An Aching Lendl Hangs Up His Racket at 34

LOS ANGELES -- Ivan Lendl, the dour Czech-born tennis star who won 94 tournaments, eight Grand Slam event titles and more than $20 million in prize money -- but never won Wimbledon -- announced his retirement at 34 because of a lingering back injury.


Lendl held the No. 1 ranking for a record 270 weeks, but he fell out of the top 10 last year for the first time since he turned pro in 1978. At the U.S. Open last fall, Lendl had to quit during his first-round match because of his back and said afterward he would consider retirement.


He made it official in a conference call to reporters Tuesday.


"It is never easy," Lendl said of his decision. "I enjoyed playing the game, had a lot of great times, and I will miss it."


Lendl leaves behind a legacy as one of the game's greatest baseline players whose game was flawed (from a spectator's standpoint) by a numbingly repetitive ground-stroke style. He also showed a grating personality that drew few fans his way.


"I don't think he gave much of himself to the public," said tennis great Jack Kramer. "He didn't look like he was enjoying himself too much. Somehow or other, he was brought up not to care about anything except the next ball coming his way. He was a sourpuss." John McEnroe once remarked that Lendl "has all the personality of an IBM home computer."


In rare moments, however, Lendl showed something of a sense of humor even with regard to his own austere behavior.


During a critical point during the finals of the 1982 Volvo Masters, Lendl aimed a forehand from close range at Vitas Gerulaitis, striking him in the forehead. Asked after the match if he had intentionally tried to hit his opponent, Lendl quipped, "I do not invite opponent up to the net."


An only child, Lendl was born in the coal-mining city of Ostrava in the former Czechoslovakia, near the Polish border.


Lendl's father, Jiri, was once ranked among the top tennis players in the country. Olga Jenistova Lendlova, Lendl's mother, was once ranked No. 2 in the former Czechoslovakia. After nearly a decade of living in the United States, Lendl became a U.S. citizen in 1992.


He won his eighth and last Grand Slam event in the 1990 Australian Open, when he scored a straight-set victory over Miloslav Mecir, another Czech who was forced to retire two years later because of a back injury.


The only man in tennis to have played in 19 Grand Slam event finals, Lendl reached eight consecutive U.S. Open finals from 1982-1989 and won three. He ruled men's tennis as its dominant force from 1984-89, turning his career around after losing to Jimmy Connors in the 1983 U.S. Open final in four sets when he failed to win a game in the final set.


It was Lendl's fourth appearance in a Grand Slam event final and his fourth defeat. But Lendl erased his image as a choker in the 1984 French Open final against his nemesis, John McEnroe. Lendl lost the first two sets on the red clay of Roland Garros, then won the next three for a 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 comeback victory. Ironically, it was a match which seemed to mark the onset of McEnroe's decline as it marked the beginning of Lendl's ascent.


In his next 18 Grand Slam appearances, Lendl won seven more titles and made the final in six others.


But he never conquered Wimbledon. He tried and failed 14 times. He came close twice, but had the misfortune of running into 18-year-old Boris Becker in the 1986 final and meteoric Pat Cash in the 1987 final. Lendl skipped Wimbledon this year to receive treatment for his back injury.


Lendl's normal style was not serve and volley, but he tried for years, in vain, to play a grass court style at Wimbledon. Kramer said that was a mistake, considering that other base-line players such as Bjorn Borg and Andre Agassi stayed back and still were able to win on grass.


Connors said Lendl's conditioning was instrumental in his success. "His ability to wear guys down was pretty strong," he said. "It's too bad he can't leave on his own terms." (LAT, MT)