Ivan Lendl, professional tennis player: biography, personal life, sporting achievements

A famous tennis player named Ivan Lendl devoted himself to sports since his earliest childhood, as his parents have been engaged in professional tennis for a long time. His talent as a boy showed up at the age of 18 - he won the Roland Garros tournament.

With each passing day the young man developed talent in himself, studied more and more. New tricks and other discoveries were always interesting for him, so for a moment he did not think about quitting his favorite pastime. Any difficulties he overcame quickly, after which he set himself higher goals and constantly achieved them.

Great athlete

Ivan Lendl is a professional tennis player. In 1984 he was able to prove not only to himself, but to the whole world that he could win even in the tournaments of the famous "Grand Slam". At the "Roland Garros" he easily won the semifinals, and then the final. After this event, his opponent, with whom they played in the finals, took revenge. Lendl dropped a few lines in the ranking, and return to the first position was obtained only after 12 months. For the next year the young tennis player scored 84 wins and suffered 7 defeats. And for all the time of participation in the final tournaments of the Grand Slam (singles) there were 8 wins.

The first position of the rating was occupied by him for three years. At this time he won in several tournaments. The defeat in the final of the American Open Championship deprived Ivan of the place of the first racket of the world. Also this failure sharply cut off a series of 27 victories. It was she who was considered the second in duration after 42 victories of Bill Tilden.

Style of play

The foundation of the game has always been the basic principle of a tennis player - to stick to the back line and beat the racket as hard as possible, gaining more points. Ivan Lendl differed due to the speed with which he moved along the tennis court, and the ability to foresee any actions of the opponent. The will to win helped him to achieve goals even in cases where the game was not too spectacular. The grass for Ivan was the most difficult pillar. According to him, this is an uncomfortable cover, which often prevented concentration.

Wimbledon

One of the important moments of his life was Wimbledon. The tournament finals proved once again that Lendl is the greatest tennis player. Then he became the owner of the junior Wimbledon, and the commission recognized him as the strongest junior in the world lately.

Only thanks to this tournament all Soviet athletes and tennis fans learned the game of this man. Twice spectators watched as he, being a finalist, came out on the court with confidence, and then both times left his defeated. A lot of interviews were released with his statements about tennis in general and specifically about Wimbledon. Unbroken will to win led him further and, as a result, Ivan Lendl still managed to reach some peaks.

Conflict

The Davis Cup gave the tennis player the opportunity to compete for the national team. But, unfortunately, Ivan had some problems with the Czechoslovak Tennis Federation, and a complicated conflict arose between them. For this reason, he was forced to leave the Davis Cup, after which he decided to move to a permanent residence in the United States of America.

The opinion of society

Such a powerful tennis player and his magnificent game can not but cause admiration. But there are people who often accuse Ivan of being dry and pragmatic on the court. There are many different opinions about him as a person, and also as a professional tennis player.

Lendl dominates almost all courts of the world. Public opinion does not always like him. Even in his youth, when Ivan Lendl just moved from his native country, he did not even suspect what strength the opinion of society has. The very first conversation with the representative of the newspaper was not entirely successful, prevented the language barrier. As a novice, he practically did not react to all inconvenient questions, after which he was accused of unfriendliness and lack of security.

The young tennis player considered the whole press to be slanderous, which influenced their mutual distrust. Ever since, Ivan has even been shown on television as a cold-blooded man who does not know how to smile sincerely and always wants to find only a profit for himself. Few people did not consider him a programmed robot. Gray and sullenness was already familiar to his fans, but still the real fans did not stop because of this cheering for Ivan.

Victory for victory

Ivan Lendl with some measured permanence won every new tournament, but this list did not include major games. Great victories began in his career after playing in France and the US, where he was the unanimous winner. In major battles, he showed excitement, but the tennis player was able to overcome it. A certain amount of self-doubt for a short period of time replaced the assertiveness and strong blows, but soon everything returned to its places.

When winning or losing, he received good money. For example, in the first nine years of participating in tournaments Ivan Lendl earned more than nine million dollars. But every day he more and more shielded himself from the psychological barrier from people. Over time, the tennis player moved away from society, in his eyes it was impossible to notice a share of humor. It was very difficult to get acquainted with him, the psychological barrier did not let him properly communicate with people. But still as a professional athlete he did not interfere.

The pursuit of excellence

Among other things, Lendl all his life aspired to perfection. He set himself small goals, which in the end should lead to the very ideal. All conceived was coming true.

Ivan has always been touched by impartial statements of people that he is a gray person. After all, his entourage and closest friends were of the opposite opinion.

Olympic Games

As is known, in 1988 tennis was again admitted to the Olympic Games. Of course, as a professional tennis player, Lendl immediately began to pursue his American citizenship. He filed a petition to provide him with all the necessary papers as soon as possible. But, unfortunately, the Czechoslovak government decided to bring down all his hopes and not give a chance to realize one of his cherished desires.

Ivan was very much hoping to take part in the tournament held in Seoul. There he wanted to play for a new country, but the delay in the documents spoiled his nerves. In the end, the victory was won by another person.

This situation knocked the tennis player out of the rut, but he did not have long to suffer. After a while he just closed his eyes to the problem and continued to live a normal life. He did not really want to spoil his nervous system because of the hatred of the Czechoslovak government.

Marriage and further life

A year after the failure in the Olympic Games, Ivan made a proposal to the hand and heart of an American woman. She, of course, reciprocated. The couple got married. Three years later, Ivan was finally given his long-awaited citizenship. But now he was not such a supertennisistom. The last Grand Slam finale ended not in his favor, and shortly before that, the first line of the ranking was taken by another athlete instead of Lendl.

Despite such a fall, everything went very smoothly in the family life. Five daughters were born in their family. At the time when Ivan played the last set in tennis, the eldest was quite a baby. After that he decided to go in for golf. In this sport, he also achieved good results.

By tradition, daughters followed in the footsteps of their father. But do not immediately look for them in the list of tennis champions, since they have been from birth or early childhood to follow the progress of his father's career in golf.

Return

Despite the excellent continuation of life after tennis, Lendl still could not forget those happy moments when he went out on the court. In 2010, Ivan decided to return to the old hobby, but now on a veteran tour. Now he plays all the time with the same rivals, but not for the sake of the cup. As the tennis player believes, proven opponents are always better than new ones.

In the veteran tour, even his pupils gradually began to come to him, whom he once gave good lessons. Now Ivan Lendl hopes that soon he will go to the court and will be able to play several matches with a man who has broken all his records. It will, perhaps, be the most significant game in his life. After all, he knows how to wait.

Ivan Lendl - the trainer

Due to the huge amount of achievements in his favorite sport, Lendl could easily try himself not only as a player, but also as a mentor or an instructor. As many fans of tennis know, Ivan Lendl is now the new coach of a young talent named Andy Murray. Cooperation they started back in 2012, and to this day their names are mentioned in sports news.

Ivan Lendl noticed a young athlete for a long time and expressed his opinion about his game. Andy himself respects an experienced tennis player, and he is sure that he will be able to help him not only in training, but also in moral preparation for competitions. After all, Lendl passed all the tests that Murray is now overcoming.

These two individuals are very similar: the desire for victory, long attempts to win the first title of the "Grand Slam", overcoming obstacles - the iron will seems to have been embedded in them since birth. A young tennis player takes an example from his coach and will never contradict. It should be noted that Ivan in his youth also could not find himself until the end until he met his future coach - the same situation turned out for Andy.

During all the time of cooperation, Murray has reached many peaks. An experienced coach was able to support him in difficult moments, push forward when it really was required. Now, at age 28, Andy Murray has many victories, and in many respects it is thanks to the mentor.