Ivan Lendl

Ivan Lendl was born March 7, 1960. He is a number one professional tennis player and one of tennis' most dominant players. Lendl remained highly competitive into the 1990s. Lendl has been described by his peers and sportscasters as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
Lendl's tennis game relied on strength and a heavy topspin form the baseline. With this type of play Lendl was one of the main contributors to the modern era of power tennis. Lendl has often described his game as "hitting hot" or an unyielding all-court game.
Lendl achieved eight Grand Slam singles titles. He held the title of playing in the most Grand Slam singles finals until 2009 when his record was surpassed by Roger Federe. For 11 consecutive years, Lendl reached at least one Grand Slam. Lendl claimed 12 year-end championships, he won five Masters Grand Prix titles and two WCT finals titles. Lendl won an astounding 22 Championship Series tennis titles in the years from 1980 to 1989.
In 1983 Lendl was crowned a world number one tennis player designation after his defeat of John McEnroe in the 1984 French Open final. The next five years Lendl held the ranking of a number one player. He ranked number one for over 270 weeks which broke the record previously held by Jimmy Connors.
Unfortunately Lendl never won Wimbledon during his tennis career but he still won over 1071 tennis singles matches.
September 16, 1989 Lendl and Samantha Frankel were married and they have five daughters. In 1994 Lendl at the age of 34, retired from tennis due to continual back pain. He turned his athletic talent to golf and manages his daughters' golfing successes. He is an avid art collector and has an extensive collection of posters by Alfons Mucha.