Muster Wants to Play Tennis, Not Numbers Game : French Open: He’s not counting, but Austrian wins first-round match to extend clay streak to 29.

Heavy lies the crown of Clay King on the bristly head of Thomas Muster.

Muster is the type of sovereign who is likely to yank such a crown from his head and dash it to dusty red clay, spitting and stomping. He may be one of the prohibitive favorites to win the French Open, but the fifth-seeded Muster is more comfortable with his back to the wall and multiple break points--and the crowd--against him.

Alas, Muster won with moderate ease Monday, eliminating Gerard Solves of France, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. The only seeded player to lose in the men’s or woman’s draw was No. 15 Helena Sukova of the Czech Republic, who was defeated by Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 6-4, 3-6, 9-7, on the first day of the world’s premier clay-court tournament.

Top seeded Andre Agassi and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario both won with little trouble on a blustery and often cool day at Roland Garros Stadium. Agassi eliminated Karsten Braasch of Germany, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4, and Sanchez Vicario of Spain eliminated Sung-Hee Park of South Korea, 6-0, 6-1.

Muster does not embrace his status as the most dominant player on clay this season. He has won five titles this year, all on clay. He has won his last 29 matches on the surface. It’s the longest victory streak on clay on the men’s tour since Mats Wilander’s 31 victories straddled the 1982 and 1983 seasons.

Listen to Muster, and he’s not counting.

“No, I don’t care,” Muster said after his first-round match, scratching a day’s growth of beard and scowling at reporters. “I have nothing against winning matches. It is just people always asking for numbers and I am not interested in numbers.”

Muster’s match was played on Court 1, an intimate venue known for its close quarters that situates the players close to the fans. For Muster, one of the tour’s most aggressive and focused players, the court was all wrong.

“I just don’t like it,” he said. “There is no reason. I just don’t like to play there. Put me on Court 13. It is better than 1. Of all the courts, I don’t like this one so much.”

Top-seeded players usually aren’t scheduled to play in outer courts, but Muster, whose personality is an exact replica of his playing style, wasn’t in the mood to take a compliment.

Muster is still smarting from a shot Boris Becker took at him last month at a tournament in Monte Carlo, where Becker accused Muster of taking performance-enhancing drugs.

In the semifinal, Muster defeated Andrea Gaudenzi but collapsed on the court after the match. Muster was treated at a hospital for dehydration and hypothermia.

Muster recovered well enough to defeat Becker in the final the next day, coming back from being two sets down and with Becker holding a match point. A victory would have given the German his first clay-court title.

Whatever his motives, Becker’s comments after the match were thinly veiled.

In a post-match news conference, Becker was asked to comment on the remarkable turnaround in Muster’s health. Becker said dryly that he thought Muster had been helped greatly by doctors. Pressed further, Becker indicated that “doctors” had always played a role in Muster’s career.

When Becker’s comments were relayed to Muster, the Austrian exploded. He immediately took a drug test, witnessed by officials at the tournament. Muster then demanded an apology, but none was forthcoming.

Muster is apparently still sensitive to any hint of insinuation that his muscles are chemically fortified. He was asked Monday to describe a training regime that has allowed him to win his last 24 matches.

“There’s no big secret,” Muster said. “I mean, I haven’t been doing much different things than the years before. It is just, I think, I put my game together pretty well and I think it is more a mental decision and commitment that I am playing that well now. It has not much to do with my physical shape, which I think has been pretty much the same all over the years.”