Ivan Lendl

Ivan Lendl
Lendl 2012 in Miami
Nation:	Czechoslovakia 1960–1992 United States 1992–1994
Birthday:	March 7, 1960
Size:	188 cm
1st professional season:	1978
Resignation:	1994
Playing hand:	Right, one-handed backhand
Prize money:	$ 21,262,417
singles
Career record:	1068: 242
Career title:	94
Highest ranking:	1 (February 28, 1983)
Weeks as No. 1:	270
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	187: 140
Career title:	6th
Highest ranking:	20 (May 12 1986)
Grand Slam record
Mixed
Grand Slam record
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Lendl 1984 in the final of Rotterdam

Ivan Lendl (born March 7, 1960 in Ostrava , then Czechoslovakia , now the Czech Republic ) is a former Czechoslovak, later American tennis player .

Lendl, who accepted US citizenship on July 7, 1992, won eight Grand Slam singles titles in his career and reached the previous record of 19 finals in tournaments in this category. With a total of 270 weeks at the top of the world rankings , including four times at the end of the year (1985–1987, 1989), Lendl was one of the most successful tennis players of all time.

In his 17-year career, he won 94 singles titles, including three French Open and US Open and twice the Australian Open , plus six doubles titles. Only a success at Wimbledon , where he reached the final twice, was denied him. In addition, he won the Masters five times and the Davis Cup in 1980 with the Czechoslovak team . In his balance sheet there are 1068 games won against 242 defeats (in Grand Slam tournaments 222: 49).

Since 2012 (with an interruption from 2014-2016) Lendl has been working as the trainer of the British Andy Murray , who achieved his greatest successes under him and in November 2016 was number 1 in the world rankings.

Tennis career

Already in his youth Lendl was an outstanding player, so he won the individual junior title at the French Open and Wimbledon in 1978 and was listed as number 1 in the junior world rankings. In the same year he became a professional, in 1979 he reached his first individual final in the men. In 1980 Lendl won seven tournaments, in three weeks he was able to win three tournaments on different surfaces. In 1981 he won ten tournaments and reached the first Grand Slam final of his career at the French Open, which he lost in five sets against Björn Borg . Lendl was also in the Czechoslovak team, which won the World Team Cup in 1981 and which was runner-up in 1984 and 1985. In 1982 he finished 15 of 23 tournaments to which he competed as the winner, but he lost again a Grand Slam final, this time against Jimmy Connors at the US Open. He had a winning streak of 44 games and also won the season-ending tournament, the WCT Finals, for the first time. There he defeated John McEnroe without losing a set. He met McEnroe again in the final of the Masters Grand Prix and won again without losing a set. During this time the prize money increased due to the competition between two tennis tournaments (Grand Prix and WCT), Lendl became the best-earning player of all time.

In the following season, Lendl remained consistently among the best players in the world. But he had to admit defeat in two other finals at Grand Slam tournaments. In 1983 he won seven tournaments. Finally, in the 1984 season, the first victory at one of the most important tournaments in the world followed. At the French Open in Paris Lendl turned a 2-0 set deficit in the final against John McEnroe and won his first major tournament victory.

The 1985 season was one of the best in Lendl's career. Among his 11 individual titles was his first win at the US Open, where he had previously failed three times in a row in the final. He reached the WCT Finals for the second and final time, beating Tim Mayotte in three sets. In the next two years Lendl should win the US Open, plus two more victories at the French Open and two finals at Wimbledon. So Lendl ended the years 1985-1987 as the best player in the world rankings . From 1985 to 1987 he won the Masters Grand Prix again. After two years with three Grand Slam finals each, Lendl reached the final in the 1988 season only at the US Open, where his streak of 27 wins in a row ended in a tight five-set game against Mats Wilander . In 1989 the first triumph at the Australian Open followed. In Paris he lost 6: 4, 6: 4, 3: 6, 3: 6, 3: 6 in a legendary match in the round of 16 against cramped Michael Chang, who was on the verge of a task . At the tournament in Wimbledon, Lendl did not get past the semi-finals this season, as in the following years of his career.

In 1990 the series of eight finals in a row at the US Open ended, at the Australian Open Lendl won the eighth and last Grand Slam title of his career and at the end of the year he was among the top three players in a season for the tenth time in a row break up. At the Australian Open in 1991 he reached the last Grand Slam final of his career, he lost the match against Boris Becker in four sets. The last three years of his career were marked by persistent back problems and early defeats at important tournaments. Finally, Lendl ended his career in 1994 at the age of 34 and then devoted himself increasingly to golf. On February 28, 2011, he played a friendly with John McEnroe at Madison Square Garden . For the first time since the 1970s, Lendl played again in May 2012 at the Sparta Prague Open tennis tournament in Prague .

In 2001 Ivan Lendl was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame .

Success as a trainer

From January 2012 to March 2014, and again from June 2016, Lendl trained British Andy Murray . During this time Murray achieved his greatest successes: Gold medals at the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016 , the Grand Slam title wins at the US Open in 2012 , in Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016 and the victory at the ATP World Tour Finals in 2016 . From November 7, 2016 to August 20, 2017, Murray was number 1 in the world rankings. From the US Open 2018 until July 2019, he looked after Alexander Zverev . The time was marked by sporting success such as Zverev's win at the ATP Finals in 2018 , but also early retirement from major tournaments such as Wimbledon .

Private life

Lendl comes from a tennis-loving family. His mother, Olga Lendlová, was one of the most successful tennis players in Czechoslovakia and was the country's second best player in her day. His father, Jiří Lendl, was also a good player, who later became chairman of the Czechoslovak Tennis Federation. In 1978 Ivan Lendl became a professional tennis player.

Lendl has lived in the United States since 1981 and moved there permanently in 1984. In 1987 he applied for and got a green card, and in 1992 he became a US citizen . In 1989 he married Samantha Frankel. He now lives in the US state of Connecticut with his wife and five daughters . Lendl plays golf and controls the sporting development of his daughters, especially their golf skills. Two of his daughters, Marika and Isabelle, are members of the University of Florida Women's Golf Team . Caroline is a member of the University of Alabama rowing team . Daughter Nikola enjoys eventing.

He collects works by the artist Alfons Mucha .

Statistics and records

Record world number one in men's singles

rank	Tennis player	Weeks
1.	Roger Federer	310
2.	Pete Sampras	286
3.	Novak Đoković	283
4th	Ivan Lendl	270
5.	Jimmy Connors	268
6th	Rafael Nadal	209
7th	John McEnroe	170
8th.	Bjorn Borg	109
9.	Andre Agassi	101
As of August 26, 2020

• From 1989 Lendl was the male player with the most individual finals in Grand Slam tournaments (17, last 19), before he was outbid by Roger Federer in 2009 ; He is currently in fourth place in this ranking behind Federer (31), Rafael Nadal (27) and Novak Đoković (26) - as of January 2020.
• With a total of 94 tournament wins in singles, he is third in the Open Era's best list behind Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103).
• Lendl is the only player in the Open Era who has won three tournaments on different surfaces in three consecutive weeks.
• Ivan Lendl and Bill Tilden are the only players in tennis history to have reached eight US Open finals in a row.
• Lendl holds the record of 66 wins in a row in indoor tournaments (1981-1983).
• Between Madrid 1981 and Forest Hills 1982 he reached 18 finals in a row, holding the record in the Open Era.
• Together with Pete Sampras and Novak Đoković , he is in second place in terms of victories (5) in the Masters (now ATP Finals ) at the end of the season ; only Roger Federer recorded more wins there (6).
• He holds the record for most finals in a row (9) at the Tennis Masters Cup , which he played between 1980 and 1988 without interruption.
• With $ 21,262,417 earned , Lendl was number 1 in the prize money ranking at the end of his career. It has now slipped to 17th place (as of November 25, 2019).
• Lendl was at the top of the tennis world rankings for a total of 270 weeks . This was a record from 1990 when he broke Jimmy Connors' mark of 268 weeks to 1999 when Pete Sampras broke that mark. Lendl is currently fourth in the all-time best list behind Federer (310), Pete Sampras (286) and Đoković (282). He also ranks third with 157 uninterrupted number 1 weeks behind Roger Federer (237) and Jimmy Connors (160).
• Lendl is (next to Sampras, Connors, McEnroe, Federer, Nadal and Đoković) one of seven players who have finished a season as number one in the world rankings at least four times.
• With 1,068 professional victories, Lendl is ranked third in these statistics in the Open Era ranking; only Jimmy Connors (1256) and Roger Federer (1242) achieved more victories.
• Behind Guillermo Vilas (46), Lendl is second with 44 wins in a row (in 1981 and 1982).

Grand Slam successes

Wins (8)

year	competition	Final opponent	Result
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 Mečíř	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 Mečíř	6: 2, 6: 2, 6: 2
1990	Australian Open	Stefan Edberg	4: 6, 7: 6, 5: 2 problem

Final defeats (11)

year	competition	Final opponent	Result
1981	French Open	Bjorn Borg	1: 6, 6: 4, 2: 6, 6: 3, 1: 6
1982	US Open	Jimmy Connors	3: 6, 2: 6, 6: 4, 4: 6
1983	Australian Open	Mats Wilander	1: 6, 4: 6, 4: 6
1983	US Open	Jimmy Connors	3: 6, 7: 6, 5: 7, 0: 6
1984	US Open	John McEnroe	3: 6, 4: 6, 1: 6
1985	French Open	Mats Wilander	6: 3, 4: 6, 2: 6, 2: 6
1986	Wimbledon	Boris Becker	4: 6, 3: 6, 5: 7
1987	Wimbledon	Pat Cash	6: 7, 2: 6, 5: 7
1988	US Open	Mats Wilander	4: 6, 6: 4, 3: 6, 7: 5, 4: 6
1989	US Open	Boris Becker	6: 7, 6: 1, 3: 6, 6: 7
1991	Australian Open	Boris Becker	6: 1, 4: 6, 4: 6, 4: 6

Career record

Tournament / statistics	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
Australian Open	-	-	2R	-	-	F.	AF	HF	-	HF	HF	S.	S.	F.	VF	1R	AF
French Open	1R	AF	3R	F.	AF	VF	S.	F.	S.	S.	VF	AF	-	-	2R	1R	1R
Wimbledon	-	1R	3R	1R	-	HF	HF	AF	F.	F.	HF	HF	HF	3R	AF	2R	-
US Open	-	2R	VF	AF	F.	F.	F.	S.	S.	S.	F.	F.	VF	HF	VF	1R	2R
Tournament victories	0	0	7th	10	15th	7th	3	11	9	8th	3	10	5	3	1	2	0
World ranking at the end of the year	74	20th	6th	2	3	2	3	1	1	1	2	1	3	5	8th	19th	54

AF = round of 16; VF = quarter finals; HF = semifinals; F = final; S = tournament victory; Digit = 1.-3. Tournament round;

Tournament victories

Legend

Grand Slam (8)

Masters Grand Prix (5)

Grand Prix Championship Series (22)

Grand Prix Series (59)

No.	year	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	1980	Houston	sand	Eddie Dibbs	6: 1, 6: 3
2.	1980	Toronto	Hard court	Bjorn Borg	4: 6, 5: 4, retirement
3.	1980	Barcelona	sand	Guillermo Vilas	6: 4, 5: 7, 6: 4, 4: 6, 6: 1
4th	1980	Basel	Hard court (i)	Bjorn Borg	6: 3, 6: 2, 5: 7, 0: 6, 6: 4
5.	1980	Tokyo	sand	Eliot Teltscher	3: 6, 6: 4, 6: 0
6th	1980	Hong Kong	Hard court	Brian Teacher	5: 7, 7: 6, 6: 3
7th	1980	Taipei	Carpet (i)	Brian Teacher	6: 7, 6: 3, 6: 3, 7: 6
8th.	1981	Stuttgart Indoor	Hard court (i)	Chris Lewis	6: 3, 6: 0, 6: 7, 6: 3
9.	1981	Las Vegas	Hard court	Harold Solomon	6: 4, 6: 2
10.	1981	Montreal (2)	Hard court	Eliot Teltscher	6: 3, 6: 2
11.	1981	Madrid	sand	Pablo Arraya	6: 3, 6: 2, 6: 2
12.	1981	Barcelona (2)	sand	Guillermo Vilas	6-0, 6-3, 6-0
13.	1981	Basel (2)	Hard court (i)	José Luis Clerc	6: 2, 6: 3, 6: 0
14th	1981	Vienna	Hard court (i)	Brian Gottfried	1: 6, 6: 0, 6: 1, 6: 2
15th	1981	Cologne	Carpet (i)	Sandy Mayer	6: 3, 6: 3
16.	1981	Buenos Aires	sand	Guillermo Vilas	6: 2, 6: 2
17th	1981	New York City	Carpet (i)	Vitas gerulaitis	6: 7, 2: 6, 7: 6, 6: 2, 6: 4
18th	1982	Delray Beach	sand	Peter McNamara	6: 4, 4: 6, 6: 4, 7: 5
19th	1982	Genoa	Carpet (i)	Vitas gerulaitis	6: 7, 6: 4, 6: 3, 6: 3
20th	1982	Munich	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 1, 6: 2
21st	1982	Strasbourg	Carpet (i)	Tim Mayotte	6: 0, 7: 5, 6: 1
22nd	1982	Frankfurt am Main	Carpet (i)	Peter McNamara	6: 2, 6: 2
23.	1982	Houston (2)	sand	José Luis Clerc	3: 6, 7: 6, 6: 0, 1: 4, surrender
24.	1982	Dallas	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	6: 2, 3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 3
25th	1982	Forest Hills	sand	Eddie Dibbs	6: 1, 6: 1
26th	1982	Washington, DC	sand	Jimmy Arias	6: 3, 6: 3
27.	1982	North Conway	sand	José Higueras	6: 3, 6: 2
28.	1982	Cincinnati	Hard court	Steve Denton	6: 2, 7: 6
29	1982	los Angeles	Carpet (i)	Kevin Curren	7: 6, 7: 5, 6: 1
30th	1982	Naples	Carpet (i)	Wojciech Fibak	6: 4, 6: 2, 6: 1
31.	1982	Hartford	Carpet (i)	Bill Scanlon	6: 2, 6: 4, 7: 5
32.	1982	New York City (2)	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	6: 4, 6: 4, 6: 2
33.	1983	Detroit	Carpet (i)	Guillermo Vilas	7: 5, 6: 2, 2: 6, 6: 4
34.	1983	Milan	Carpet (i)	Kevin Curren	5: 7, 6: 3, 7: 6
35.	1983	Houston (3)	sand	Paul McNamee	6: 2, 6: 0, 6: 3
36.	1983	Hilton Head	sand	Guillermo Vilas	6: 2, 6: 1, 6: 0
37.	1983	Montreal (3)	Hard court	Järryd is different	6: 2, 6: 2
38.	1983	San Francisco	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	3: 6, 7: 6, 6: 4
39.	1983	Tokyo Indoor	Carpet (i)	Scott Davis	3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4
40.	1984	Luxembourg	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	6: 4, 6: 4
41.	1984	French Open	sand	John McEnroe	3: 6, 2: 6, 6: 4, 7: 5, 7: 5
42.	1984	Wembley	Carpet (i)	Andrés Gómez	6: 3, 7: 5
43.	1985	Fort Myers	Hard court	Jimmy Connors	6: 3, 6: 2
44.	1985	Monte Carlo	sand	Mats Wilander	6: 1, 6: 3, 4: 6, 6: 4
45.	1985	Dallas (2)	Carpet (i)	Tim Mayotte	7: 6, 6: 4, 6: 1
46.	1985	Forest Hills (2)	sand	John McEnroe	6: 3, 6: 3
47.	1985	Indianapolis	sand	Andrés Gómez	6: 1, 6: 3
48.	1985	US Open	Hard court	John McEnroe	7: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4
49.	1985	Stuttgart	sand	Brad Gilbert	6: 4, 6: 0
50.	1985	Sydney Indoor	Hard court (i)	Henri Leconte	6: 4, 6: 4, 7: 6
51.	1985	Tokyo Indoor (2)	Carpet (i)	Mats Wilander	6-0, 6-4
52.	1985	Wembley (2)	Carpet (i)	Boris Becker	6: 7, 6: 3, 4: 6, 6: 4, 6: 4
53.	1985	New York City (3)	Carpet (i)	Boris Becker	6: 2, 7: 6, 6: 3
54.	1986	Philadelphia	Carpet (i)	Tim Mayotte	without a fight
55.	1986	Boca West	Hard court	Mats Wilander	3: 6, 6: 1, 7: 6, 6: 4
56.	1986	Milan (2)	Carpet (i)	Joakim Nyström	6: 2, 6: 2, 6: 4
57.	1986	Fort Myers (2)	Hard court	Jimmy Connors	6: 2, 6: 0
58.	1986	Rome	sand	Emilio Sánchez	7: 5, 4: 6, 6: 1, 6: 1
59.	1986	French Open (2)	sand	Mikael Pernfors	6: 3, 6: 2, 6: 4
60.	1986	Stratton Moutain	Hard court	Boris Becker	6: 4, 7: 6
61.	1986	US Open (2)	Hard court	Miloslav Mečíř	6: 4, 6: 2, 6: 0
62.	1986	New York City (4)	Carpet (i)	Boris Becker	6: 4, 6: 4, 6: 4
63.	1987	Hamburg	sand	Miloslav Mečíř	6: 1, 6: 3, 6: 3
64.	1987	French Open (3)	sand	Mats Wilander	7: 5, 6: 2, 3: 6, 7: 6
65.	1987	Washington, DC (2)	Hard court	Brad Gilbert	6: 1, 6: 0
66.	1987	Montreal (4)	Hard court	Stefan Edberg	6: 4, 7: 6
67.	1987	US Open (3)	Hard court	Mats Wilander	6: 7, 6: 0, 7: 6, 6: 4
68.	1987	Sydney Indoor (2)	Hard court (i)	Pat Cash	6: 4, 6: 2, 6: 4
69.	1987	Wembley (3)	Carpet (i)	Järryd is different	6: 3, 6: 2, 7: 5
70.	1987	New York City (5)	Carpet (i)	Mats Wilander	6: 2, 6: 2, 6: 3
71.	1988	Monte Carlo (2)	sand	Martin Jaite	5: 7, 6: 4, 7: 5, 6: 3
72.	1988	Rome (2)	sand	Guillermo Pérez Roldán	2: 6, 6: 4, 6: 2, 4: 6, 6: 4
73.	1988	Toronto (5)	Hard court	Kevin Curren	7: 6, 6: 2
74.	1989	Australian Open	Hard court	Miloslav Mečíř	6: 2, 6: 2, 6: 2
75.	1989	Scottsdale	Hard court	Stefan Edberg	6: 2, 6: 3
76.	1989	Miami (2)	Hard court	Thomas Muster	without a fight
77.	1989	Forest Hills (3)	sand	Jaime Yzaga	6: 2, 6: 1
78.	1989	Hamburg (2)	sand	Horst Skoff	6: 4, 6: 1, 6: 3
79.	1989	Queen's Club	race	Christo van Rensburg	4: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4
80.	1989	Montreal	Hard court	John McEnroe	6: 1, 6: 3
81.	1989	Bordeaux	sand	Emilio Sánchez	6: 2, 6: 2
82.	1989	Sydney Indoor (3)	Hard court (i)	Lars-Anders Wahlgren	6: 2, 6: 1, 6: 3
83.	1989	Stockholm	Carpet (i)	Magnus Gustafsson	6: 1, 6: 3
84.	1990	Australian Open (2)	Hard court	Stefan Edberg	4: 6, 7: 6, 5: 2, task
85.	1990	Milan (3)	Carpet (i)	Tim Mayotte	6: 3, 6: 2
86.	1990	Toronto Indoor	Carpet (i)	Tim Mayotte	6: 3, 6: 0
87.	1990	Queen's Club (2)	race	Boris Becker	6: 3, 6: 2
88	1990	Tokyo Indoor (3)	Carpet (i)	Boris Becker	4: 6, 6: 3, 7: 6
89.	1991	Philadelphia (2)	Carpet (i)	Pete Sampras	5: 7, 6: 4, 6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 3
90.	1991	Memphis	Hard court (i)	Michael Stich	7: 5, 6: 3
91.	1991	long Island	Hard court	Stefan Edberg	6: 3, 6: 2
92.	1992	Tokyo Indoor (4)	Carpet (i)	Henrik Holm	7: 6, 6: 4
93.	1993	Munich	sand	Michael Stich	7: 6, 6: 3
94.	1993	Tokyo Indoor (5)	Carpet (i)	Todd Martin	6: 4, 6: 4

See also

• List of winners of the Grand Slam tournaments (men's singles)
• List of world number one in men's tennis (individual)
• List of the longest winning streaks in men's tennis

Web links

Commons : Ivan Lendl  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• ATP profile of Ivan Lendl (English)
• ITF profile of Ivan Lendl (English)
• Davis Cup stats by Ivan Lendl (English)
• Ivan Lendl in the "International Tennis Hall of Fame" (English; with picture)

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Birthdays", Sport-Bild from March 3, 1993, p. 40
2. ↑ Murray and Lendl split up. In: Sport1.de. March 19, 2014, accessed July 26, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Media: Lendl no longer a Zverev coach. In: NDR.de. July 26, 2019, accessed July 26, 2019 . 
4. ↑ 2009 Women's Golf: Players ( Memento of the original from June 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ^ Posters: Populist Art For the Collector , The New York Times, September 10, 1993
6. ^ «Finale 6:51 hours» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 25, 1986, p. 23 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).