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Ivan Lendl (born March 7, 1960) is a former World No. 1 professional
tennis player. He was one of the game's dominant players in the 1980s and
early 1990s.
During his career, Lendl captured eight Grand Slam singles
titles, and reached an astounding 19 Grand Slam singles finals. He first
attained the World No. 1 ranking on the men's professional tour in February
1983. He continued to be ranked No. 1 for much of the next eight years through
to 1990. He finished four years ranked as the world's top player (1985-7
and '89), and was ranked World No. 1 for a total of 270 weeks, breaking the
record previously held by Jimmy Connors (this has since been surpassed by
Pete Sampras). Lendl's game relied particularly on strength and heavy topspin
from the baseline and ushered in the modern era of "power tennis".
Personal Life
Lendl was born into a tennis family in Ostrava, in the Czech
part of Czechoslovakia. Both his parents were top players in Czechoslovakia
(his mother was at one point ranked the No. 2 woman player in the country).
Lendl turned professional in 1978. He moved to the United States in 1986,
and eventually became a US citizen in 1992.
Tennis Career
Lendl first came to the tennis world's attention as an outstanding
junior player. In 1978, he won the boy's singles titles at both the French
Open and Wimbledon, and was ranked the World No. 1 junior player.
Lendl made an almost immediate impact on the game after turning
professional. After reaching his first top-level singles final in 1979, he
went on to win seven singles titles in 1980, including the highly-impressive
feat of winning three tournaments in successive weeks on three different
surfaces. The success continued as he won 10 titles in 1981. In 1982, he
won 15 of the 23 singles tournaments he entered and achieved a 44-match winning
streak. He won another seven tournaments in 1983. In an era when tournament
prize money was rising sharply, Lendl's impressive haul of titles quickly
made him the highest-earning tennis player of all time.
But Grand Slam titles eluded Lendl in the early years of
his career. He reached his first Grand Slam final at the French Open in 1981,
where he lost in five sets to Björn Borg. His second came at the US
Open in 1982, where he was defeated by Jimmy Connors. In 1983, he was the
runner-up at both the Australian Open and the US Open.
Lendl's first Grand Slam title came at the 1984 French Open,
where he defeated John McEnroe in an epic final to claim what was arguably
his most memorable victory. Down two sets to love, and trailing 4-2 in the
fourth set, Lendl battled back to claim the title with a 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5,
7-5 victory against an exhausted McEnroe. However, McEnroe gained revenge
by beating Lendl in straight sets in the final of the US Open later that
year.
1985 was among Lendl's best years on the tour, as he captured
11 singles crowns in 17 tournament appearances. Lendl lost in the final of
the 1985 French Open to Mats Wilander. He then went on to face McEnroe again
in the final of the US Open, and this time it was Lendl who emerged victorious
in a straight sets win. It was the first of three consecutive US Open titles
for Lendl, and part of a run of eight consecutive US Open finals. Two consecutive
French Open titles also came in 1986 and 1987, as he won both the French
and US Open titles in those years.
1989 was another very strong year for Lendl. He started the
year by capturing his first Australian Open title with a straight sets final
victory over Miloslav Mecir, and went on to claim 10 titles out of 17 tournaments
he entered. Lendl successfully defended his Australian Open title in 1990.
The only Grand Slam title Lendl never managed to win was
Wimbledon. He reached the final there twice, losing in straight sets to Boris
Becker in 1986 and Pat Cash in 1987. In the years that followed, Lendl put
in intensive efforts to train and hone his game on grass courts. But despite
reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals in 1988, 1989 and 1990, he would never
again make it to the final.
Lendl was part of the team that won Czechoslovakia's only
Davis Cup title in 1980. He was the driving force behind the country's team
in the fist half of the 1980s, but stopped playing in the tournament after
he moved to the United States in 1986.
Lendl was also part of the Czechoslovakian team which won
the World Team Cup in 1981.
Lendl also won the tour's year-end Masters championships
five times in 1981-2 and 85-7.
Lendl's success in the game had a lot to do with his highly
meticulous and intensive training and physical conditioning regime, his scientific
approach to preparing for and playing the game, and an incredible desire
to put in whatever it took to be successful. It is believed that a contributing
factor to his run of eight successive US Open finals and long record of success
at that tournament was that he hired the same workers who laid the hardcourt
surfaces at Flushing Meadows each year to install an exact copy in the grounds
of his home in Long Island, New York.
Lendl retired from the professional tour in 1994. He had
won a total of 94 career singles titles and 6 doubles titles, and he earned
prize money totaling US$21,262,417 (a record at the time). In 2001, he was
inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island,
USA.
After finishing his tennis career, Lendl has taken up golf,
earning a handicap of 0 and organizing a charity competition in 2004 called
the "Ivan Lendl Celebrity Golf Tournament".
Lendl's professional attitude, modern playing style, scientific
training methods, and unprecedented long-term success have had a considerable
impact on today's tennis world. A typical Lendl quote is: "If I don't
practice the way I should, then I won't play the way that I know I can."
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