52 Facts About Ivan Lendl

Ivan Lendl is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Ivan Lendl won eight major singles titles and was runner-up a joint record 11 times, making him the first man to contest 19 major finals.

Ivan Lendl contested a record eight consecutive US Open finals, and won seven year-end championships.

Ivan Lendl was born into a tennis family in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia.

Ivan Lendl first came to the tennis world's attention as a junior player.

Ivan Lendl was part of Czechoslovakia's Davis Cup winning team that year.

Ivan Lendl was the driving force behind the country's team in the first half of the 1980s, and was part of the Czechoslovak team that won the World Team Cup in 1981 and was runner-up in 1984 and 1985.

Ivan Lendl relocated to the United States in 1981, first living at the home of mentor and friend, Wojtek Fibak.

Ivan Lendl competed on the World Championship Tennis tour, where he won all ten tournaments he entered, including his first WCT Finals, where he defeated John McEnroe in straight sets.

Ivan Lendl faced McEnroe again in the Masters Grand Prix final and won in straight sets to claim his second season-ending championship of the WCT.

Ivan Lendl won another seven tournaments in 1983; however, he had not won any Grand Slam titles in the early years of his career.

Ivan Lendl reached his first Grand Slam final at the French Open in 1981, where he lost in five sets to Bjorn Borg.

Ivan Lendl's second came at the US Open in 1982, where he was defeated by Jimmy Connors.

In July 1983, Ivan Lendl played three exhibition matches in Sun City, South Africa, in the apartheid-era bantustan of Bophuthatswana.

In 1984, Ivan Lendl bought his own house in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Ivan Lendl lost in the final of the 1985 French Open to Mats Wilander.

Ivan Lendl then faced McEnroe again in the final of the US Open, winning in straight sets.

Ivan Lendl won the Masters Grand Prix title for the third time, defeating Boris Becker in straight sets.

Ivan Lendl won French Open titles in 1986 and 1987, as well as the season-ending 1986 and 1987 Masters Grand Prix championship titles, where he defeated Becker in straight sets and Wilander in three sets.

Ivan Lendl began 1989 by winning his first Australian Open title with a straight sets final victory over Miloslav Mecir, and went on to win 10 titles out of 17 tournaments he entered.

The only Grand Slam singles title Ivan Lendl never managed to win was Wimbledon.

Ivan Lendl reached the semi-finals in 1988 and 1989, but lost to Becker on both occasions.

In 1990, Ivan Lendl put in intensive efforts to train and improve his grass court game.

Ivan Lendl switched to a larger headed racket and skipped the 1990 French Open in order to spend more time practising on grass.

Ivan Lendl won the Queen's Club Championships, with comfortable straight-set victories over McEnroe in the semi-final and Becker in the final, but was unable to reproduce this form at Wimbledon, and although he reached the semi-finals for the seventh time in eight years, he lost to eventual champion Stefan Edberg in straight sets.

Ivan Lendl remained near the top of the rankings in 1991.

Ivan Lendl skipped the French Open again to focus on Wimbledon, but lost in the third round against David Wheaton, and was never to win the Wimbledon title.

Ivan Lendl was well known for his meticulous and intensive training and physical conditioning regime, and his scientific approach to preparation and playing.

Ivan Lendl announced his retirement from professional tennis on December 21,1994, aged 34, due to chronic back pain.

Ivan Lendl won a career total of 94 ATP singles titles and 6 doubles titles, and his career total prize money of US $21,262,417 was a record at the time.

On February 28,2011, Ivan Lendl returned to the court again in an exhibition match against McEnroe at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

In May 2012, Ivan Lendl played in Prague in the 2012 Sparta Prague Open tournament.

Ivan Lendl defeated fellow Czech Jiri Novak in the exhibition match.

On December 31,2011, Ivan Lendl was appointed to coach Andy Murray.

Ivan Lendl has been credited with improving Murray's maturity and consistency, guiding him to his first two Grand Slam victories in the 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon Championships.

On winning the US Open in 2012, Murray became the second player in the Open Era, after Ivan Lendl, to have lost their first four Grand Slam finals, and won the fifth.

On June 12,2016, Ivan Lendl rejoined Andy Murray's coaching team.

Zverev has stated that Ivan Lendl was more interested in his dog or his golf game than in professional coaching.

Ivan Lendl's trademark shot was his running forehand, which he could direct either down the line or cross-court.

Early in his career, Ivan Lendl played a sliced backhand, but in the early 1980s he learned to hit his backhand with significant topspin.

McEnroe's further distance from the net opened the angles for Ivan Lendl's cross-court passing shots, which ultimately gained Ivan Lendl points and turned the match around.

At the beginning of his professional career, Ivan Lendl used Adidas clothing and Kneissl rackets, subsequently changing to Adidas rackets.

Toward the end of his days on the ATP tour, Ivan Lendl ended his long-term clothing, shoe, and racket deal with Adidas.

Ivan Lendl signed with Mizuno, and finally began to play with a mid-sized racket very similar to the Adidas racket he had used throughout most of his career, itself based on the Kneissl White Star model.

Ivan Lendl reached 19 Grand Slam singles finals in his career.

Ivan Lendl won eight titles, and was a runner-up in 11.

Ivan Lendl was the International Tennis Federation's World Champion on four occasions and the Association of Tennis Professionals Player of The Year three times.

Ivan Lendl successfully applied for a US Permanent Resident Card in 1987, hoping to obtain US citizenship in time to represent the US in the 1988 Olympic Games and in the Davis Cup.

On September 16,1989, six days after competing in the final of the US Open versus Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl married Samantha Frankel.

Still competitive at the mini-tour levels, Ivan Lendl now spends much of his time managing his daughters' golfing careers.

Ivan Lendl had a nearly complete collection of posters by Alfons Mucha.

Ivan Lendl sold the collection in 2014 to Czech businessman Richard Fuxa for 3.5 million dollars.