The French Alexandre Muller is one of the surprises of the Masters 1000 in Rome. The Frenchman, who entered the main draw by passing the qualifications, faces Jarry at the Foro Italico for a place in the quarter-finals. His victory against Rublev in the third round caused a sensation, the most important career success for the 27-year-old from Poissy. Interviewed by the French newspaper L’Equipe, Muller revealed that he suffers from Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory disease of the intestine, characterized by chronic or relapsing immune activation in the gastrointestinal tract. The continuous immune response, which is unleashed against the intestine, in turn causes strong inflammation which severely debilitates the person.
Muller talks about the difficulty of living with this disease as a professional athlete: “No matter how I end my career, I could have done a little better without this disease” says the Frenchman. “I can’t always be 100%, I’m more fragile. Before a tennis or weight training session, I just think about my body, I ask myself ‘Do I need to go to the bathroom?’ Now everything is automatic, my brain thinks like this. Before a match I go to the bathroom at least five, six times. When you empty yourself and lose two or three kilos, you leave with an energy handicap. And when, after three hours of a match, I can’t drink more than four sips of water without having the sensation of vomiting on the pitch, I inevitably pay the consequences.”
It’s really difficult to live with this problem and be able to give your best on the court in a very physical sport like tennis. Muller, currently n.109 ATP, reached the best ranking last January at n.71, but with the points in Rome he is already sure of returning to the top hundred (provisionally 89 in the Live ranking).
