01.06.2014 10:57:28 | Even though you would not find his name in the draw, he is admittedly the biggest star to show up in Prostejov. Ivan Lendl will be present at the beginning of the tournament. “Ivan will stay at the tournament until Wednesday. We will organize a Children’s Day with him and, of course, he will give an autograph session,” Miroslav Cernosek, the head of the tennis club in Prostejov said. “He will surely practice with Jirka Vesely. He also used to play with him during his previous stay in Prostejov.“
In his career, Ivan Lendl won eight grand slam titles in singles and played nineteen grand slam finals, which is still a men’s record. During an uninterrupted period of eleven years, he always advanced to at least one grand slam finals. He became the world’s number one player on 28th February 1983. He was later replaced by Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. After beating John McEnroe in the US Open finals in September 1985, he ultimately dominated the men’s tennis. For most of the five years until August 1990, he was the world’s number one (with a short interruption from September 1988 till January 1989 when he was replaced by Mats Wilander). He finished as the world’s ATP number one ranking player in 1985-87 and 1989 and he remained the world’s number one player for long 270 weeks by which he broke the record which was, until then, held by Jimmy Connors. Ten years later, the record was broken by Pete Sampras.
