Biography of Jan Kodes -

Jan KodeÅ¡ (born March 1, 1946) was a right-handed
Czech Republic|Czech tennis player who won three
Grand Slam in tennis|Grand Slam events in the
early 1970s.

Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech
Republic), Jan's greatest success was on the clay
of Roland Garros in the French Open. He won his
first title in 1970, beating Zeljko Franulovic
6-2, 6-4, 6-0. He followed that the next year by
beating Ilie Nastase 8-6, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5, before he
made the successful transition to grass by winning
Wimbledon championships |Wimbledon in 1973. In
those finals he beat home favourite Roger Taylor
(tennis player)|Roger Taylor in the semi-final in
a five-set match 6-1, 6-8, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. The
final against Alex Metreveli was more
straight-forward, winning in straight sets 6-1,
9-8, 6-3.

Kodes could never repeat the success of Wimbledon
and the French Open elsewhere, indeed, he never
appeared at the Australian Open. In 1971 however,
he did cause an upset by knocking top seed John
Newcombe out of the first round in the U.S. Open
(tennis) |US Open.

As Kodes was winding down in career at the
beginning of the 1980s, a fellow countryman was on
the way to the top - Ivan Lendl.

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Biography of Jan Kodes -