Ivan Lendl was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, in 1960. His mother, Olga Lendlová, was one of the top ten players in their country. He was coached by Wojtek Fibak from 1979 and by Tony Roche from 1985 until the end of his career. He became a prolific winner early, but the biggest titles were slow to come: he lost the 1981 French Open final to Björn Borg in five sets and the 1982 and 1983 US Open finals to Jimmy Connors, and his nerve in big finals was openly questioned.
That changed at the 1984 French Open. Two sets down to John McEnroe, the leading player of the year, he fought back to win in five sets and take the first of his eight major titles. At the 1985 US Open he beat McEnroe again in the final, which lifted him to world No. 1. He held the ranking for 156 consecutive weeks, until he lost the 1988 US Open to Mats Wilander, and he finished with 270 weeks at the top, a record at the time.
The middle of his career was remarkably consistent. He won three US Opens in a row, from 1985 to 1987, as part of a run of eight consecutive US Open finals. From the 1985 US Open to the 1988 Australian Open he reached ten straight major semifinals, a record until Roger Federer passed it in 2007. He added French Opens in 1986 and 1987 and Australian Opens in 1989 and 1990. Wimbledon was the one major he never won. He was the first man to play 19 major finals, and he won five season-ending championships.
He became a US citizen in 1992. A damaged back forced him to default during his second-round match at the 1994 US Open, and he retired that year with 94 singles titles and a singles record of 1,279 wins and 274 losses, a winning percentage topped only by Connors.