“The match against Agassi was very emotional, he is someone I grew up admiring. That was very special, of course. It was a dream come true. Simply to get the chance to play him was amazing, beating him was unbelievable.

“What I enjoyed the most about the Roddick win was the crowd. I love playing in America, the audience there just want a big show, they aren’t against foreigners just because they’re playing against an American. I remember, at the end of the second set tie-break, they gave both of us a standing ovation,” he smiles wistfully, perhaps wishing for the past to make a re-appearance.

Lessons learnt

Banishing that assumption right away, though, he adds, “But maybe it’s a good thing all this happened. Now I know what I did wrong, and I know just how much work it is. I won’t throw it all away again. I want to be in the top 100 again, and I just have to be patient.”

He admits he’s made some big mistakes.

“To be honest, it’s not easy to be here, to play at this level. And it’s completely my own fault. Back in 2005, when I was having such a good run, I decided to move back to my country, which really has no tennis culture at all. I was a star there, and also one of the very few people who played the sport.

“I was training in Barcelona and Paris before that, which was much better. I was one of many players, and I knew where my game stood. I took myself for granted, so I shifted back to Luxembourg,” he says. For the past year, Muller has been training in Florida.