Tennis belongs to the most favorite sports in the Czech republic. Czech tennis players have been remarkably successful in international competitions.
The
Czech Tennis Association was founded in 1906. Member of ITF since 1921, member of ETA since 1976. It has more than 225 000 members and 24 490 registered players, 777 tennis clubs, 4 459 outdoor- and 217 indoor-courts.
Cesky tenisovy svaz - Czech Tennis Association, Stvanice 38, Praha 7, tel. 231 12 70, 231 59 20
The Czech tennis players in ATP and WTA
One of them, Martina Navratilova, is arguably the best female tennis player of all time. Many other male and female tennis players have appeared in the top 100 rankings of international tennis including J.Drobny, K.Kodes, I.Lendl, P.Korda, H.Mandlikova, H.Sukova and J.Novotna (she is in 2nd position in ATP - situation in November 1997) and many others. Drobny, Kodes, Lendl, Navratilova and Mandlikova were all Grand Slam winners. In 1980 our team won the Davis Cup. In the FED CUP /similar competition to Davis Cup for women/ we won 5 times: in 1975, 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1988.
Profiles of top Czech players:
Martina NAVRATILOVA:
Born in 1956.
She represented the Czech republic and the USA in 1973 - 94.
Ranks #1 in WTT all-time prize money list.
Holds a record 9 Wimbledon singles titles /1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990/; has won the US Open 4 times, Australian Open 3 times and French Open 2 times.
Ranked #1 in women's singles /1991-3/, mixed doubles /1991-2/ and women's doubles in 1991.
Currently holds 167 career singles titles, more than any man or woman tennis player.
Ranked in the top five in the world for 20 straight years.
She won 1438 matches and lost 212 in her career.
Best position in ATP: 1
Jana NOVOTNA:
Born in 1968.
Member of the Czech Republic Fed Cup Team in 1987-93, 1995-96, Czech Olympic Team in 1988 and 1996. At the 1996 Olympics, defeated top seed Monica Seles in the quarterfinals, becoming the first player to defeat Seles twice since her comeback to competitive tennis in August 1995.
She won the bronze medal there in singles and silver medal in doubles with Helena Sukova, also won a silver medal in doubles at 1988 Olympics with Sukova.
Winner of Wimbledon in mixed doubles /1989/, in doubles /1989, 1996/.
Finalist of Wimbledon in 1997.
Winner of Roland Garros in doubles /1990, 1991/
Coached by Hana Mandlikova since 1990.
Best position in ATP: 2 /1997/