This is Alexandre Muller: Familiarize yourself with Federer, dream dinner guests and more | ATP Tour

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This is Alexandre Muller: Get familiar with Federer, dream dinner guests and more

Read more about the French wild card

August 28, 2024

French wild card Alexandre Muller will try to pull off a major upset on Wednesday when he plays fourth seed Alexander Zverev in the second round of the US Open.

Ahead of the match, ATPtour.com caught up with Muller to get to know him better off the court.

If you could have dinner with any three people, who would they be and why?
I think it’s Roger [Federer]because for me, it’s easy because you speak French [laughs]. I would like to enjoy dinner so that someone who speaks French, my language, will be easy for me.

It’s difficult. I think people from sports, so we choose maybe Tiger Woods, because I like golf, and Michael Jordan.

Do you play a lot of golf?
I like to play golf when I have some days off, yes. [I like] the feeling when you hit the ball cleanly. That doesn’t happen often, but when I do, I enjoy it. [I play with] my coach, who loves golf, and I played golf two weeks ago in Cary with Lucas Pouille. My coach won, Lucas was second and I was third. Not such a good result, but we played at Pinehurst. Excellent golf course.

If you could switch places with anyone in the world for one day, why would it be?
Let’s say the Tiger. I would like to know the feeling when you play golf.

If you could be a part of any tennis match in history, which one would you choose and why?
You miss Roger [Federer] against Rafa [Nadal] at the Australian Open 2017? I think being Roger in this game would be an amazing thing – the intensity, [reaching a] the fifth set. It was Roger’s comeback after his injury [and he] he won the competition. It got crazy.

Have you ever played with him?
I just trained for a while in Dubai with him, but I never played a match against him or Rafa [Nadal]. This practice was very short, because it was in the morning and in the afternoon he had a flight to China [play] the exhibition. So it was like an hour, an hour and a half, just playing, no points, just hitting the ball, very cold. I was very young, 22 or something. I was on vacation with my parents, and I was playing good tennis with Roger.

[I liked] it’s his game of course, even if I don’t play like him. His mind [is] very funny. I mean, I’m only 70 years old in the world, and I think if I go to meet him in the locker room, I can go and ask for a picture or talk to him for five minutes.

What is the best thing to do because you are a tennis player?
I’m not a star, so I think about myself, it goes. I think about people who can’t travel and want to travel, that’s the fun thing I do every week, take a plane and go anywhere in the world. I am currently in New York, in two weeks in China, in three weeks in Tokyo, Japan. So I think that’s a good thing that I do with my work.

Your favorite place?
I like Australia, Melbourne, because it’s winter in Europe. The pre-season is over, and there are holidays during the summer, so everyone is very excited to be there.

Is there somewhere you haven’t visited that you wish you could?
Canada. I have never played tennis in Canada, which is crazy, because there are so many tournaments there. So I would say, I would say Canada. Nowhere in particular, because I don’t know anything about this country. So I would like to go to Toronto, Montreal, see the views, just visit.

What other hobbies do you have?
Golf. Football. I don’t play football because it can be dangerous, but I like to watch golf and football. [My favourite team is] Marseille, because I’m from the south of France. I love Spain’s Real Madrid.

I like to watch live streaming in my spare time, like video game live streaming. I love things like this. I played football for three years from seven to 10, and after that, I needed to stop football because in the French region, they told me to come [tennis] practice on wednesday, but football [training] at the same time, so I had to give up the tennis ball.

What was your time to deprive me of the Tour?
I think last year, when I played, I played here against [Novak] Djokovic is on center court during the night. That was a good memory. For me the best victory was this year in Rome, I scored [Andrey] Rublev, he was [ranked] six in the world. So after a good victory like this, you say, ‘Okay, I’m a good tennis player’.

What was it like last year in this court?
It was difficult. It was 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 for Djokovic. One hour was not a good memory, but after that, I was trying to enjoy it because after that he won the tournament. He is one of the best players in the world, so there is nothing I can do.

Did you enjoy watching all the fans in the crowd?
I enjoyed it. I just remember next to my towel was Barack Obama, so some amazing people like this, some actor or singer.

If you could achieve one thing on and off the court, what would it be?
On the court I hope it will change when I see it in a year or six months, but for me, it’s to get one ATP title. That is my goal in the short term right now. And off the court, I just want to be happy with my family, make them happy, proud of me, and that’s it.