Michael Stich
Michael Detlef Stich is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, achieved in 1993, and No. 9 in men's doubles, achieved in 1991. Stich won 18 ATP Tour-level singles titles, including the 1991 Wimbledon Championships, as well as the 1993 ATP Tour World Championships and the 1992 Grand Slam Cup. He also won ten doubles titles, including the men's doubles title at the 1992 Wimbledon Championships, partnering John McEnroe, and the gold medal in men's doubles 1992 Barcelona Olympics, partnering Boris Becker. Stich was part of the victorious German team at the 1993 Davis Cup, and was also the singles runner-up at the 1994 US Open and the 1996 French Open.
Personal life
Stich was raised in Elmshorn, Schleswig-Holstein.Stich was married to the German actress Jessica Stockmann from 1992 to 2003.
In 2005, he married Alexandra Rikowski. They live in Hamburg.
Career
He turned professional in 1988 and won his first top-level singles title in 1990 at Memphis, Tennessee.Stich surprisingly won the men's singles title Wimbledon in 1991. He defeated the defending champion and world No. 1 Stefan Edberg in the semifinals, without breaking his service once. Then in the final, he beat his compatriot and three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker in straight sets. Edberg and Becker had contested the three previous Wimbledon finals.
In 1992, Stich teamed with John McEnroe to win the men's doubles title at Wimbledon in a five-set, five-hour final that stretched into Monday and ended with a 19–17 set. No male player since has won both singles and doubles at Wimbledon. Then at the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Stich teamed with Becker to win the men's doubles gold medal. Stich also won the 1992 Grand Slam Cup, defeating Michael Chang in the final.
A major highlight of 1993 for Stich came at the end-of-year ATP World Championships, where he was the only player in the 1990s history of the Championship tournament to claim the title undefeated, overcoming Pete Sampras in the final. Playing for Germany, Stich also won both the Davis Cup and the Hopman Cup in 1993.
Stich reached his second Grand Slam singles final at the 1994 US Open, where he lost in straight sets to Andre Agassi who was unseeded. Incidentally, Agassi had won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1992, the year after Stich accomplished that feat. Stich also helped Germany win the World Team Cup in 1994.
Stich upset defending champion Thomas Muster in four sets in the fourth round of the 1996 French Open en route to appearing in his third and final Grand Slam singles final, where he lost to Yevgeny Kafelnikov in straight sets. He also won his final career singles title that year at Antwerp.
Stich announced his retirement from the professional tour in 1997, after Wimbledon. His last run at Wimbledon started with a win over US top-ten player Jim Courier and ended with a five-set loss to Cédric Pioline in the semifinals, who went on to lose to Sampras in the final. His last doubles title came in 1997 at Halle.
Stich's all-round ability, both from the baseline and at the net, allowed him to become one of the few players to win both singles and doubles tournaments on all surfaces. He had a positive career head-to-head record against Sampras.
Since his retirement, he has devoted most of his time to his AIDS foundation. He also works as a tennis commentator for the BBC. In 2018, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Grand Slam finals
Singles: 3 (1–2)
Doubles: 1 (1–0)
Other significant finals
Year-end championships finals
Singles: 1 (1–0)
Grand Slam Cup finals: 2 (1–1)
Olympic men's doubles final
Masters Series finals
Singles: 3 (2–1)
Doubles: 3 (1–2)
Career finals
Singles: 31 (18–13)
| Result | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Win | 1. | Mar 1990 | Memphis, US | Hard |  Doubles: 16 (10–6)
|
