Jan Kodes

Jan Kodes is a former Czech tennis player who won three Grand Slam Singles events in the early 1970s. He was most comfortable playing on clay, as he won the French Open in 1970 beating Zeijko Franulovic in the final in straight sets and again in 1971 he overcame Nastase in the final in four sets. Meanwhile his aggressive, attacking groundstroke led him to a pair of final appearances in the 1971 and 1973 US Opens.  He also won the Wimbledon on grass in 1973, although 13 of the top 16 players, and 81 players in total, didn’t play the tournament that year because of a boycott over the banning of Nikola Plic by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF). Kodes defeated home favourite Rager Taylor in the semi-finals in five sets and Alex Metreveli in the final in three sets. 

From 1966 to 1981, he never missed a French Open championship and advanced to the fourth round on five occasions (1967, 1969, 1974, 1975,1977), was a quarterfinalist twice (1972, 1973). In Paris, he had an impressive record of 43-14 all-time. During the 1970 final in the French capital, he comfortably overcame Yogoslavian Zeljko Franulovic, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. Kodes had a relatively easy route to the finals, never facing a seed higher than No.5. Surprisingly, the Czech star never played in the Australian Open, but he was twice runner-up at the US Open. In the 1971 final, he lost to Stan Smith and in 1973 was beaten at the end of a hard fought five setter to John Newcombe.

In 1971, he came to the French Open as No.1 seed and his relentless baseline game led him to a second straight title. However this time around, he had to struggle a bit as he needed to overcome Frenchman Francois Jauffret in the fourth round in a five set encounter after going down 2-1. He won the last two sets 6-0, 6-4.  And then, at the final hurdle, he faced No.3 seed Nastase. The Romanian couldn’t match Kodes’ intensity and relentless pursuit of the ball, eventually losing 8-6, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

During the 1971 US Open, he played spectacularly to defeat No.1 seed John Newcombe in the first round, 2-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3 and then overcame No.3 seed Ashe in the semi-finals in a five setter. But he couldn’t get the better of No.2 seed Smith in the final. Similarly, at the 1973 US Open sailed through to the final, defeating Pilic in the quarterfinals and upsetting No.1 seed Smith in a five-set semifinal. In the final, he led Newcombe 2 sets to 1 but the Australian took the last two sets 6-2, 6-2 and the title.

Kodes reached his highest ATP ranking of World No.5 in September 1973 and during the Open era, he won a total of nine singles titles and 17 in total. For 12 years he was Czechoslovakia’s top ranked player, and his affinity for playing Davis Cup was significant. He played in 94 matches over 15 years starting in 1966, losing in the finals against Sweden in 1975. The team won the 1980 championship, 4-1 over Italy.

He 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.

Grand Slam Singles results:

French Open: W ( 1970, 1971)

                       QF ( 1972, 1973)

Wimbledon:   W (1973)

SF ( 1972)

                      QF ( 1974)     

US Open :      F ( 1971, 1973)       

QF ( 1976)