Jan Kodeš

Jan Kodeš

Country (sports)	Czechoslovakia
Residence	Prague, Czech Republic
Born	(1946-03-01) 1 March 1946 (age 75) Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	1968 (amateur from 1966)<
Retired	1983
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$693,197
Int. Tennis HoF	1990 (member page)
Singles
Career record	506–288 (63.7%) in pre Open-Era & Open Era
Career titles	9
Highest ranking	No. 5 (13 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)
Grand Slam Doubles results
French Open	F (1977)

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

His 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]

He reached his highest ATP ranking of world No. 5 in September 1973.^[3] During the open era, he won a total of 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.^[3]

Career statistics[]

Grand Slam finals: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)[]

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1970	French Open (1)	Clay	Željko Franulović	6–2, 6–4, 6–0
Win	1971	French Open (2)	Clay	Ilie Năstase	8–6, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5
Loss	1971	US Open (1)	Grass	Stan Smith	6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–7(3–5)
Win	1973	Wimbledon	Grass	Alex Metreveli	6–1, 9–8(7–5), 6–3
Loss	1973	US Open (2)	Grass	John Newcombe	4–6, 6–1, 6–4, 2–6, 3–6

Grand Slam singles performance timeline[]

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).

Open era finals[]

Singles (9 titles, 19 runner-ups)[]

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	1970	St. Petersburg, U.S.	Clay	Joaquin Loyo-Mayo	6–3, 6–3, 6–3
Win	2.	1970	French Open, Paris	Clay	Željko Franulović	6–2, 6–4, 6–0
Loss	1.	1970	Rome, Italy	Clay	Ilie Năstase	3–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–8
Loss	2.	1971	Nice, France	Clay	Ilie Năstase	8–10, 9–11, 1–6
Win	3.	1971	Catania, Italy	Clay	Georges Goven	6–3, 6–0, 6–2
Loss	3.	1971	Rome WCT, Italy	Clay	Rod Laver	5–7, 3–6, 3–6
Win	4.	1971	French Open, Paris	Clay	Ilie Năstase	8–6, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5
Loss	4.	1971	US Open, New York	Grass	Stan Smith	6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–7
Loss	5.	1971	Stockholm WCT, Sweden	Hard (i)	Arthur Ashe	1–6, 6–3, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6
Loss	6.	1972	Nice, France	Clay	Ilie Năstase	0–6, 4–6, 3–6
Loss	7.	1972	Rome, Italy	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–4, 1–6, 5–7, 2–6
Win	5.	1972	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–3, 6–2, 6–3
Win	6.	1973	Cologne WCT, Germany	Carpet (i)	Brian Fairlie	6–1, 6–3, 6–1
Loss	8.	1973	Vancouver WCT, Canada	Carpet (i)	Tom Gorman	6–3, 2–6, 5–7
Win	7.	1973	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Alex Metreveli	6–1, 9–8, 6–3
Loss	9.	1973	US Open, New York	Grass	John Newcombe	4–6, 6–1, 6–4, 2–6, 3–6
Loss	10.	1973	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Carpet (i)	Jiří Hřebec	6–4, 1–6, 6–3, 0–6, 5–7
Loss	11.	1974	Acapulco, Mexico	Carpet (i)	Tom Okker	2–6, 6–7
Loss	12.	1975	Hampton, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Jimmy Connors	6–3, 3–6, 0–6
Loss	13.	1975	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–3, 2–6, 2–6, 6–4, 1–6
Loss	14.	1975	Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	Jaime Fillol	4–6, 6–1, 0–6, 5–7
Loss	15.	1975	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Adriano Panatta	6–2, 2–6, 5–7, 4–6
Win	8.	1975	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Adriano Panatta	6–2, 3–6, 7–6, 6–2
Win	9.	1976	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet (i)	Jiří Hřebec	6–4, 6–2, 6–3
Loss	16.	1976	Nice, France	Clay	Corrado Barazzutti	2–6, 6–2, 7–5, 6–7, 6–8
Loss	17.	1976	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–7, 2–6, 6–7
Loss	18.	1976	Aviles, Spain	Clay	Željko Franulović	6–7, 1–6, 7–5, 6–7
Loss	19.	1977	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	7–5, 2–6, 6–4, 3–6, 2–6

Doubles (17 titles, 24 runner-ups)[]

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	1970	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Željko Franulović	Dick Crealy Allan Stone	2–6, 6–2, 12–12 ret.
Loss	2.	1970	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Željko Franulović	John Alexander Phil Dent	8–10, 2–6, 4–6
Loss	3.	1970	Phoenix, U.S.	Hard	Charlie Pasarell	Dick Crealy Ray Ruffels	6–7, 3–6
Loss	4.	1970	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Željko Franulović	Bob Carmichael Ray Ruffels	5–7, 2–6, 7–5, 7–6, 3–6
Loss	5.	1971	Macon, U.S.	Carpet	Željko Franulović	Clark Graebner Thomaz Koch	3–6, 6–7
Loss	6.	1971	Catania, Italy	Clay	Jan Kukal	Pierre Barthès Francois Jauffret	6–7, 6–2, 3–6
Win	1.	1971	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Željko Franulović	Clark Graebner Erik van Dillen	7–6, 5–7, 6–3
Win	2.	1972	Nice, France	Clay	Stan Smith	Frew McMillan Ilie Năstase	6–3, 3–6, 7–5
Win	3.	1972	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Ilie Năstase	Bob Hewitt Ion Ţiriac	4–6, 6–0, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2
Loss	7.	1972	Montreal, Canada	Clay	Jan Kukal	Ilie Năstase Ion Ţiriac	6–7, 3–6
Win	4.	1973	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Vladimír Zedník	Jimmy Connors Ilie Năstase	6–2, 6–4
Win	5.	1973	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Mateflex	Vladimír Zedník	Róbert Machán Balázs Taróczy	7–6, 7–6
Win	6.	1974	Palm Desert WCT, U.S.	Hard	Vladimír Zedník	Raymond Moore Onny Parun	6–4, 6–4
Win	7.	1974	Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	Jiří Hřebec	Kenichi Hirai Toshiro Sakai	6–1, 6–4
Loss	8.	1975	Salisbury, U.S.	Carpet	Roger Taylor	Jimmy Connors Ilie Năstase	6–7, 2–6
Win	8.	1975	Munich, Germany	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Milan Holeček Karl Meiler	7–5, 6–3
Loss	9.	1975	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Juan Gisbert, Sr. Manuel Orantes	3–6, 6–7
Win	9.	1975	Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	François Jauffret	Harald Elschenbroich Hans Kary	6–2, 6–3
Loss	10.	1975	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Ilie Năstase	Cliff Drysdale Raymond Moore	4–6, 7–5, 6–7
Win	10.	1975	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Ilie Năstase	Juan Gisbert, Sr. Manuel Orantes	6–4, 3–6, 9–7
Win	11.	1976	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Jiří Hřebec	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	6–7, 6–2, 6–4
Loss	12.	1977	Baltimore WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Ross Case	Ion Ţiriac Guillermo Vilas	3–6, 7–6, 4–6
Win	12.	1977	Monte Carlo WCT, Monaco	Clay	François Jauffret	Wojtek Fibak Tom Okker	2–6, 6–3, 6–2
Loss	13.	1977	French Open, Paris	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	6–7, 6–4, 3–6, 4–6
Win	13.	1977	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	6–0, 6–4
Loss	14.	1977	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Wojtek Fibak	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	4–6, 3–6
Loss	15.	1977	Oviedo, Spain	Carpet	Raúl Ramírez	Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart	3–6, 1–6
Loss	16.	1978	Springfield, U.S.	Carpet	Marty Riessen	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	3–6, 3–6
Loss	17.	1978	Nice, France	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Patrice Dominguez François Jauffret	4–6, 0–6
Loss	18.	1978	Rome, Italy	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Víctor Pecci Belus Prajoux	7–6, 6–7, 1–6
Win	14.	1978	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Carlos Kirmayr Belus Prajoux	6–3, 7–6
Loss	19.	1978	Aix-en-Provence, France	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Ion Ţiriac Guillermo Vilas	6–7, 1–6
Win	15.	1978	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd	6–7, 6–1, 6–2
Win	16.	1979	Hamburg Masters, Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Mark Edmondson John Marks	6–3, 6–1, 7–6
Loss	20.	1979	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Tom Okker Balázs Taróczy	1–6, 3–6
Loss	21.	1979	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Gene Mayer John McEnroe	4–6, 6–7
Loss	22.	1980	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Balázs Taróczy	Steve Denton Ivan Lendl	2–6, 7–6, 3–6
Loss	23.	1980	Cologne, Germany	Carpet	Tomáš Šmíd	Bernard Mitton Andrew Pattison	4–6, 1–6
Win	17.	1982	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Balázs Taróczy Heinz Günthardt	7–6, 6–4
Loss	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 runner-ups from 1965 to 1969, such as tournaments in Santiago, Viňa del Mar, São Paulo, Lyon, Cannes, Luxembourg, 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[]

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