Q: Twenty years ago, a player could build an entire career around one surface. Does that still happen on the ATP tour?
Not really, and the record books show exactly when it stopped. Thomas Muster, nicknamed the King of Clay, went 55-10 on the surface in 1993 and then put together the best two-year clay stretch of the Open Era, 111-5 across 1995 and 1996, including a 40-match winning streak. Sergi Bruguera built his entire career the same way: 13 of his 14 career titles came on clay, and he beat Muster in four of their four tour-level final meetings. Both men were credible world number ones or Grand Slam champions who were, by their own peers' admission, close to unwatchable on hard courts. Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi openly questioned whether Muster's number one ranking meant anything given how narrow his results were. That version of a career, elite on one surface and irrelevant on the other two, effectively does not exist anymore among the tour's top players.
