Frenchman Alexandre Muller will play the biggest match of his life Thursday when he takes on World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon.
The 26-year-old Frenchman, who beat countryman Arthur Rinderknech Wednesday in his first main-draw grass-court match at the junior or pro level, knows that he will start as the longest of longshots against the recent Queen’s champion. But he’s going to give it everything he’s got.
Here are five things to know about Muller as he prepares for his big match with the Spaniard.
He’s as green as the Wimbledon grass
Muller’s prior experience playing on grass? None at the junior level. In the pros he played Halle and Wimbledon qualifying in 2021 and Wimbledon qualifying last year. That’s it!
He arrived at Wimbledon Thursday but he practised very little due to a leg injury and rain. “I was still playing on clay courts one week ago, so I didn’t expect anything amazing here,” Muller said. “It was a beautiful day for me. It’s just crazy that I won this match with my preparation. With the injury and the rain there was not so much practice.
“I was confident in my game because I had just won a tournament. But I didn’t have a lot of grass practice behind me.”
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He’s a big Roger Federer fan
My earliest memories of Wimbledon are watching Roger win all his titles. He was my idol. He looks very cool. Every time you saw him he was smiling.
He has cut in half his Pepperstone ATP Ranking this year
Muller was World No. 160 at the start of the season but with a mixture of ATP 250 and Challenger Tour succeess, he is now No. 71 in the Pepperstone Live ATP Rankings.
Muller began to see big progress in February when he reached the quarter-finals in Doha, where he took a set from Andy Murray. But it was a run that almost did happen: He survived a match point against Tomas Machac in the final round of qualifying.
But the best was still to come. At the start of the clay season he beat countryman Richard Gasquet and Italian Lorenzo Musetti en route to the Marrakech final (l. to Roberto Carballes Baena).
“I’ve been playing very well for many months now. I will try to continue like this and break the Top 50,” he said.
He’s been burning up the ATP Challenger Tour
Muller came into Wimbledon having won the Montechiarugolo Challenger and reached the Perugia semi-finals in back-to-back weeks in Italy. In March he reached the Waco Challenger final in Texas.
He is 19-9 at Challenger level this season and 122-111 career, with two titles.
“I’m a player with a solid baseline game,” he said. “I like long points with a lot of shots, but I can be aggressive when I need to be. If someone likes long rallies, they should come watch me play.”
He’s ready for Carlos!
Muller got a taste of big-court action when he played Jannik Sinner on Court Philippe-Chatrier at Roland Garros this year. The Italian won 6-1, 6-4, 6-1, but Muller said it was a valuable learning experience.
“It’s going to be a very good experience to play against Carlos, the No. 1 in the world, on a big court,” he said. “I will play every point like it is the last point of my career. I will enjoy it.
“I played against Sinner on centre court at Roland Garros, so it was good that I have had some experience playing on a big court.”
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