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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
(tennis)|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, beating 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 Republic|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 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 (tennis)|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 the by the end 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 Championships|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 Tennis Masters
Cup|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
Park|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
totalling 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 Golf#Handicap systems|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."


==Grand Slam finals==

===Wins (8)===

 Year     Championship            Opponent in
Final          Score in Final
 1984     French Open             John McEnroe    
          3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5
 1985     US Open                 John McEnroe    
          7-6, 6-3, 6-4
 1986     French Open             Mikael Pernfors 
          6-3, 6-2, 6-4
 1986     US Open                 Miloslav Mecir  
          6-4, 6-2, 6-0
 1987     French Open             Mats Wilander   
          7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6
 1987     US Open                 Mats Wilander   
          6-7, 6-0, 7-6, 6-4
 1989     Australian Open         Miloslav Mecir  
          6-2, 6-2, 6-2
 1990     Australian Open         Stefan Edberg   
          4-6, 7-6, 5-2 (retired)

===Runner-ups (11)===

 Year     Championship            Opponent in
Final          Score in Final
 1981     French Open             Björn Borg     
           6-1, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 
 1982     US Open                 Jimmy Connors   
          6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 
 1983     Australian Open         Mats Wilander   
          6-1, 6-4, 6-4 
 1983     US Open                 Jimmy Connors   
          6-3, 6-7, 7-5, 6-0 
 1984     US Open                 John McEnroe    
          6-3, 6-4, 6-1 
 1985     French Open             Mats Wilander   
          3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
 1986     Wimbledon               Boris Becker    
          6-4, 6-3, 7-5 
 1987     Wimbledon               Pat Cash        
          7-6, 6-2, 7-5 
 1988     US Open                 Mats Wilander   
          6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 
 1989     US Open                 Boris Becker    
          7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 
 1991     Australian Open         Boris Becker    
          1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

==Performance timeline==
{| bgcolor="#f7f8ff" cellpadding="2"
cellspacing="0" border="1" style="font-size: 95%;
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collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Tournament !! 1978 !! 1979 !! 1980 !! 1981 !!
1982 !! 1983 !! 1984 !! 1985 !! 1986 !! 1987 !!
1988 !! 1989 !! 1990 !! 1991 !! 1992 !! 1993 !!
1994
|-
|Australian Open
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|French Open
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|Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon
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|-
|U.S. Open (Tennis)|US Open
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|2r
|align="center"|QF
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|}

==See also==
*Michael Chang#The Classic Match vs Ivan Lendl
(French Open, 1989)|An account of Lendl's dramatic
exit from the 1989 French Open


== External links ==
*
http://www.atptennis.com/en/players/playerprofiles
/default2.asp?playersearch=Ivan+Lendl Official ATP
Profile
* http://www.tennisfame.com/enshrinees/lendl.html
International Tennis Hall of Fame Profile
* http://www.geocities.com/ivan_lendl_golf/ Fan
site dedicated to Lendl's golf activities
*
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,343-315638
,00.html Times Online Article


Tennis World Number Ones (men)