wang by a score of 7–6(5), 6–2. Müller finished the year 2001 as the world's No.1 Junior.
2004/05
Remarkable results against top players were Müller's victories over Andy Roddick in the first round of the 2005 US Open, over Rafael Nadal at the 2005 Wimbledon Championships and over Andre Agassi at the semifinals of the 2004 Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C..
Müller stated to have lost a lot of confidence when he was not able to confirm the good results achieved in 2005 and had to go back to playing tennis on a Challenger level. There were moments, Müller said, where he asked himself whether he should even continue playing tennis at all, seeing as the earnings were not covering the expenses.
2008
At the 2008 US Open Gilles Müller, then ranked 130, had to go through the qualification tournament. He reached the main draw, where he consecutively beat Laurent Recouderc, former No. 2 Tommy Haas, Nicolás Almagro and 5th-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, advancing to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career. In fact, he was not sure that he would even qualify and so he did not even book a hotel room for the tournament. He then lost to defending and eventual champion Roger Federer by a score of 7–6(5), 6–4, 7–6(5).
2009
On January 19, 2009, Müller beat Spaniard Feliciano López by a score of 6–3, 7–6(5), 4–6, 4–6, 16–14 in an epic four hours, twenty-four minutes long match in the first round of the 2009 Australian Open. Müller beat local favorite Bernard Tomic 3–6, 6–1, 6–4, 6–2 in the second round, eventually losing in the third to eighth seed Juan Martín del Potro.
Singles titles
Wins (10)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| Tennis Masters Cup (0) |
| ATP Masters Series (0) |
| ATP Tour (0) |
| Challengers (6) |
| Futures (4) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | April 9, 2001 |  Kuwait City, Kuwait
|
Hard |  Hermes Gamonal
|
4–6, 7–63, 7–66 |
| 2. | February 11, 2002 |  Glasgow, United Kingdom
|
Hard |  Maximilian Abel
|
7–64, 7–63 |
| 3. | April 22, 2002 |  Montego Bay, Jamaica
|
Hard |  Julien Cassaigne
|
6–3, 7–64 |
| 4. | August 26, 2002 |  Florianópolis, Brazil
|
Clay | Rodrigo Monte
|
3–6, 7–66, 6–1 |
| 5. | July 21, 2003 |  Valladolid, Spain
|
Hard | Iván Navarro
|
6–4, 6–3 |
| 6. | April 19, 2004 |  Napoli, Italy
|
Clay | Arnaud di Pasquale
|
7–67, 16–7, 6–1 |
| 7. | June 28, 2004 | Córdoba, Spain
|
Hard | Nicolás Almagro
|
6–1, 6–2 |
| 8. | April 7, 2008 |  Humacao, Puerto Rico
|
Hard |  Iván Miranda
|
7–5, 7–62 |
| 9. | May 26, 2008 |  Izmir, Turkey
|
Hard |  Kristian Pless
|
7–5, 6–3 |
| 10. | June 5, 2011 | Nottingham, Great Britain
|
Grass | Matthias Bachinger
|
7–6(4), 6–2 |
Runners-up (13)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | April 21, 2003 | Napoli, Italy
|
Clay | Richard Gasquet
|
6–4, 6–4 |
| 2. | March 29, 2004 |  Salinas, Ecuador
|
Hard |  Alejandro Falla
|
56–7, 6–2, 6–2 |
| 3. | June 21, 2004 |  Andorra la Vella, Andorra
|
Hard |  Kevin Kim
|
6–4, 6–0 |
| 4 | August 16, 2004 | Washington, D.C., U.S.
|
Hard |  Lleyton Hewitt
|
6–3, 6–4 |
| 5. | July 25, 2005 | Los Angeles, U.S.
|
Hard | Andre Agassi
|
6–4, 7–5 |
| 6. | April 17, 2006 |  Bermuda
|
Clay | Fernando Vicente
|
2–6, 6–2, 7–63 |
| 7. | October 8, 2007 | Rennes, France
|
Hard | Philipp Petzschner
|
6–3, 6–4 |
| 8. | October 15, 2007 | Kolding, Denmark
|
Hard |  Lukáš Lacko
|
7–63, 6–4 |
| 9. | February 14, 2010 | Bergamo, Italy
|
Hard (i) | Karol Beck
|
6–4, 6–4 |
| 10. | March 7, 2010 | Cherbourg, France
|
Hard (i) | Nicolas Mahut
|
6–4, 6–3 |
| 11. | October 17, 2010 |  Tashkent, Uzbekistan
|
Hard | Karol Beck
|
6–74, 6–4, 7–5 |
| 12. | January 8, 2011 |  Nouméa, New Caledonia
|
Hard | Vincent Millot
|
7–66, 2–6, 6–4 |
| 13. | February 13, 2011 | Bergamo, Italy
|
Hard (i) | Andreas Seppi
|
3–6, 6–3, 6–4 |
Grand Slam tournament performance timeline
| Tournament | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | Career SR | Career W-L | Career % | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam Tournaments | |||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | LQ | 3R | A | 2R | 0 / 6 | 5–6 | 45.45 | ||||||
| French Open | A | 1R | 1R | LQ | A | 1R | A | LQ | 0 / 3 | 0–3 | 00.00 | ||||||
| Wimbledon | A | 3R | 1R | 2R | LQ | 1R | LQ | 3R | 0 / 5 | 5–5 | 50.00 | ||||||
| US Open | A | 2R | 1R | LQ | QF | A | A | 0 / 3 | 5–3 | 62.50 | |||||||
| Win–Loss | 0–1 | 3–4 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 0 / 17 | 15–17 | 46.87 | ||||||
"A" means that the player did not play at the event.
"LQ" means that the player lost in the qualifying rounds of the tournament.
"*" means that the tournament is ongoing.
Doubles titles
Wins (3)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| Tennis Masters Cup (0) |
| ATP Masters Series (0) |
| ATP Tour (0) |
| Challengers (2) |
| Futures (1) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partnering | Opponents in the final | Score |
| 1. | August 6, 2001 | Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
|
Clay | Mike Scheidweiler
|
 Steve Adamson  Raoul Snijders
|
6–4, 6–3 |
| 2. | June 21, 2004 | Andorra la Vella, Andorra
|
Hard |  Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi
|
 Santiago González Alejandro Hernández
|
6–3, 7–5 |
| 3. | September 12, 2010 | Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France
|
Hard | Édouard Roger-Vasselin
|
 Andis Juška Deniss Pavlovs
|
6–0, 2–6, [13–11] |
Runners-up (6)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partnering | Opponents in the final | Score |
| 1 | February 11, 2002 | Glasgow, United Kingdom
|
Hard | Mike Scheidweiler
|
 Yves Allegro  Arnaud Fontaine
|
6–3, 6–4 |
| 2 | January 24, 2005 | Heilbronn, Germany
|
Carpet | Gilles Elseneer
|
Sébastien de Chaunac Michal Mertiňák
|
6–2, 3–6, 6–3 |
| 3 | June 27, 2005 | Córdoba, Spain
|
Hard | Nicolas Mahut
|
 Sergiy Stakhovsky  Vladimir Voltchkov
|
7–5, 5–7, 6–1 |
| 4 | February 19, 2007 | Besançon, France
|
Hard | Grégory Carraz
|
Christopher Kas  Alexander Peya
|
6–4, 6–4 |
| 5 | July 30, 2007 | Segovia, Spain
|
Hard | Michel Kratochvil
|
 Rohan Bopanna Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi
|
7–68, 6–3 |
| 6 | April 28, 2008 | Lanzarote, Spain
|
Hard | Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi
|
 Rik de Voest  Łukasz Kubot
|
6–2, 7–62 |
Sources
- U.S. Open 2005
- Video interview (U.S. Open 2005)
- Other sources