1995 French Open winner explains why Rafael Nadal is the rightful 'king of clay'

Thomas Muster does not want to be called the 'king of clay' after he was given the title in the early 90's owing to his dominance on the red surface. The Austrian pinpointed Rafael Nadal as the one and only 'king of clay' owing to the Spaniard's dominance on the surface over the last decade.

The 31-year-old current world number nine has won 49 titles on clay including a record nine French Open titles. Apart from dominating at Roland Garros, he also holds the record of most consecutive titles at the Monte Carlo Masters and is also going for his record 10<sup>th title at the Barcelona Open in 2017.

Muster, the former world number one, has one Grand Slam win at the French Open in 1995, was called the king of clay as he won 40 of his 44 singles titles on the red surface. He, however, believes it is a privilege to be compared to the 14-time Grand Slam winner.

The Austrian has backed Nadal to return to form when he makes his injury comeback on the ATP Tour next season, but admits the main rivalry could be between top rank Andy Murray and second ranked Novak Djokovic.

"Don't call me king of clay, I won many clay-courts tournaments but there is only one king and that is Rafael Nadal. It's beautiful to be compared to him, but he won Roland Garros so many times, Rome and other events," Muster was quoted as saying by tennisworld.org

"We don't have to forget of him who could play very good in some events. As for the rest of players, there could be again the rivalry between Djokovic and Murray and there could be some younger players as well. As for Roger [Federer], we can't know in which condition he will come back," the 1995 French Open winner added.