Coming Into Conflict -The Road To Teschen (Polish-Czechoslovak War #1)

Sometimes I think the world is going all to hell. That humanity has plunged into an abyss from which there is no escape. And while the worst is yet to come, much of it is already here. There is the worst conventional war in Europe since 1945 due to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine which shows no sign of ending anytime soon. There is the Israel-Hamas War which has the Middle East teetering on the brink of a region wide conflict. Relations between the United States and China are the worst since their reestablishment in 1972. The chance of a war between the two superpowers over Taiwan continues to grow. Abraham Lincoln said during the American Civil War that “If there is a worse place than hell, then I am in it.” The world is not quite there yet but is getting closer by the day. Many remain cautiously optimistic that we can be brought back from the brink of our own self-destruction. That remains to be seen.

A period of global instability the likes of which has not been seen in almost eighty years threatens to upend the established global order. The rules which have defined international relations since the end of World War II are facing an unprecedented number of major threats. The world could get caught up in a cascading series of crises that devolve into chaos. Once chaos starts, there is no telling where it will end. All the current geopolitical problems could expand into something much worse. Drawing more countries into a cauldron of chaos. All this makes me believe that the world is going all to hell. That is until I look back into history and see that the world has survived much worse. 

      On the brink – Teschen in 1918 (Credit: National Library of Poland)

Grave Danger – Bordering On Anarchy
When conversation turns to the worst periods in modern history, the First and Second World Wars dominate the discussion. They are the most striking examples of horrific history in relatively recent times. The focus on World Wars I and II leaves little room for discussion of other periods that were chaotic and dangerous. Just the other day, I came across a conflict that was symptomatic of a period when the world was suffering through a prolonged period of chaos. This made me realize that the current challenges facing us today could be much worse. It also made me realize that anarchy can quickly consume a once civilized world. The conflict I came across does not even merit a footnote in most history books. The Polish-Czechoslovak War (Seven-Day War) took place in January 1919. I doubt many people other than Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks have even heard of the war. I am sure that fewer of them have heard of it than other troubling events in their nation’s tumultuous 20^th century history.

I first came across the Polish-Czechoslovak War while reading Paris 1919 by Margaret McMillan. That book delves deeply into the messy aftermath of the First World War which resulted in a series of treaties that failed to bring lasting peace to Europe and the Middle East. When I came across the conflict between Poland and Czechoslovakia, I was surprised to find the two nations at odds with one another. They tragically became caught up in the free for all that accompanied disputed territories across Eastern Europe. The Polish-Czechoslovak war was small in scale and short in duration. Yet it would poison relations between two nations in dire need of one another after Hitler rose to power.

    Off to another war – Czechoslovak legionaries from France in Teschen

Grave Danger – Fighting For Supremacy
The inability of smaller states in Eastern Europe to ally in the face of grave danger had tragic consequences. The same kind of situation exists today with the Ukraine-Russia War. Smaller European Union member states such as Hungary and Slovakia are led by governments that either actively or passively support the Kremlin. Their recalcitrance in confronting the existential threat of Russian neo-imperialism could have serious consequences for not only Ukraine, but Hungary, Slovakia, and Europe as a whole. Eastern Europe is at an inflection point. It could either succumb to authoritarianism or lock in the democratic gains the region has made since the Iron Curtain fell. While Eastern Europe is in a dangerous situation today, this pales in comparison to the period that followed the First World War. Unfortunately, the region came out of that period divided and weakened. Efforts to create stability only served to increase it.

There are some nations in Eastern Europe which I automatically pair up in my mind as prone to cross-border conflicts. I base these upon their histories. Among them are Poland and Ukraine, Russia and any European nation with which it shares a border, Serbia and Croatia or Bosnia, Croatia and Bosnia, Hungary and Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, Greece and Turkey. The list is long and riddled with wars, fractious relations, and border disputes. Two nations which I would not pair up in this manner are Poland and Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic and Slovakia). I always think of these two countries as the good guys of the period from 1918 – 1989. They suffered grave injustices due to communism, fascism, and nationalism. Yet it was the latter that caused trouble between Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Worth fighting for – Postcard of Teschen prior to World War I (Credit: Eduard Feitzinger)

Border Control – Dangerous Disputes
Eastern Europe was filled with numerous ethnic groups of various sizes. This was the legacy of large, sprawling empires that ruled over vast swaths of the region. Trying to decide which ethnic groups ended up in which newly formed nation in 1919 was a process fraught with difficulties. These decisions were not just made by the treaty negotiators back in Paris. Boots on the ground mattered just as much. In some cases, they mattered more. Economic interests, infrastructure, and natural resources further exacerbated disagreements over where to set borders. This all too often pointed the way to armed conflict. Self-interest over collective interest has always been a source of tension in inter-state relations. This was never truer than in post-World War I Eastern Europe with every nation focused on looking out for itself. With Poland reborn as an independent nation and Czechoslovakia a newly formed one, both were struggling to figure out how they would survive in the postwar world. This led them into armed conflict. In a remote corner of northwestern Slovakia, they fought for control of Teschen Silesia.   

Click here for: Opportunity Costs – Trying To Take Teschen (Polish-Czechoslovak War #2)

Cover Story – The Wrong Connection In Bojnice (Rendezvous With An Obscure Destiny #65)

Everything is connected. That phrase sounds like something out of a Zen guru phrase book. Sage advice used to induce a sense of belonging among those wearing loin cloths in the 21^st century. The kind of wisdom one associates with naturist communes or corporate retreats. In one sense, the phrase is absurdist speak for shysters, but in the correct context it can be deeply meaningful. Words that remind us to look around and take notice of the world. Stay alert and profound realizations become possible.

I have come to believe everything is connected in one’s life. We live within a web where every thread leads back to ones spun long ago. Our lives follow patterns that become more apparent with age and experience. A combination of curiosity and self-awareness has led me to notice certain patterns in my life that have led me to realize that I unwittingly retrace parts of my past. This comes from somewhere deep in the subconscious and is based more upon intuition than instinct. An unexplainable feeling that leads me to a specific place for one reason only to discover that I was there for another.   

     Cover story – Bojnice Castle on the Bradt Guide to Slovakia

Bojnice Castle – Fantasy Without Fiction
I am always torn before I visit a place for the first time in Eastern Europe. How much should I read and research beforehand to make my visit worthwhile? Should I just show up without any preconceived notions and be prepared for whatever experience serendipity has in store for me. Or should I plumb the depths of available literature to enhance my visit? Sometimes I read too much about a place in advance, other times I read too little. My preparedness, or lack thereof, is inconsistent. In the case of Bojince, a small city in northeastern Slovakia, I did not read much before visiting it. A specific photo communicated everything I needed to know or at least that was what I thought. It only took a cover photo on the Bradt Guide to Slovakia to seduce me. The seduction came from the elegance, grandeur, and symmetry of the castle.

The cover photo showed the upper half of Bojince Castle with three spires reaching into the sky, tile covered rooftops, powerful buttresses, and crenellations. This was everything a castle was supposed to be. The intertwining of imagination and reality, fantasy without fiction. The castle is a stunning amalgamation of Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance architecture. It is rightfully exalted as one of Slovakia’s finest. Slovakia is renowned for its magnificent castles and Bojnice can compete with the best of them. The moment I first saw the photo of Bojnice Castle two things came to mind. One, I am going to buy this guidebook. Two, I am going to make a dedicated trip to the castle. The more I looked at the photo, the more I felt like it was taunting me. This came from the fact that I had yet to visit Bojnice Castle. This exposed what I considered a gap in my travels to Slovakia. Bojnice was the most immaculate example of a castle missing from my collection.

          Supermodel – As seen inside Bojnice Castle

Vanity Affair – A Manic Destiny
Just one look at the cover photo of the guidebook made me realize why Bojnice Castle was so famous. It was in excellent condition with soaring towers. Bojnice was one of those works of architecture that created its own reality. It has a personality and presence all its own. I could go to every other castle in Slovakia, but if I missed Bojnice none of those other ones would matter. I built Bojnice up in mind to such an exalted status that visiting it became a foreground conclusion. The castle imposes itself on the viewer’s imagination. Bojnice seemed to be saying to me, “you should have put me first on your list of places to visit in Slovakia, rather than waiting until your sixth visit to find time for me.” I had ignored the architectural supermodel of Slovakia at my peril. I felt foolish and guilty. This was a problem I set out to rectify.

On a multi-day journey by car to historic sites in Slovakia, I specifically selected the northwestern portion of the country. It was Bojince or bust. Speeding through eastern Hungary and central Slovakia as fast as I could, I made it to Bojnice by mid-afternoon on the journey’s first day. I found the castle in the same sparkling condition as what I had first seen in that cover photo. The castle was vast and even a couple of hours could not do it justice. Still, what mattered was that I had made it there. In the ridiculous world of my own personal travel mania, I felt self-satisfied. Let no one say that I ever failed to visit Bojnice Castle. The obvious retort is that other than me, who would have known or cared.

Once the visit to Bojnice Castle was made, I headed to my accommodation for a well-deserved rest. It was still daylight and there was plenty of time to explore the town. I chose not to. At that time, I did not realize that my infatuation with Bojnice Castle had caused me to miss an experience which would have been much more personally meaningful to me. A deep connection was lurking if only I had looked a little further than a guidebook photo. One that would have kept me searching the streets of Bojnice for a ghost from my distant past.

Vanity affair – Bojnice Castle as seen from the town (Credit: Lady Rowena)

Wrongfooted – Missing Out On Mecir
While doing some post-visit reading about Bojnice, I learned that it was the hometown of Miloslav Mecir. The name may not be well-known, but Mecir will always be a legend in my mind. A man whose eccentricities I found enthralling. Mecir was one of the best men’s tennis players of the 1980’s, Strange, sly, and largely silent, Mecir displayed very little emotion, but when he stepped on the court his racquet did the talking. Some of the world’ greatest players fell beneath the spells Mecir cast upon them. He wrongfooted his way to the finals of the U.S. and Australian Opens.

No one quite knew what to make of Mecir. Before they could, he was derailed by chronic back problems. Mecir vanished, much like he had appeared, out of nowhere. I stumbled in and out of Bojnice before realizing its connection to Mecir. I made the wrong connection at its castle, one based upon instinct rather than intuition. Vanity got the better of me and I ended up worse off because of it. Mecir deserved better and so did I.

False Narrative – Ivan The Invisible & McEnroe The Martyr (For Love of the Game #6)

The traditional narrative of the 1984 French Open Final between Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe is that the latter blew the match. McEnroe had Lendl down for the count numerous times, only to let him get up off the mat to win an improbable victory. The match was McEnroe’s for the taking. If only he had not lost his temper at a cameraman in the third game of the second set, McEnroe would have won the French Open. The narrative portrays Lendl as a bystander. A human backboard who keeps returning shots until McEnroe self-destructs. In this telling, the better player did not win. McEnroe’s demons were what defeated him, not Ivan Lendl. This narrative is widespread and false.

Unforgettable triumph – Ivan Lendl receives the 1984 French Open trophy

Twisting The Truth – Revenge of the Losers

The losers write history too, and sometimes they get control of the main narrative. I know this all too well since I grew up in the American South where the Civil War is still being fought in the minds of many. The pages of Civil War histories are replete with narratives that state the Confederacy never really lost the war. This is a strange and lamentable phenomenon that began not long after the war ended. It still holds many in its grip. Another example is the narrative surrounding the Treaty of Versailles. The Germans have always portrayed the terms of Versailles as too harsh. This conveniently ignores the harsher terms they imposed upon Russia with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk the previous year. Losing can lead to a powerful psychosis, one where the defeated work much harder than the victors to reconfigure the narrative in a way they find more palatable. This has happened with the 1984 French Open final where John McEnroe is the tortured genius and Ivan Lendl is mostly anonymous.

The famous Prussia strategist, Carl Von Clausewitz said that war is politics by other means. By the same logic, sports can be war by other means. A fine example is the rivalry between Lendl and McEnroe. The two men despised each other. Their games, personalities, and attitudes were complete opposites. They fought highly personalized struggles on the tennis court that had the same kind of passion and tragedy found on the battlefield. Their most famous battle was at the 1984 French Open, a day that lives in glory for Lendl and infamy for McEnroe.

Because he appeared to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory, McEnroe’s self-destruction makes for a compelling narrative. The fact that McEnroe has spoken in anguish about his loss that day on several occasions both in print and on television has allowed him to control the narrative. Lendl, on the other hand, treats his comeback victory as an important event, but not his most career-defining one. That would come later with his victory over McEnroe in the 1985 U.S. Open Final, after which his career soared to its greatest heights.

Almost great – John McEnroe in the 1984 French Open Final

On The Rise – Grit & Guile
Befitting the polarizing nature of the Lendl-McEnroe rivalry, the 1984 French final came down to whether Lendl’s fighting qualities and shifting strategy won the match or McEnroe’s self-destructive qualities doomed him. The accepted narrative is a McEnroe implosion. The more provocative and intriguing of these dueling narratives is that Lendl turned the tide and found a way to win the match through a combination of grit and guile. That is just what he did. By the third set Lendl had managed to work his way back into the match. McEnroe’s tempestuous behavior was a reaction to this. Though ahead two sets to none, McEnroe knew he needed to put Lendl away while he had the chance. The fact that Lendl kept coming back only increased the pressure. The most famous example of McEnroe’s self-destruction was when he screamed into a cameraman’s earpiece at 1-1 and up 0 – 30 on Lendl’s serve. He went on to lose the game. This moment was only one of many that turned the match’s tide.  

An even more crucial moment of the match occurred in the fourth set. McEnroe was up a break of serve at 4 – 3. He had a game point for 5 – 3 and was only five points away from the title. McEnroe got his first serve in, but Lendl forced an error.  The Czech would win four of the last five points of the game by forcing errors or hitting winners with his forehand. It was not like McEnroe was dumping balls in the bottom of the net. Lendl elevated his play at a key moment. This happened multiple times during the match.

The narrative that tends to focus on McEnroe’s self-destruction emphasizes that he missed a lot of first serves in the final three sets. Those misses were caused as much by Lendl’s heavy returns as McEnroe’s faltering play. When McEnroe managed to get into the net, he was confronted by Lendl’s laser-like passing shots or penetrating lobs which forced McEnroe to back away from the net by several inches. In a match decided by a razor thin margin, the doubt sown by Lendl’s lobs was crucial. They made McEnroe much less decisive at the net. Lendl broke McEnroe’s serve to win the fourth set 7 – 5 with a brilliant crosscourt forehand lob. 

Comeback complete – Ivan Lendl wins the 1984 French Open

Power & Glory – The Comeback
McEnroe’s last best chance came at 3 – 3 in the fifth set when he was up 15 – 40 on Lendl’s serve. This time McEnroe did commit two unforced errors during rallies, but it is interesting to note that Lendl’s final shots in both rallies were forehands. With the game back at deuce, Lendl then unleashed two forehand winners. McEnroe would barely hold on until he lost his serve and the match in the twelfth game of the fifth set. The cumulative weight of Lendl’s powerful groundstrokes and tactical adjustments proved decisive. In the final set, Lendl lost only six points on his serve. McEnroe lost fifteen. It is a miracle that McEnroe held on for as long as he did. Reading retrospective accounts of the match, the focus is always on McEnroe’s failure to finish. While he has himself to blame in some cases, in many more it is Lendl’s consistently high level of play that decided the match. This is not the popular narrative for one of the greatest comebacks in tennis history, but it is a factual one.

Czech Mated By An American Express – Lendl & McEnroe Act One In Paris (For Love of the Game #5)

I never had an interest in theater and only played bit parts in a few forgettable productions in elementary school. There is enough drama in the world without having to act it out in fictional form. In my opinion, the greatest dramas are not found in the cinema or on the stage. They can be found in sporting arenas like Court Centrale at Roland Garros in Paris. An excellent example of this is the 1984 French Open final between Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe that took place at Stade Roland Garros. On June 10, 1984, Court Centrale burned bright beneath a fiery sun. Half a world away, my brother and I sat transfixed by four hours and four minutes of high drama. The men’s final was a spectacle from which we could not avert our eyes. A diabolical drama that reverberated across six time zones, thousands of kilometers, and an entire ocean. A coming-of-age tale so fraught with tragedy that to this very day one of its participants says he gets sick to his stomach just thinking about it.

Coming apart – John McEnroe during the 1984 French Open final

Masterful McEnroe – The Art Of Tennis
John McEnroe was close, closer than he might have imagined before the match began at 3:26 p.m. Playing on his worst surface, in a tournament where he had never made it past the quarterfinals, McEnroe found himself up two sets to love after just an hour and five minutes. His lead was the product of sensational tennis, the likes of which had never been seen from an attacking player at the French Open. In McEnroe’s first ten service games of the match, he surrendered a total of ten points. What many thought would be a hard-fought contest of contrasting styles was turning into a romp. By the time McEnroe took the second set, the match was a mere hour and five minutes old. This was a level of sublime dominance that even by his lofty standards was fantastic.

The combative American was at the height of his powers. His serve was scorching the lines. When Lendl served, McEnroe counterattacked with lethal precision. A decisive approach would be followed by a quick put away or soft as a feather drop volley. At the net, McEnroe was blowing bubbles with his racket and creating angles that redefined geometry. This was tennis as art.  Lendl had not been forewarned. The two top players in the world had already met five times in 1984. Lendl managed to win a single set. In the weeks leading up to the French Open, they had played twice on clay. Games, sets and matches, McEnroe. In one of those matches, the final at WCT Forest Hills, Lendl had beaten Jimmy Connors 6-0, 6-0 in semifinals. It was the first time Connors had ever been double bageled. The next day, Lendl could only win six games and lost twice that amount against McEnroe. Lendl was not the only one suffering at the hands of McEnroe. By the time they played in Paris, McEnroe had won all 39 of his matches in 1984. A fortieth victory looked less than an hour away.

Unfriendly rivalry – Ivan Lendl & John McEnroe

Unrealized Potential – On The Edge of Defeat
Ivan Lendl was far, farther away then he could have ever imagined. Playing on his best surface, in a tournament he had nearly won in 1981 against the greatest clay court player up to that point in history, Lendl was at a loss on how to combat McEnroe’s brilliance. That this was happening on clay made it both frustrating and perplexing. Lendl was being dominated in a way he had never experienced on clay. With an opportunity to win his first singles title at a Grand Slam tournament after losing his first four major singles finals, Lendl was getting routed. He had the potential to be the greatest men’s tennis player from Eastern Europe in history and one of the greatest of all time, if only he could win a Slam. Lendl had gained a reputation as a choker on tennis’ biggest stages.

It was said that Lendl could win any tournament except the four majors (French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, and Australian Open) that mattered most. He had won 39 titles and zero majors. Lendl had played second fiddle to Borg three years earlier on the same court at Roland Garros. The past two years he had suffered the same indignity at the hands of Jimmy Connors in the U.S. Open. And only six months before, Mats Wilander had decisively defeated Lendl in the Australian Open final. Now he was being destroyed in another final, this time by McEnroe. In Lendl’s defense, no one could have beaten McEnroe during the first two sets. Nevertheless, Lendl was still the best equipped to fend off McEnroe’s advance. During his first years on tour, Lendl’s power was too much for McEnroe to handle. After losing his first two matches to McEnroe, Lendl went on a run of seven consecutive wins. That run started with a straight set victory during the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. Coming into the 1984 French Open Final, Lendl had lost only one set in six matches. Now he had lost twice that many in a little over an hour.  

Finding his way – Ivan Lendl at the French Open

“Shut up” – A Moment of Rage
By the beginning of the third set it looked like Lendl would be reduced to saving face. It was going to take an incredible turn of events for the match to turn in his favor. Lendl was not choking, but he was also not playing well.  He was trying to find some way to get back into the match. The notoriously temperamental McEnroe would help him out. Before the match began, McEnroe made some comments to cameramen and photographers beside the court. The perfectionistic McEnroe was extremely touchy about the slightest noise, even at the best of times. And what time could be better than a two set to none lead over Lendl in the French Open Final. In the third game, a crack suddenly appeared in McEnroe’s mental game. At 1 – 1 and up 0 – 30 on Lendl’s serve, McEnroe was on the verge of rendering the knockout blow. Then, at precisely 4:40 p.m., an hour and 14 minutes into the match, McEnroe strode over to a cameraman and yelled “Shut up!” into his earpiece. That was the moment everything began to change.

Click here for: False Narrative – Ivan The Invisible & McEnroe The Martyr (For Love of the Game #6)

War In Paris: Lendl Versus McEnroe (For The Love of the Game #4)

I once took a trip to Paris and it was not to see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame. or the Sacre-Coeur. Nor did I go to Paris to visit the Louvre, Napoleon’s Tomb, or the Arc de Triomphe. I was not visiting Paris for a walk along the River Seine, the Champ Elysees or Jardins de Luxembourg. I was not interested in the City of Light or experiencing romance. French culture did not draw me to Paris either. I cared little about what food I ate. My only culinary need was to avoid starvation. The first thing I had for lunch was French Fries. They tasted just like the ones at home. My disregard for the most famed part of the French capital did not mean that I was anti-Paris.  On the contrary, a potential visit had intrigued me for the longest time. There was one good reason for that.

War in Paris – Ivan Lendl & John McEnroe during the 1984 French Open Final

Tears & Toil – The French
My first morning in Paris I was a man on a mission twenty-five years in the making. I would stay several days in the city, but nothing mattered as much as that first morning. If I only did one thing in Paris, it would be what had been first and foremost on my mind since I was child sitting on my mother’s bright red sofa staring at a three-channel television the second Sunday in June. After way too much coffee, I took the Metro from Belleville station near where I was staying to Porte D’Auteuil station. I then skirted the Bois De Boulogne, a beautiful park that preserves a lasting remnant of an ancient oak forest. This did not detain me because I had a long-awaited meeting. I was going to visit Roland Garros. Please understand that this visit was not going to be in the flesh. The ace World War I fighter pilot died long ago in the same war that made him famous. Instead, I was going to visit the tennis complex named after him. Officially it is known as the Stade Roland Garros. My best friend and I always referred to it simply as the French.

The French was two words that conjured up thoughts of dramatic battles in the terre battue (red clay) that cakes the shoes and clothes of competitors locked in epic struggles for tennis supremacy. There is something enchanting about watching grown men and women play in the dirt. The dust and grime make the greatest of these matches more memorable. Tennis at the French is not of the whitey tighty type. Here, the gentleman’s game turns dirty. The clay runs red with the blood, sweat, and tears of those who toil for hours. The most powerful players in the world often find themselves reduced to slogging it out with dirt ballers born from this same soil in European and South American backwaters. The French Open brings together 256 of the best men’s and women’s tennis players in the world for a couple of weeks in Paris. Only two leave in triumph. The rest are left to lick wounds salted with grime. Their hopes were ground to dust.

Dramatic scenario – Court Centrale at Stade Roland Garros

Court Centrale – Ghosts of Greatness
The French is one of tennis’ four major tournaments and the only one played on red clay. It was my introduction to continental Europe. Prior to 1989, this last rite of spring had the added advantage that it brought together players from both sides of the wall. East and west met in Paris to do battle. Watching the French was my yearly meeting with sporting luminaries from Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, the Soviet Union, and Romania. I was here to relive some of those memories after a quarter century watching hundreds of matches on television. My visit included a tour of the grounds. This included the opportunity to visit. Court Centrale, where so many incredible matches have been played by legends of the game.

Standing on the court, I was shocked by how small it felt. Maybe it was the stadium surrounding the court, or the large space beyond the baseline that made the court seem so tiny. It was hard to believe that so many titanic tennis battles took place in such a claustrophobic environment. All those great finals between Federer and Nadal, Agassi and Courier, Chang and Edberg, Graf and Hingis, Evert and Navratilova in a single space. And one final stands above all the others in my mind. In 1984, Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe renewed their rivalry in Paris. A rivalry marked by their dislike, bordering on complete contempt for one another. The two men were a study in contrasts. Icy glares and fiery tumult, raw power versus sublime artistry, the composed Czech against the combustible Yank. Lendl had very few friends and McEnroe lots of enemies. Lendl hailed from a communist state, McEnroe from a capitalist one. Yet they did have one thing in common. Each in their own way was an iconoclast.

Striving for Perfection – John McEnroe at the French Open

Aura of Invincibility – At The Highest Level
It has been almost forty years since Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe faced one another on a warm and cloudless Sunday in Paris. The final was billed as an opportunity for McEnroe to put twenty-nine years of American men’s tennis failures in Paris to rest. The last time an American had won the tournament was Tony Trabert in 1954. Since that time, one American man after another had been ground down and buried in the red clay. Roland Garros was American men’s tennis’ kryptonite. It reduced even the greatest American players to mere mortals. Jimmy Connors never made a final. Neither did Stan Smith nor Arthur Ashe. Brian Gottfried did and managed to win just three games off Guillermo Vilas. Games, set, and trounced. Now McEnroe was supposed to put a stop to this.

Standing in this way was the taciturn Czech, Ivan Lendl. He had grown up on clay and won many important tournaments on it. Under normal circumstances he would have been favored. In this case, the circumstances were anything but normal. McEnroe came into the tournament playing the greatest tennis of his career. Earlier in the spring, McEnroe proceeded to prove that he was up to the challenge of clay where traditionally he had been at his weakest. In the lead up to the French Open, McEnroe looked invincible and that included on clay against Lendl. He defeated Lendl in straight sets twice, first at Forest Hills and then in Dusseldorf. Lendl looked lost against McEnroe, but not for long.

Click here for: Czeched Mated By An American Express – Lendl & McEnroe Act One In Paris (For Love of the Game #5)

The Jaws of Defeat – Ivan Lendl’s Trials & Tribulations (For The Love of the Game #3)

Almost is not good enough. As in life, so in tennis. Grasping defeat from the jaws of victory can lead to a loss that even the best players never forget. The flip side is that the victor secures an unlikely victory. One that cements their legacy and lives on in the annals of the greatest feats in tennis history. They get to bask in the glory of their achievement long after they have retired from the game. In two notable cases, tennis players from Serbia and Czechoslovakia were involved in such matches Novak Djokovic and Ivan Lendl pulled off incredible comeback victories in matches that will never be forgotten by those who were lucky enough to witness them. Djokovic’s victory further cemented his legacy. Lendl’s victory was more improbable and offered tangible proof that he could win the biggest titles when it mattered the most.

Dramatic scene – Court Centrale at the French Open

Nerves of Steel – Fortune Favors The Serb
The 2019 Wimbledon Men’s Final was Roger Federer’s last great chance at the tournament where he felt most at home. In a hard fought, five set battle that was the longest final in Wimbledon history, Federer found himself with two match points against Djokovic at 8 -7 in the fifth set. At that point, was on the verge of winning his 9th Wimbledon and 21st Grand Slam title. Then fate intervened in the form of Djokovic’s never say die attitude which was reinforced with nerves of steel. Djokovic managed to save both match points. He then went on to break Federer’s serve to draw even in the fifth set. At that point, I had the stinging suspicion that Federer had blown his greatest chance of victory. I am certain many others must have felt the same while watching the drama unfold.

The upshot was that Federer never made it to match point again and Djokovic won the match 13- 12 (7 -3) in that final set. This was the first ever Wimbledon final to be decided by a fifth set tiebreak. Federer was 37 years old and never came close to winning the title again. The defeat left me, a lifelong Federer fan, severely depressed. I can only imagine how he felt. On the other hand, I could not help but marvel at Djokovic’s comeback victory. The Serb looked almost bemused by his good fortune. Of course, Djokovic managed to turn fortune in his favor. The great ones always do.

Djokovic is continuing to bolster his case as the greatest men’s player ever by amassing Grand Slam titles at an unprecedented rate. He now holds the record for most won and his winning ways show no sign of abating. Djokovic’s match with Federer was a pivotal moment in the careers of both men. One saving grace for Federer was that he had already won eight Wimbledon titles. He would have to do without winning a ninth. Another all-time great would not be so lucky. John McEnroe would suffer the most crushing defeat of his career at the 1984 French Open when he was defeated by Ivan Lendl. Lendl was the greatest men’s tennis player from Eastern Europe prior to the rise of Djokovic. His victory in Paris heralded his coming dominance of the game.

Escape artist – Novak Djokovic celebrating his 2019 Wimbledon title (Credit: Peter Menzel)

Guilty As Charged – Playing With The Enemy
Count me as one of the guilty. I spent the 1980’s cheering against Lendl. That put me in a majority with American tennis fans. Lendl was neither a character nor charismatic. He came from a communist country during the Cold War. A country that, depending upon one’s perspective, had a name that sounded either exotic or ridiculous. Czechoslovakia was on the wrong side of the wall. The division that ran through Europe also divided the tennis world. Ivan Lendl straddled that divide, but no one really saw it that way when he first appeared on the scene.

Lendl was a professional tennis player, first and foremost. That sounds simple. It was not. To Americans he could seem like a stand in for an authoritarian regime. Lendl’s on-court persona did nothing to detract from that image. This was especially true during the early 1980’s. While Bjorn Borg was the Iceman cometh, John McEnroe the picture of baby-faced frustration, and Jimmy Connors a bare-knuckle brawler. Lendl had his own signature look, the glare. He could stare right through an opponent. This was followed up with an arsenal of rocket shots that scalded the court. Lendl unleashed a forehand that could best be described as deadly. A shot of seismic proportions that struck fear into the hearts of competitors.  His serve was a close second. This one-two punch was enough to render the knockout blow.

Supreme focus – Ivan Lendl at the French Open

Under Pressure – Whatever It Takes
Lendl had other weapons in his arsenal that were equally effective. He was viewed not so much as a man, but a machine. Lendl played tennis with the utmost seriousness. He was the ultimate professional, always prepared, clever and calculating, ready to take advantage of any opportunity to gain an edge. Everyone took Lendl seriously. He left his fellow pros no other choice. To do otherwise would result in a sure defeat. Lendl was going to do whatever it took to win. The question was whether his opponents were up to the challenge. Only the very best could withstand Lendl’s withering assaults. It was impossible to outhit him. The harder the ball came at Lendl, the more ferocious his response. To combat Lendl’s onslaught, his toughest rivals used brilliance, gamesmanship, and Lendl’s sometimes fragile psyche against him.

Lendl had one flaw which proved fatal in the biggest matches during the early part of his career. He gained a reputation as being unable to produce under extreme pressure. This manifested itself during losses in his first four Grand Slam tournament finals. At a certain point, Lendl’s formidable weaponry deserted him. Lendl would overcome this through an iron will, dedication to physical fitness, He made himself into a fighter. Those qualities were never more apparent than when he fought all the back through sheer fortitude to win his first Grand Slam title in that epic final against McEnroe at the 1984 French Open. Lendl finally quieted his critics. Many of whom wondered if he had what it took to win a Grand Slam title. Lendl proved them wrong in dramatic fashion during one of the greatest matches ever played at the French Open.

Click here for: War In Paris: Lendl Versus McEnroe (For The Love of the Game #4)

A Blistering Pace – Ivan The Memorable (For Love of the Game #2)

In 2019, I visited Moravia for the first time. My main goal was to see Brno, the Czech Republic’s second largest city, which has an exquisite city center. Once that mission was accomplished, I longed to see more of Moravia, but a winter snowstorm made further travel by car unfeasible. One of the places I plan to visit when I return there is Ostrava. Though it is the Czech Republic’s third largest city, Ostrava is not high on the list of must-see cities in the country. It has a long history of industrialization spurred on by its proximity to the coal fields of Silesia. This led to major problems with pollution, especially during the communist era. A reliance on heavy industry during the communist era only added to the problem. Today, Ostrava is still one of the European Union’s most polluted cities. I am willing to overlook this fact out of curiosity.

Another triumph – Ivan Lendl celebrates a victory

Ferocity Versus Artistry – Straight Out of Ostrava
My interest in Ostrava is intensely personal and goes back forty years. That was when I first heard the city mentioned as the birthplace of Ivan Lendl. Over the ensuing years I watched Lendl play at the highest levels of men’s professional tennis on innumerable occasions. Most of the time I cheered for his opponents. Lendl’s game did not have the artistry of John McEnroe, his main rival who wielded his tennis racket like a magic wand. Lendl could not have been more different. He bludgeoned his opponents into submission with a blistering serve and ferocious forehand. Lendl’s game might not have been beautiful, but it was effective. Because he was constantly winning, Lendl was frequently on television. Across the screen at the start of matches his birthplace was always given as Ostrava. When driving in Moravia, I saw Ostrava on highway signs. The name instantly reminded me of Lendl.

It is hard to know exactly where to start with Lendl’s tennis career. Ostrava is as good a place as any. Lendl was born into a family of tennis players. Both his father and mother were accomplished players. His mother made it all the way up to second in the nation. Lendl built upon that legacy. Unlike his parents, his tennis exploits took him far from Ostrava. Lendl’s prodigious talent became apparent on the junior scene. He won both the French Open and Wimbledon Junior Championship. In only his second full year on tour, Lendl won seven titles. That same year he led Czechoslovakia to its first Davis Cup title in the premier men’s team competition. In 1981, Lendl made it all the way to the French Open final, stretching Bjorn Borg to five sets. That same year, Lendl set up a residency in the United States with the Polish top ten player Wojtek Fibak. 

Words of wisdom – Ivan Lendl coaching Andy Murray (Credit: Carine 06)

Overcoming Obstacles – Rise To Greatness
At only twenty-one years of age, Lendl was earning a fortune and travelling the world. He looked well on his way to ever greater achievements. There was only one cloud darkening his horizons. To put it simply, Lendl could not win a Grand Slam singles title. Those tournaments – Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open, – separated the great from the good in men’s tennis. Lendl’s loss to Borg at the French Open had seemed to promise greater things to come at Grand Slams. After all, Lendl had taken the greatest clay court player in history (up to that time), to five sets. That near miss turned out to be a false summit. There were several other close calls that turned to disappointments in 1982 and 1983. By the time Lendl reached the French Open final in 1984 he had lost four Grand Slam finals.

A fifth loss in a Grand Slam final looked imminent when Lendl lost the first two sets to McEnroe in Paris. That was before he pulled himself back from the brink. Lendl came back to win by the thinnest of margins. This not only got the monkey off his back, but it was also his main rival’s most devastating defeat. It would not be until the next year that Lendl fully realized his talents when he resoundingly defeated McEnroe in the U.S. Open Final. From that point his game soared, and the results followed. Starting in 1985, Lendl would win 90% of his matches three years in a row. He went on to win eight Grand Slam titles and 94 tournaments on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. Lendl rewrote parts of the record book. Over his career, he was number one in the world for 260 weeks, a span of time equivalent to more than five years. And yet Lendl remained unloved and underrated. He was never quite able to shake the persona of an automaton behind the Iron Curtain. This, despite moving to the United States for good in 1986.

Lendl was an intimidating person, misunderstood, viewed by fans as an unlovable figure who few openly cheered for. The best Lendl could expect was polite applause. Crowds did not adore him or his game, they tolerated it. This was especially true in the United States because Lendl stood in the way of greater glories for McEnroe and Connors. The most baffling part for spectators was that Lendl cared less what they thought. Whether they showed animosity or indifference, Lendl was motivated by it. He was on a mission to be the best and nothing was going to stop him. It was hard not to admire his work ethic and inner drive, but many did.

Man of many talents – Ivan Lendl (Credit: Charlie Cowins)

The Highest Ideals – A Career of Achievement 
For the longest time, I was ambivalent about Lendl. His game was raw power which did not endear him to me. He showed little emotion on the court except to argue line calls or raise his arms in triumph. Lendl was an impediment that the rest of the pros could not get around. He did not lose in the early rounds. His consistency was incredible. Lendl may have been unloved in America, but he loved it more than any of his detractors could have ever imagined. This showed up in his results at the U.S. Open, where Lendl made the final eight consecutive times. He would eventually become an American citizen.

Lendl was the consummate professional. He brought a level of fitness to the game by training to the point of physical exhaustion. No one could outwork Lendl, and few could out hit him. He was a self-made man who achieved results through hard work and tenacity. He represented the ideals of America much better than those of communist Czechoslovakia. Lendl may have been unloved, but that made him no less great. In fact, that made him better.

Click here for: The Jaws of Defeat – Ivan Lendl’s Trials & Tribulations (For The Love of the Game #3)

The Clay Ran Red – A Cast of Unforgettable Czechs (For Love of the Game #1)

“The hatchet faced Czech”, “stalking around the court like a vulture”, “the champion that nobody cares about.” I can remember each of those phrases being used to describe Ivan Lendl, the best tennis player in the world during the last half of the 80’s and into the early 90’s.. There was no love lost between Lendl and the tennis media. This was particularly true in America where Lendl was viewed with disdain by a majority of tennis fans. Compared to the angry charisma of Jimmy Connors and the volcanic eruptions of John McEnroe, Lendl was a picture of gloomy stoicism with an on-court persona that was all business. Americans love business, they did not feel the same about Lendl. He was the kind of glowering figure one might assume manned a watchtower along the Iron Curtain. Lendl was portrayed as the representation of a dour, humorless, robotic system. A crypto communist who came to conquer all on a tennis court.  

Serious business – Ivan Lendl playing in 1984 at a tournament in Rotterdam
(Credit: Rob Croes)

Hitting Hard – An Opening In The Iron Curtain
The popular image of Lendl was neither fair nor accurate. That did not matter to the media which wanted villains. While Jimbo and Johnny Mac pitched tantrums, whined constantly, cursed out umpires, threatened fans, smashed rackets, accrued astronomical amounts of fines and prolonged suspensions, Lendl was made out to be the bad guy. A gaunt figure with loads of substance and very little style. A master in administering blunt force trauma on the tennis court. Lendl was portrayed as imperious and intimidating, a man who took tennis way too seriously. He played to win, not to perform. The only leading role he sought was on the victory podium, a cold shoulder above his fellow competitors. This stereotyping of Lendl as a humorless, taciturn, automaton made an impression on my young mind. It would take me a long time before I warmed up to Lendl.

Thirty years after he left pro tennis, I look back at Lendl as a person who was not so much misunderstood, as wrongly portrayed. His dry sense of humor was one of the many fascinating idiosyncrasies of his personality. He was the ultimate professional, a man who worked ultra-hard for his money and managed to enjoy it. His influence upon the game was vast. He brought an emphasis on fitness, diet, precision, and power to tennis. The game as it is now played owes a great deal to Lendl. The phrase, “you don’t know what you got until its gone” applies to Lendl.  I long for his return and all those other Eastern Europe tennis players who I watched with fascination and fear in the 1980’s. This will always be the Golden Age of tennis in my mind. A great deal of this had to do with the players who stepped out from behind the Iron Curtain. They were intense and mysterious, inexplicable and eccentric. Lendl was one of many unforgettable characters.

Magical & mercurial – Hana Mandlikova at a tournament in Amsterdam in 1980
(Credit: Rob Croes)

Breaking Through – Leading The Charge
The 1980’s were a time when tennis felt bigger than what happened on the court. While the matches involved individuals, it was clear that the players were viewed by many as proxies for nations, ideologies, state sponsored systems and patterns of behavior. One could learn a great deal by watching the drama unfold both on the court and off it. Growing up as a fan of international tennis during the latter part of the Cold War, Eastern European players loomed largest in this weekly drama that played at venues around the world. This was not something new. The influence of players from the region had been gaining steam through the 1970’s. Leading this charge was the Romanian Ilie Nastase, tennis’ all-time class clown. Nastase was blessed with incredible talent and suffered from character flaws that often proved self-defeating. He drove both himself and his opponents crazy. At one point, Nastase was the number one men’s player in the world. It was a testament to his sublime tennis skills. Unfortunately, Nastase had become more known for his behavior which reached new lows. This made him strangely popular. Nastase putting Romania on the tennis map.   

By the 1980’s, Eastern Europeans were synonymous with world class tennis. They were scattered throughout the rankings. This was as true for women as it was for men. The Hungarian Andrea Temesvari surged into the top twenty. Her game was good, but her looks were considered even better. Bulgaria which had never made any impression on the professional tennis scene was blessed with the Maleeva sisters. This trio of siblings (Manuela, Katarina, and Magdalena) camped out on the baseline, doing their best to provide the human equivalent of backboards. They climbed up the rankings and stayed there for many years, Czechoslovakia provided some of the best players, producing several female champions, one of whom still considered among the greatest female players of all time. Martina Navratilova was one of the greatest athletes to ever play the game. Her prowess at the net brought an attacking style to the women’s game that had never been seen before. She would 18 Grand Slam Singles titles, all but two of them during the 80’s. Navratilova still holds the all-time record for most tournament titles won with 177.

One of the best ever – Martina Navratilova at a tournament in the Hague in 1980
(Credit: Hans van Dijk)

Mercurial Magic – Mandlikova and Mecir
A couple of other players from Czechoslovakia redefined the word mercurial. Hana Mandlikova was extremely gifted. There would be sublime stretches in matches where she would look unbeatable. It was impossible to know just when Mandlikova’s magic would start or end. She seemed to have little control over it. When playing at her best, Mandlikova could blow even the best players off the court. At other times, her play was listless.  A beautiful and baffling player, Mandlikova was a threat to win anywhere. Finally, there was Miloslav Mecir, a smooth striding Slovak known as the Big Cat. His game wrong footed many a Swedish player to the point that Mecir became known as the Swede killer. The Swedes were not the only ones who were at a loss when playing Mecir. I can still recall Boris Becker saying that during warm-ups he wondered how Mecir had made it onto the tour. Becker soon found out when he lost to Mecir in the 1987 U.S. Open. Mecir would make it to the final that year before losing to Lendl. The latter was the dominant force in tennis at that time. His play and persona are worth a closer look.

Click here for: A Blistering Pace: Ivan The Memorable (For Love of the Game #2)

Lucky Loser – Sergiy Stakhovsky Fights for Ukraine (The Russian Invasion of Ukraine #251)

He earned five and a half million dollars in his chosen profession, garnered numerous accolades and arena’s full of applause. He was well known throughout his country and represented it with professionalism and integrity the world over. By any reasonable standard, Sergiy Stakhovsky was a sporting success. He achieved what no other sportsman in his homeland had ever managed before. Stakhovsky, one of the two greatest men’s professional tennis players in Ukrainian history, gave hope to those in his homeland who might dream that one day they too could play at the highest levels of international tennis. In a nation where oligarchy and corruption had been rampant for far too long, where who you knew was often the ticket to riches, Stakhovsky carved out a career path in the ultimate meritocracy. No one lasts long in the cutthroat world of men’s professional tennis unless they are supremely talented and blessed with an incredible work ethic. Stakhovsky was up to the challenge. He managed to thrive in that world for 19 years. Then at the age of 38, ancient by the standards of men’s professional tennis, Stakhovsky decided to call it a career and move on to the next phase of his life.

Career move – Sergiy Stakhovsky being honored at the 2022 ATP finals in London

The Journeyman – To the Ends of the Earth
Retirement from professional tennis meant that Stakhovsky would finally be able to enjoy a respite from the jet set lifestyle of the touring pro. A way of life that looks glamorous to outsiders, is anything but to those who must endure it. Stakhovsky knew the reality of that lonely life. Years spent on an exhausting odyssey of travel to the ends of the earth in search of coveted ranking points, prize money, and sponsorships. Much of Stakhovsky’s tennis career was spent far from the maddening crowds that circle center courts at Grand Slam events. To keep his career afloat, Stakhovsky became a journeyman pro. He had no choice but to ply his tennis trade in locales that only the most fervent fans of the sport have ever heard of. Those places were now just memories in the rearview mirror of his tennis career. There would be no more tepid applause and half empty bleachers, nor would there be the thrill of striding onto center court at Wimbledon.

Stakhovsky said thanks for the memories, but it was now time to start living a normal life. He was going to settle down to a life of leisure and relaxation, no more sprints at the break of dawn, strict dietary requirements, or endless hours on the court pounding serves. No more missed flights, sleeping in airports, and late check-ins to hotels multiple time zones away from home. Stakhovsky would now be able to enjoy a second career that had already begun. He was the proud owner of a winery in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains not far from the Ukraine-Hungary border. The property was but a four-hour drive from Budapest, where he lived with his wife and kids. Finally, he would be in his chosen home and near enough to visit the winery anytime he pleased. 2022 would be a new beginning. And so it was, but not in the way Sergey Stakhovsky had imagined. On February 24^th, everything changed for Stakhovsky when Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Stakhovsky could have stayed safely abroad, he had a family to help raise and the means to live a comfortable lifestyle. Instead, he chose to fight for his nation.

Lucky loser – Sergiy Stakhovsky holding court

A Far Cry – Tour of Duty
The first time I heard of Sergiy Stakhovsky was in March 2008, when he rose to prominence as what is known in professional tennis parlance a “lucky loser.” At the time, Stakhovsky was ranked #209 in the world and trying to fight his way up through the rankings to get into events on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour. To that end, Stakhovsky tried to qualify for the Zagreb Indoors in Croatia, but he lost in the final round of qualifying. Fortune was on Stakhovsky’s side when a player withdrew from the main draw. This allowed Stakhovsky a place in the main draw. He went on to win the event, one of only nine players to ever win an ATP tour event as a lucky loser. Two years later, Stakhovsky peaked at #31 in the world rankings. Besides winning four ATP tour level titles, the highlight of Stakhovsky’s career came at Wimbledon in 2013. That was where he defeated one of the greatest players of all time, Roger Federer in the second round. This would be the greatest victory of Stakhovsky’s tennis career. That glory is a far cry from where he has been for most of this year.

Only a week after the Russian invasion of his homeland began, Stakhovsky volunteered for the Ukrainian Army. He was sent to eastern Ukraine to help patrol and secure cities that have been recently recaptured. Last week, Stakhovsky managed to get away from the front and travel to the ATP Finals in London where he was honored as one of the pros who retired from the tour this year. Stakhovsky’s last match was at the Australian Open in January. The burning heat and cheering crowds in Melbourne are a far cry from the life-threatening dangers that Stakhovsky and his fellow Ukrainian soldiers endure every day. Stakhovsky’s sense of duty to his country is admirable, but not out of the ordinary as an overwhelming majority of Ukrainian men have answered the call to fight for their country’s independence.

Another struggle – Sergiy Stakhovsky in Ukrainian Army fatigues

Speaking Up – The Right Side of History
Stakhovsky is in a unique situation because of his previous career as one of the top tennis players in the world. He has won doubles titles with Russian partners, his wife is Russian, and Stakhovsky won a tour level event at St. Petersburg in 2010. Nevertheless, Stakhovsky is a Ukrainian patriot through and through. He has little time for Russian players who do not speak out against the war. He recently said that history will be the judge of their silence. As for Stakhovsky, history will have a very different verdict on his service to Ukraine. He answered the call when his nation needed it most. By doing so, Stakhovsky has put himself on the right side of history.

Click here Expect The Unexpected – Predictions & the Ukraine-Russia War (The Russian Invasion of Ukraine #252)

“She Belonged To The All-Time Greats” – Zsuzsa Kormoczy: The Improbable Champion (Part Two)

On my bookshelf I have a wonderful volume called Eminent Hungarians. In it the author, Krisztian Nyary, tells the stories of Hungarians from all walks of life who became heroes through extraordinary acts of courage and perseverance. A few of these eminent personages were from the sporting world and several were Jewish. As I began to research the exploits of the Hungarian Jewish tennis star Zsuzsa Kormoczy I would not have been surprised to find a chapter dedicated to her in Nyary’s book. Her story was not included in the book, but it would have been a worthwhile addition. Kormoczy came from a tiny rural village in a relatively impoverished part of the country. She was a Hungarian Jew who managed to survive a time when they were being murdered on an industrial scale.

This petit woman, who would come to be known as “Suzy K”, excelled in a bourgeoisie sport despite playing under the watchful eyes of a Stalinist regime that considered anything formerly associated with the upper classes tantamount to treason. Kormoczy first learned to survive, and later to thrive at an advanced age, achieving tennis stardom. She did all this despite the adversity life had presented to her. Another school of thought might say her accomplishments were a product of the will and determination she had developed in overcoming numerous obstacles. After years spent overcoming discrimination, ideological conformity and injuries she found herself in the spring of 1958 on the cusp of greatness. The crowning achievement of a career which had been shadowed by so much darkness came in the City of Light, Paris.

Zsuzsa Kormoczy – In action

Courting Greatness – A New Level Of Focus & Fitness
Coming into the 1958 French Open, Zsuzsa Kormoczy’s play was nearing its peak. She had already won two clay court tournaments along the French Rivera earlier in the spring. Now Kormoczy turned her attention to the game’s only Grand Slam event played on her favorite surface, red clay. Her past results at the French were promising. The year before she had been unlucky in having to face top seeded Brit Shirley Bloomer in the quarterfinals. Kormoczy was blown off the court, first by high wind gusts and then by Bloomer, managing to only win two games. She hoped 1958 would be different. Her preparation, specifically with fitness, was much more extensive than in the past. Kormoczy’s coach, Joszef Somogyi, worked her into prime shape with a training regime focused on running and gymnastics. Her fitness level would be crucial to success.

She breezed through the early rounds without any problems. Her first tough match came against Ann Haydon of Great Britain in the quarterfinals. Kormoczy was sick with a cold while the left handed Haydon’s game made her suffering worse. The Brit’s game was unorthodox, a contradictory combination of looping, topspin forehands and sliced backhands. Kormoczy came from 0 -2 down to win six of the next seven games and the set. She quickly fell behind in the second set 1-4. Her strategy of throwing Haydon’s rhythm off by drawing her into the net led to a quick turnaround. Kormoczy swept the final five games to take the match 6-3, 6-4. Her semifinal match against South African Heather Segal looked like it would be a grind after it took Kormaczy ten minutes just to win the first game. This turned out to be an aberration as Kormoczy surrendered only one game the entire match, easily moving onto her first Grand Slam Final where she was to play Bloomer, the woman who had blown her out the year before.

Zsuzsa Kormoczy – 1958 French Open Champion

Peak Performance – Springtime In Paris
Kormoczy may have been the underdog in the final, but she had one major advantage. In advancing to the title match she had yet to surrender a set. On the other hand, Bloomer had come from a set down three consecutive times just to make the final. She had to be suffering from fatigue after this trio of close calls. Once again Bloomer fell behind as Kormoczy took the opening set 6-4. Oddly enough, in the second set Kormoczy was the one feeling fatigue. As she related many years later in her autobiography, it may have been due to tiredness from nerves. Instead of expending what energy she had left in a likely losing battle in the second set, Kormoczy changed her tactics. She would cede the second set to Bloomer, but at the same time run her as much as possible in the hopes of tiring her out. The tactic worked as Kormoczy won the first five games of the deciding set. Bloomer fought back to 5-2.

In the next game, Kormoczy raced to a 40-15 lead and on her second match point she forced a long return from Bloomer. Game, set, match and French Open Championship to Zsuzsa Kormoczy. After playing international tennis on and off for two decades while surviving periodic bouts of tumult and terror she finally had reached the pinnacle of women’s tennis. At the time of her title, she was 33 years and 8 months old, making her the oldest French Open Women’s Singles Champion up to that point in history. This is a record that she still holds today. Kormoczy was a well deserving if highly improbable titlist. Self-belief carried her through all the ups and downs of a career that mirrored her life, periods of tumult followed by brilliance. In the process she became the only Hungarian female to win a Grand Slam singles title. A feat that has never been matched.

One of the All Time Greats – Zsuzsa Kormoczy

New Beginnings – Always A Champion
The 1958 French Open was not the end of Kormoczy’s career, but yet another beginning. Later in the summer she would advance to the semifinals at Wimbledon. The next year she once again advanced to the French final. She fell short in her quest for back to back titles, but went onto play several more years at the highest level, adding another title at Monte Carlo and also winning the prestigious Italian Championship. After retiring, she became a coach at Vasas, the same club where the Hungarian men’s great Balazs Taroczy played. She also led the Hungarian National Tennis Association. Kormoczy lived to the age of 84, a beloved and revered figure off the court just as much as she had been on it. After she died, Andrea Temesvari, Hungary’s second greatest female player of all time paid Kormoczy the ultimate compliment, saying “She belonged to the all-time greats.”