Ivan Lendl

He married Samantha Frankel on September 16, 1989. Their five daughters are Marika, Nikola, Daniela and twins Isabelle and Caroline.

While Marika, Isabelle and Daniela hold interest in golf, Caroline is more drawn towards rowing and Nikola enjoys horsing events.

He is an enthusiast and collector of art and holds a huge collection of posters of Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist Alfons Mucha, which were exhibited in 2013 in Prague.

He was born on March 7, 1960 in the city of Ostrava in Moravian-Silesian Region, Czechoslovakia (presently Czech Republic) to Jiri Lendl and Olga Lendlova as their only child.

His father was a lawyer and a chess master who became a junior champion of Bohemia and Moravia and played the chess championship in Czechoslovakia. Jiri also played tennis and ranked among top fifteen Czechoslovakian male players. His mother Ogla was an ace tennis player who was once achieved the number two female tennis player in Czechoslovakia.

He became the national age group champion at 12 years of age and defeated his mother in a tennis game for the first time when he was 14.

When he was 15 he was sent to Florida for a 6 weeks training by the Czechoslovakian tennis federation.

In 1978 he started playing tennis professionally and soon made a mark in the game winning both the ‘Wimbledon’ and ‘French Open’ junior titles for boys in that year and attained world number one ranking as a junior player.

He continued to make impact on the game and in 1979 he reached his first top-level singles final.

In 1980, he achieved 7 singles titles that include 3 tournament victories, which were attained in 3 consecutive weeks.

He continued with the winning spree in 1981 with 10 more titles that include the first season-ending ‘Masters Grand Prix’ tour title, beating Vitas Gerulaitis in five sets. However that year he faced defeat at the hands of Swedish player Björn Borg in his first ever Grand Slam final at the ‘French Open’.

In 1981, he moved to the US and started living with his mentor cum friend and former Polish tennis player Wojtek Fibak.

The charity competition ‘Ivan Lendl Celebrity Golf Tournament’ was organised by him in 2004.

He has played several times in the ‘Gary Player Invitational charity Pro-Am’, operated by his friend and renowned golfer Gary Player. The foundation aims to raise funds for education of the unprivileged around the world.