Mats Wilander

Mats Arne Olof Wilander (born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player.

This makes Wilander one of only six men (along with Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic) to have won major singles titles on grass courts, hard courts, and clay courts since it was first achievable in 1978 (when US Open was first played on hard courts).

Wilander, Nadal, and Djokovic are the only men to have won at least two major singles titles on each of the three surfaces.

Wilander won his fourth major singles title at the age of 20, the youngest man in history to have achieved the feat.

He was also a driving force behind Sweden's run of seven consecutive Davis Cup finals in the 1980s.

Wilander made his debut on the professional tour at the clay court tournament in Båstad, Sweden in 1980.

In September 1981, he lost his only career match against Björn Borg, losing in the first round of the Geneva Open in straight sets.

From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major men's doubles title (at Wimbledon).

His breakthrough came suddenly and unexpectedly when he won the 1982 French Open at the age of 17.

Wilander surprised the tennis world at the 1982 French Open.

As an unseeded player, he upset second seed Ivan Lendl in the fourth round, fifth seed Vitas Gerulaitis in the quarterfinals, fourth seed José Luis Clerc in the semifinals, and third seed Guillermo Vilas in a four-set final that lasted 4 hours and 42 minutes.

At the end of the semifinal against Clerc he requested replay of the match ball as he did not want to win the game due to a questionable referee decision.

This was seen as an extraordinary display of fair play and garnered him the Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Trophy.

He was the youngest ever male Grand Slam singles champion at 17 years, 9 months, a record since broken by Boris Becker and Michael Chang.

Wilander won three additional tournaments in 1982 and finished the year ranked no. 7. During that year, Wilander was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal.

He also won eight Grand Prix Super Series titles (1983–88), the precursors to the current ATP Tour Masters 1000.

He won 33 singles titles and seven doubles titles during his career.

Wilander returned to the French Open in 1983, where he lost to Yannick Noah after defeating John McEnroe in a quarterfinal.

He lost in the third round at Wimbledon to Roscoe Tanner and in the quarterfinals of the US Open to Lendl.

Wilander won his second Grand Slam title later that year at the Australian Open, played on grass at Kooyong Stadium, where he defeated McEnroe in a semifinal and Lendl in the final.

He won eight other tournaments in 1983, including two Grand Prix Championship Series titles, and finished the year ranked no. 4.

Wilander retained his Australian Open title in 1984, beating Stefan Edberg in the quarterfinals and Kevin Curren in the final.

He lost in the semifinals of the French Open to Lendl, the second round at Wimbledon to Pat Cash, and the quarterfinals of the US Open to Cash.

He won three tournaments in 1984 including his third Championships Series title and again finished the year ranked no. 4.

In 1985, Wilander won the French Open for the second time, beating Lendl in the final, and again reached the Australian Open final, where he lost to Edberg.

However, he lost in the first round at Wimbledon to Slobodan Živojinović and the semifinals of the US Open to McEnroe.

He won three tournaments in 1985 and finished the year ranked no. 3.

Wilander rose to the no. 2 ranking, behind Lendl, on 28 April 1986.

He then lost in the third round of the French Open to Andrei Chesnokov, the fourth round of Wimbledon to Cash, and the fourth round of the US Open to Miloslav Mečíř.

His consistency at other tournaments, however, allowed him to again finish the year ranked no. 3. Wilander partnered with countryman Joakim Nyström to win the men's doubles title at Wimbledon in 1986.

He also won his fourth Grand Prix Championship Series title.

The 1987 season saw Wilander unveil a more potent service and a new highly effective one-handed slice backhand, the latter a somewhat remarkable development for a mid-career top-level tennis professional.

Despite the improvements, however, Wilander was defeated by Lendl in the finals of both the French Open and the US Open in 1987.

Cash again proved to be Wilander's nemesis at Wimbledon, winning their quarterfinal match in straight sets.

Wilander won five tournaments in 1987 including two Grand Prix Tennis Championship Series titles and six overall, finishing the year ranked third in the world for the third consecutive year.

In 1988, Wilander won three of the four singles majors and finished the year ranked as the world No. 1. Although he never won the singles title at Wimbledon, Wilander twice won the Australian Open when it was played on grass courts.

In only his third entry in a Grand Slam tournament, Wilander also became the player who needed the fewest attempts to win one, a record since equaled by Gustavo Kuerten at the 1997 French Open.

Wilander then lost in the fourth round at both Wimbledon, to Brian Teacher, and the US Open to Lendl.

In 2002, Wilander was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Born in Växjö, Sweden, Wilander first came to the tennis world's attention when he won the French Open junior title, the European under-16 and under-18 championships, and the Orange Bowl under-16 event in Miami.