Jan Kodeš
Jan Kodeš is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time major singles champion, Kodeš was one of the premier players in the early 1970s.
Kodeš's greatest success was achieved on the clay courts of the French Open. He won the singles title in 1970 French Open beating Željko Franulović in straight sets in the final. He won the 1971 French Open over Ilie Năstase in the final in four sets, his "tireless running and gifted anticipation" proving too much for the Romanian. He also won Wimbledon on grass courts in 1973, beating Alex Metreveli in the final in straight sets, although the tournament was largely boycotted by top players that year in a show of solidarity over the ban of Nikola Pilić by the International Lawn Tennis Federation.
Kodeš never played at the Australian Open, but was twice the runner-up at the US Open, in 1971 to Stan Smith and 1973 to John Newcombe. Kodeš reached his highest ATP ranking of world No. 5 in September 1973. During the Open Era, he won nine top-level singles titles and 17 doubles titles.
Kodeš was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2013, he received the Czech Fair Play Award from the Czech Olympic Committee. He is an economics graduate of the Prague University.
Career statistics
The table for open era finals below does not include victories and final participation in tournaments from 1966 to 1969, such as victories in international championships and tournaments in Santiago, Viña del Mar, Sao Paulo, Lyon, Cannes, Luxembourg, St. Petersburg, Beirut, Zaragoza, Split, Varna, Plovdiv, Paris and three times in the MM CSSR in Bratislava. In doubles with Javorsky in Bratislava, then with Jan Kukal, he won tournaments in Lyon, Hilversum, Macon, Pittsburgh, Caracas, Istanbul, Bratislava, Beirut and Split. With Pala in Luxembourg and Zaragoza. With Rodriguez in Viña del Mar, Chile. In all these tournaments or championships, the starting field was always at least 32 players, like today's ATP tour tournaments, but they are not listed in the ATP Tour yearbooks because the ATP Tour did not exist at that time and did not publish publications.In the book written by Petr Kolar and Jan Kodes, "A Journey to Glory from behind the Iron Curtain", there are 25 singles wins, 27 appearances in finals, 32 doubles wins and 29 appearances in doubles finals. He participated in the first Grand Prix "Masters" tournaments from 1970-1974.