Ivan Lendl

Ivan Lendl (born March 7, 1960) is a former ATP tennis player, and for several years the world's best tennis player according to ATP rankings. Born into a tennis family in Ostrava, in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, Lendl turned professional in 1978. He first reached the #1 position on the tour on February 28, 1983, and only lost it on short occasions until finally giving it up in 1990, for a total of 270 top-ranking weeks, beating Jimmy Connors's record and surpassed afterwards only by his own protégé Pete Sampras.

Ivan Lendl won 94 single titles during his career, and reached the finals in 19 Grand Slam tournaments, including eight straight finals in the US Open from 1982 to 1989. He won the US Open three times (1985, 1986 and 1987), the French Open three times (1984, 1986 and 1987) and the Australian Open twice (1989 and 1990). One thing he never managed however was to win the Tournament of Wimbledon, and therefore, he never managed to complete the career Grand Slam.

Lendl had won the Davis Cup with Czechoslovakia in 1980, but four years later he moved to New York and stopped playing in this tournament. In 1992 he became a US citizen. One reason for his success is said to be the hardcourt surface used at Flushing Meadows. The workers that each year laid the surface, went directly to Lendl's house in Long Island. This way Lendl could get an exact copy at his own lawn.

After ending his tennis career in 1994, Lendl has taken up golf, having a handicap of 0 and organizing a 2004 charity competition called "Ivan Lendl Celebrity Golf Tournament".

Lendl's professional attitude, his modern playing style, his scientific training methods, and his 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."