Word: lendl
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...Open last week, the first time any single country was so well represented. When it was all over and done at New York City's National Tennis Center, Helena Sukova, 21, and Miloslav Mecir, 22, flew home to Czechoslovakia and hero's welcomes, while the victorious Czechomericans Ivan Lendl, 26, and Martina Navratilova, 29, collected their $210,000 prizes and stayed on in their adopted country. Although he is still a Czech citizen, Lendl has places in Florida, New York and Connecticut, and has not been back to his native land since 1984. "What Mecir has against...
...Prague Tennis Club, and the teenagers are the honors class in the Czechoslovak national tennis program. With 30,000 youthful players and 2,650 coaches, the program has brought the small (pop. 15.4 million) East European nation to the heights of international tennis: besides Navratilova, its alumni include Ivan Lendl, the world's No. l player, and such other top seeds as Miloslav Mecir, Helena Sukova and Hana Mandlikova -- who surprised the tennis world last week by marrying an Australian restaurateur between rounds of the Federation...
...result is an astonishing array of premier players. Lendl is backed up by Mecir (worldwide pro ranking, 20), Milan Srejber (32), Tomas Smid (35) and Pavel Slozil (85); fourth-ranked Mandlikova's teammates include Sukova (7), Andrea Holikova (78) and Regina Marsikova (79). In return for a passport, each of the athletes has agreed to clear participation in tournaments with the board, pay 20% of after-expense prize money to the federation, and kick in an additional $3,000 annually to defray travel expenses for junior players...
Ironically, the very success of the Czech tennis program has brought the country a continuing headache: emigration. Since the Communists took power, 14 top Czechoslovaks besides Navratilova have defected to the West, along with dozens of lesser talents. Lendl, though nominally still playing for his native land, has not returned home since 1980, and now refuses to play in team competitions. Those who do stay face the problem of conformity. "The system is fine for ordinary players," says the unconventional base-line worker Srejber, who rose from 120 to 32 in less than a year. "But it doesn't adapt...
...year ago the gangling, inexhaustible teenager became the youngest man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon. Last week Boris Becker, 18, made it clear that the improbable victory was no fluke. He beat the world's No. 1- ranked player, Ivan Lendl, 26, in straight sets with a 150-m.p.h. serve that blurred across the center court's slick grass surface for 15 aces and with volleys that edged deep or skidded down the sidelines. For the West German wunderkind, this year's win was even sweeter than last year's. At a postgame press conference he announced...