27 years ago today: "Ivan the Terrible" resigns
Ivan Lendl , who was born in Ostrau in what was then Czechoslovakia, but has lived in the USA since 1981 and obtained US citizenship in 1992, had his stamp on the tennis world long before that.
by SID
last edit:
Dec 19, 2021, 09:59 pm
In the end, this tireless ball machine, this tennis robot, which was considered the fittest player on the tour for many years, then the body thwarted the bill. Ivan Lendl's back had been plagued for a long time, he had tormented himself for a long time, although the defeats came more and more often and earlier. On December 20, 1994, "Ivan the Terrible" had had enough and at the age of 34 he put an end to his glamorous tennis career.
"This is not the way I wanted my retirement to take place and I am sure that I will miss the game I love," Lendl said in a conference call. A week earlier, doctors had told him that there was no hope of recovery from his back ailment, only the prospect of worse pain. At this point Lendl had already slipped to 54th place in the world rankings.
Ivan Lendl: 270 weeks at the top, 94 tournament victories
He had had to work hard to get the attention. "The champion who cares," wrote Sports Illustrated magazine after Lendl won her first US Open in 1985.
Soon everyone was interested in Lendl, who got his nickname because of his dogged manner. He was at the top of the world rankings for 270 weeks - only Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Pete Sampras managed more. Lendl achieved 94 tournament victories in his 17 years on the tour, including eight Grand Slam successes. He was in major finals eleven more times, losing to Boris Becker three times.
Ivan Lendl: Wimbledon remained a great dream
Only one title at Wimbledon was not granted to Lendl, although he was twice in the final and missed many good opportunities. But the game on the "holy lawn" was not for the Czech, who dominated his opponents from the baseline but had problems with serve and volley. "Grass is only for cows," Lendl is said to have once said bitterly.
After the end of his career, it would be 29 years before he made his peace with Wimbledon. In 2012 Lendl made his comeback in the tennis circuit as Andy Murray's coach, and a year later the Scot gave the British the long-awaited Wimbledon victory - and a happy ending for his coach. As Alexander Zverev's coach, Lendl was later denied another Grand Slam triumph.