Jan Kodeš

Jan Kodeš

Country (sports)	Czechoslovakia
Residence	Prague, Czech Republic
Born	1 March 1946 Prague, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	1968 (amateur tour from 1966)
Retired	1983
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 693,197
Int. Tennis HoF	1990 (member page)
Singles
Career record	410-241 (Open era)
Career titles	11
Highest ranking	No. 4 (September 1973)
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open	W (1970, 1971)
Wimbledon	W (1973)
US Open	F (1971, 1973)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973)
WCT Finals	SF (1974)
Doubles
Career record	313-183
Career titles	17
Highest ranking	No. 12 (21 May 1979)

Jan Kodeš (Czech: Jan Kodeš; born 1 March 1946) is a right-handed Czech former tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles events in the early 1970s.

Kodeš's greatest success was achieved on the clay courts of the French Open played at the Stade Roland Garros. He won the singles title there in 1970, beating Željko Franulović in the final in straight sets, and again in 1971, this time defeating Ilie Năstase in the final in four sets. He also won Wimbledon on grass in 1973, although 13 of the top 16 players, and 81 players in total, did not play the tournament^[1] that year because of a boycott over the banning from Wimbledon of Nikola Pilić by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF). Kodeš beat home favorite Roger Taylor in the semifinals in five sets and Alex Metreveli in the final in three straight sets.^[2][3]

Kodeš never played the Australian Open but he was twice the runner-up at the US Open, in 1971, losing to Stan Smith, and 1973 when he lost in five sets to John Newcombe.^[4][3]

Kodeš reached his highest tour ranking of World No. 4 in September 1973.^[3] During his career, he won a total of eight top-level singles titles and 17 doubles titles.

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. He is an economics graduate of the Prague University.^[3]

Career statistics

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Tournament	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	Absent													0 / 0	0–0	0.00
French Open	2R	4R	1R^[a]	4R	W	W	QF	QF	4R	4R	3R	4R	3R	2 / 13	41–10	80.39
Wimbledon	1R	1R^1	1R	2R	1R	1R	SF	W	QF	2R	A	1R	1R	1 / 12	18–11	62.07
US Open	A	A	A	2R	A	F	2R	F	4R	4R	QF	3R	A	0 / 8	26–8	76.47
Win–Loss	1–2	3–2	0–1	5–3	7–1	13–2	9–3	17–2	10–3	7–3	6–2	5–3	2–2	3 / 33	85–29	74.56

¹ Start of the Open Era.
^a 1968 French Open counts as 0 wins, 0 losses. Fernando Gentil received a walkover in the first round, after Kodeš withdrew, does not count as a Kodeš loss (nor a Gentil win).

Finals: 5 (3 titles, 2 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1970	French Open (1)	Clay	Željko Franulović	6–2, 6–4, 6–0
Winner	1971	French Open (2)	Clay	Ilie Năstase	8–6, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5
Runner-up	1971	US Open (1)	Grass	Stan Smith	6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–7^(3–5)
Winner	1973	Wimbledon	Grass	Alex Metreveli	6–1, 9–8^(7–5), 6–3
Runner-up	1973	US Open (2)	Grass	John Newcombe	4–6, 6–1, 6–4, 2–6, 3–6

Open era finals

Singles (8 titles, 18 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	1969	Barranquilla, Colombia	Clay	Ilie Năstase	4–6, 4–6, 10–8, 6–2, 3–6
Winner	1.	1970	French Open, Paris	Clay	Željko Franulović	6–2, 6–4, 6–0
Runner-up	2.	1970	Rome, Italy	Clay	Ilie Năstase	3–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–8
Runner-up	3.	1971	Nice, France	Clay	Ilie Năstase	8–10, 9–11, 1–6
Winner	2.	1971	Catania, Italy	Clay	Georges Goven	6–3, 6–0, 6–2
Runner-up	4.	1971	Rome, Italy	Clay	Rod Laver	5–7, 3–6, 3–6
Winner	3.	1971	French Open, Paris	Clay	Ilie Năstase	8–6, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5
Runner-up	5.	1971	U.S. Open, New York City	Grass	Stan Smith	6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–7
Runner-up	6.	1971	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Arthur Ashe	1–6, 6–3, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6
Runner-up	7.	1972	Nice, France	Clay	Ilie Năstase	0–6, 4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	8.	1972	Rome, Italy	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–4, 1–6, 5–7, 2–6
Winner	4.	1972	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–3, 6–2, 6–3
Winner	5.	1973	Cologne WCT, Germany	Carpet	Brian Fairlie	6–1, 6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	9.	1973	Vancouver WCT, Canada	Carpet	Tom Gorman	6–3, 2–6, 5–7
Winner	6.	1973	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Alex Metreveli	6–1, 9–8, 6–3
Runner-up	10.	1973	U.S. Open, New York City	Grass	John Newcombe	4–6, 6–1, 6–4, 2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	11.	1973	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Mateflex	Jiří Hřebec	6–4, 1–6, 6–3, 0–6, 5–7
Runner-up	12.	1975	Hampton, U.S.	Carpet	Jimmy Connors	6–3, 3–6, 0–6
Runner-up	13.	1975	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–3, 2–6, 2–6, 6–4, 1–6
Runner-up	14.	1975	Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	Jaime Fillol	4–6, 6–1, 0–6, 5–7
Runner-up	15.	1975	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Adriano Panatta	6–2, 2–6, 5–7, 4–6
Winner	7.	1975	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Adriano Panatta	6–2, 3–6, 7–6, 6–2
Winner	8.	1976	Basel, Switzerland	Mateflex	Jiří Hřebec	6–4, 6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	16.	1976	Nice, France	Clay	Corrado Barazzutti	2–6, 6–2, 7–5, 6–7, 6–8
Runner-up	17.	1976	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–7, 2–6, 6–7
Runner-up	18.	1977	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	7–5, 2–6, 6–4, 3–6, 2–6

Doubles (17 titles, 24 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	1970	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Željko Franulović	Dick Crealy Allan Stone	2–6, 6–2, 12–12, RET.
Runner-up	2.	1970	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Željko Franulović	John Alexander Phil Dent	8–10, 2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	3.	1970	Phoenix, U.S.	Hard	Charlie Pasarell	Dick Crealy Ray Ruffels	6–7, 3–6
Runner-up	4.	1970	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Željko Franulović	Bob Carmichael Ray Ruffels	5–7, 2–6, 7–5, 7–6, 3–6
Runner-up	5.	1971	Macon, U.S.	Carpet	Željko Franulović	Clark Graebner Thomaz Koch	3–6, 6–7
Runner-up	6.	1971	Catania, Italy	Clay	Jan Kukal	Pierre Barthès Francois Jauffret	6-7, 6-2, 3-6
Winner	1.	1971	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Željko Franulović	Clark Graebner Erik Van Dillen	7–6, 5–7, 6–3
Winner	2.	1972	Nice, France	Clay	Stan Smith	Frew McMillan Ilie Năstase	6–3, 3–6, 7–5
Winner	3.	1972	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Ilie Năstase	Bob Hewitt Ion Ţiriac	4–6, 6–0, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	7.	1972	Montreal, Canada	Clay	Jan Kukal	Ilie Năstase Ion Ţiriac	6–7, 3–6
Winner	4.	1973	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Vladimír Zedník	Jimmy Connors Ilie Năstase	6–2, 6–4
Winner	5.	1973	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Mateflex	Vladimír Zedník	Róbert Machán Balázs Taróczy	7-6, 7–6
Winner	6.	1974	Palm Desert WCT, U.S.	Hard	Vladimír Zedník	Raymond Moore Onny Parun	6–4, 6–4
Winner	7.	1974	Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	Jiří Hřebec	Ken-Ichi Hirai Toshiro Sakai	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	8.	1975	Salisbury, U.S.	Carpet	Roger Taylor	Jimmy Connors Ilie Năstase	6–7, 2–6
Winner	8.	1975	Munich, Germany	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Milan Holeček Karl Meiler	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	9.	1975	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Juan Gisbert, Sr. Manuel Orantes	3–6, 6–7
Winner	9.	1975	Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	François Jauffret	Harald Elschenbroich Hans Kary	6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	10.	1975	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Ilie Năstase	Cliff Drysdale Raymond Moore	4–6, 7–5, 6–7
Winner	10.	1975	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Ilie Năstase	Juan Gisbert, Sr. Manuel Orantes	6–4, 3–6, 9–7
Winner	11.	1976	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Jiří Hřebec	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	6–7, 6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	12.	1977	Baltimore, U.S.	Carpet	Ross Case	Ion Ţiriac Guillermo Vilas	3–6, 7–6, 4–6
Winner	12.	1977	Monte Carlo WCT, Monaco	Clay	François Jauffret	Wojtek Fibak Tom Okker	2–6, 6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	13.	1977	French Open, Paris	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	6–7, 6–4, 3–6, 4–6
Winner	13.	1977	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	6–0, 6–4
Runner-up	14.	1977	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Wojtek Fibak	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	15.	1977	Oviedo, Spain	Carpet	Raúl Ramírez	Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart	3–6, 1–6
Runner-up	16.	1978	Springfield, U.S.	Carpet	Marty Riessen	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	17.	1978	Nice, France	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Patrice Dominguez François Jauffret	4–6, 0–6
Runner-up	18.	1978	Rome, Italy	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Víctor Pecci Belus Prajoux	7–6, 6–7, 1–6
Winner	14.	1978	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Carlos Kirmayr Belus Prajoux	6–3, 7–6
Runner-up	19.	1978	Aix-en-Provence, France	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Ion Ţiriac Guillermo Vilas	6–7, 1–6
Winner	15.	1978	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd	6–7, 6–1, 6–2
Winner	16.	1979	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Mark Edmondson John Marks	6–3, 6–1, 7–6
Runner-up	20.	1979	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Tom Okker Balázs Taróczy	1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	21.	1979	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Gene Mayer John McEnroe	4–6, 6–7
Runner-up	22.	1980	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Balázs Taróczy	Steve Denton Ivan Lendl	2–6, 7–6, 3–6
Runner-up	23.	1980	Cologne, Germany	Carpet	Tomáš Šmíd	Bernard Mitton Andrew Pattison	4–6, 1–6
Winner	17.	1982	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Balázs Taróczy Heinz Günthardt	7–6, 6–4
Runner-up	24.	1983	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy	6–3, 2–6, 3–6

At results above are not shown wins and runners-up from 1965 to 1969, such as tournaments in Santiago, Viňa del Mar, São Paulo, Lyon, Cannes, Luxemburg, Split, Varna, Plovdiv, Paris (Racing Club) or International championships of Czechoslovakia in Bratislava. The draws of players were always minimum 32 players, same as at contemporary ATP Tour events, but they are not listed in ATP Annuals, since ATP was founded at 1972.

References

1. Wimbledon: The Official History of the Championships. Barrett, John. Collins Willow 2011 ISBN 0-00-711707-8
2. "Wimbledon Singles Titles Captured by King, Kodes" (The Spokesman-Review). AP. 8 July 1973.
3. John Barrett, ed. (1974). World of Tennis '74 : a BP and Commercial Union yearbook. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 268–269. ISBN 9780362001686.
4. "Newcombe cops U.S. net Open" (Star-News). UPI. 10 September 1973. p. Fifteen.

Further reading

Jan Kodes, with Petr Kolar, A Journey to Glory from behind the Iron Curtain, New Chapter Press, Chicago, 2010, ISBN 978-0942257687

External links

• Jan Kodeš at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Jan Kodeš at the International Tennis Federation
• Jan Kodeš at the Davis Cup
• Jan Kodeš at the International Tennis Hall of Fame