Tennis star turns wine maker

Thomas Muster believes in reinvention, and he doesn’t do things by half measures.

The former “King of Clay” beat career-threatening injuries at the age of 21 to become Austria’s first grand slam tennis champion and only world No. 1 player. But he shocked everyone by disappearing into early retirement in Australia.

After years of excessively good living, he made his top-level comeback at the age of 43, having lost 25 kilograms in a punishing get-fit regime.

And now, after finally putting his racket down a year or so later, with his desire to compete on court at the highest level sated again, Muster will focus on his family and wine-making business.

“When I went back to Austria I was looking for property. I grew up in this area and I knew these vineyards and property and the streets around it,” he says of the Hochkittenberg wine estate he bought off a church diocese in 2004.


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