TENNIS / FRENCH OPEN : Muster Has a Tournament to Talk About

Last year, Thomas Muster put down his crutches, sat behind a monitor and worked the French Open semifinals for Austrian television.

But when the men’s semifinals are played Friday, Muster will be competing instead of talking. In fact, he’s already planning how best to deliver his commentary.

“I let my racket do the talking,” Muster said.

So far in the French Open, Muster’s racket has been eloquent. Take Muster’s quarterfinal match Wednesday with Boris Becker’s conqueror, 18-year-old Yugoslav Goran Ivanisevic.

Muster simply slugged balls all over the court and urged Ivanisevic to chase them. After 2 hours 44 minutes and a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 Muster victory, Ivanisevic sounded as if he had just traveled from Normandy to the Cote d’Azur.

“I could not move anymore,” Ivanisevic said. “He was unbelievable. I think he is playing too good. I don’t know. He plays like this, he is going to win this tournament.”

If so, Muster must defeat Andres Gomez of Ecuador in the semifinals. The oldest player in the tournament, Gomez, 30, beat 23-year-old French qualifier Thierry Champion, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Champion played despite a pulled leg muscle.

Andre Agassi and Jonas B. Svensson will meet in the other semifinal.

No matter what happens to Muster in the semifinals, his appearance here for the first time since he came on crutches a year ago is something of an upset.

He tore ligaments in his left knee in April of 1989 in a freak accident. He was standing behind a parked car when an oncoming car struck the front of his car, knocking Muster down and pinning him beneath the bumper.

Doctors predicted that Muster, 22, would be out of action for at least a year, but he returned less than six months later. His training regimen had been somewhat unusual. While his leg was still in a cast, he hit balls while sitting on a specially built bench.

Muster said tests show the strength of his leg as equal to what it had been before the injury. Against Ivanisevic, he appeared both quick and confident.

Muster, who jokes that he is trying to elevate tennis into equal popular standing with skiing in Austria, engaged Ivanisevic in a cross-country race.

Guessing which way Ivanisevic would serve troubled Muster, but the 6-foot-4 teen-ager was much more erratic than he had been against Becker. Soon, Muster dictated play and kept Ivanisevic on the defensive, moving him from side to side.

“I played all right,” Muster said.

Ivanisevic said Muster was much better than that.

“He is very good prepared, he is very good conditioned, he is very good mentally, he is playing too good,” Ivanisevic said.

After the second set, Muster was slowed only when he accidentally knocked himself in the shin with his racket. He called for the trainer.

“It was cracking like something was broken, either the racket or the leg,” Muster said.

Actually, neither was broken and Muster dispatched Ivanisevic with ease.

Muster is just happy to be here.

“I’m not thinking so much about winning or losing, just about enjoying each shot,” Muster said. “If I win, I love it. But if I lose, in my head it doesn’t matter because I’m still alive.

“I have learned more painful things than losing a match. What do you think if it takes 10 years to reach a goal and then just before you get there, you can’t walk anymore?

“If you think about it, what’s winning or losing compared to this?”