The Open Era
Czechoslovakia · born Ostrava, 1960 · right-handed · twice Wimbledon finalist and twice Queen's champion
All playersBack to the rankings
2
Wimbledon finals, 1986 and 1987
7
Wimbledon semi-finals or better, 1983 to 1990
48-14
Wimbledon singles record in 14 appearances
94
ATP singles titles
270
Weeks at world No. 1
Ivan Lendl was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, in 1960, the son of two ranked players. In 1978 he won the boys' singles at Wimbledon and turned professional. Built around a heavy forehand, fitness and relentless baseline pressure, his game made him the dominant player of the mid-1980s.
He won eight major singles titles: the French Open in 1984, 1986 and 1987, the US Open in 1985, 1986 and 1987, and the Australian Open in 1989 and 1990, and lost eleven more major finals. He was No. 1 for 270 weeks and won 94 ATP singles titles. Back pain ended his career in 1994. He entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2001, and later coached Andy Murray to his first two Wimbledon titles.
Wimbledon was the one major he could not win. He reached the final in 1986 and 1987 and the semi-finals five more times, and in 1990 he gave up the French Open to prepare on grass. He won Queen's in 1989 and 1990.
| Wimbledon finals | 1986: lost to Boris Becker 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. 1987: lost to Pat Cash 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-5 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon semi-finals | 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989 and 1990. In 1990, after skipping Roland Garros, he lost to Stefan Edberg 6-1, 7-6(2), 6-3 |
| Queen's Club | 1989: beat Christo van Rensburg 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. 1990: beat John McEnroe in the semi-final and Boris Becker 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Also runner-up in the 1990 doubles with Henri Leconte |
| Australian Open 1983 | Lost the final on grass at Kooyong to Mats Wilander 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 |
| Boys' singles 1978 | Won the Wimbledon boys' title as top seed, beating J. Turpin of the United States 6-3, 6-4 |
| Queen's Club | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Men's singles | |
| 1990 | Men's singles | |
| South Australian Championships | ||
| 1987 | Men's doubles | with Bill Scanlon |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I'll probably do it again"
The person behind the player.
1990
He skipped the French Open to concentrate on Wimbledon, after practising heavily on new grass courts laid at his coach Tony Roche's club in Australia. He won Queen's but lost the Wimbledon semi-final to Edberg. "I felt slow," he said, and when asked how disappointing it was: "Well, what do you think? Of course it's disappointing."
Source: Detroit Free Press (Mitch Albom)1990
He switched to a larger mid-sized racket in the middle of 1990, a Mizuno model designed for him for grass, and used it to win Queen's.
Source: WikipediaSports Illustrated, 1986
When he was world No. 1, Sports Illustrated put him on its cover of 15 September 1986 under the headline "The Champ That Nobody Cares About". He told the magazine's Frank Deford: "my mission is to win."
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameWimbledon 2013
When Andy Murray won Wimbledon with Lendl as his coach, Murray said: "I just think for him, obviously ideally he would have won it himself, but I think this was the next best thing for him." He added that Lendl "doesn't smile in public too much".
Source: Al JazeeraWimbledon 1978
His only Wimbledon title came at 18, when he won the boys' singles as the top seed.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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