Mats Wilander

On January 3, 1987, he married South Africa born model Sonya Mulholland. The couple has five children are Erik, Karl, Emma, Oskar and Travis of whom Erik suffers from epidermolysis bullosa.

Wilander and Sonya have aided in raising funds for the cause of research to cure epidermolysis bullosa.

He was born on August 22, 1964, in Växjö, Kronobergs län, Sweden, to Einar Wilander and his wife Karin Wilander.

As any other kid in Sweden, Wilander also used to play soccer and ice hockey and was introduced to tennis later when his father himself took interest in the sport and started playing it, inspired by ‘Davis Cup’ he watched on TV.

Einar Wilander created a tennis court out of a local factory parking lot and young Mats gradually became interested in the game.

With time he started enjoying junior tennis tournaments and in 1979 won the ‘Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships’ under 16 boy’s tournament.

In 1980 he made his professional debut at the clay court tournament in Båstad, Sweden.

As an unseeded player he emerged as a surprise package in the world of tennis during the 1982 ‘French Open’ tournament. He moved up step-by-step during the tournament beating experienced and ace players and defeated second seed Ivan Lendl in the fourth round.

In the quarterfinals he defeated Vitas Gerulaitis, the fifth seed and thereafter triumphed in the semi-final against José Luis Clerc, the fourth seed. As the semi-final match came to an end, Wilander, who was in dilemma regarding a questionable referee decision and did not want to win the game on such circumstances, made an appeal for a replay of the match ball. This gesture of Wilander earned him the ‘Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Trophy’.

The finals saw a nail biting match of around 4 hours and 42 minutes resulting in Wilander emerging as the new champion of the 1982 ‘French Open’ singles title beating third seed Guillermo Vilas. With this achievement the 17 year, 9 months old Wilander became the youngest ever ‘Grand Slam’ singles men’s champion. This record was later broken by Boris Becker and Michael Chang.

In 1982 he won three other tournaments, earned the ‘Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal’ and attained a rank of number seven by the year end.

In 1983 ‘Australian Open’ men’s singles, he defeated the defending champion Johan Kriek in the quarterfinals and reached the final beating McEnroe in the semi-finals. He moved on to win the final defeating Ivan Lendl in straight sets to become the new ‘Australian Open’ champion and thus earning his second ‘Grand Slam’ singles title. His other achievements that year include 8 other tournament wins encompassing two ‘Grand Prix Tennis Championship Series’ titles. That year he climbed to the number 4 position.

In 2009 he came up with a unique concept, ‘Wilander on Wheels’, a travelling tennis fantasy experience where people can get an opportunity of hitting with him, a Former World Number 1 player, in their backyards. For the last six years he and his partner travel the country in an RV in this pursuit.