Former World No. 1 Ivan Lendl Makes his Return to Tennis; To Face John McEnroe
Sixteen years after retiring from the game that made him so famous, Ivan Lendl is slowly making his comeback to the sport. This is not to say that he will start his tennis career all over again after sixteen years. What it simply means is that he will start playing exhibition matches, starting with the Jean-Luc Lagardere Trophy. Over the years, Lendl has been enjoying his retirement from the game and has been busy playing golf and raising his five daughters. Now at the age of fifty, he is set to make his return to the sport.
Ivan Lendl was one of tennis’ great players in the 80s and 90s. He turned pro in 1978 and from then on started his rise to the top of the sport. He started to win tournaments as early as 1980 but it was in 1984 when he really made his claim to the top of the game of tennis. Czechoslovakian Lendl really burst onto the scene in 1984, beating one of the all time greats of the game, John McEnroe, at that year’s French Open. Throughout his career, he played some of the world’s best tennis players and he beat a fair few of them. He managed to capture the world number one ranking for a total of 270 weeks. His claim to success was the fact that he maintained a strict fitness discipline and managed to maintain that discipline for a long time until injury set in and his back started to bother him. Throughout his impressive 17 year career, he amassed 94 singles titles, six doubles titles, and a 1,279-274 singles win-loss record.
His return to the game has gotten a few people excited; the most excited of all seems to be John McEnroe who is set to play Lendl at the Jean-Luc Lagardere Trophy. Lendl beat McEnroe in the 1984 French Open and McEnroe is keen to return the favour. Even though both men have not played in many years, they both still have their competitive streaks intact. That first major meeting in 1984 was particularly important for both men’s careers because it gave Lendl’s career the first major title and showed that he was a force to be reckoned with, and it also showed McEnroe that there was someone out there who could challenge his supremacy. Lendl had managed to rally back from two sets down to take a very tough fought victory from the American and McEnroe wants to avenge that defeat. However, it is all jovial and civil in the tennis world of retired players because McEnroe is keeping an eye on Lendl’s training regime and is giving him some pointers and tips, and the two of them will discuss a few things before they step onto the court again.
As a tennis player gets older, age related factors start to set in and it becomes harder and harder to compete at the sport. At the age of fifty, Lendl will be worrying about a number of factors related to his age before he steps foot on the court. Physical ability starts to seriously diminish with age, and it becomes very noticeable in a very fast paced and extremely tough game like tennis. Lendl had back issues towards the end of his career and it has continued to hamper him recently as well. However, he seems to have battled through the injury and has been training for the last year to reach the necessary level of fitness required to play at a competitive level again. Even though many athletes have played competitive sports well past their prime; examples such as Michael Jordan playing in his forties and Lendl’s countrywoman Martina Navratilova playing in her fifties shows that it can be done.
We will have to wait and see how well Ivan Lendl performs at the upcoming tournament; whether he can reclaim some of his former glory or whether age has gotten the better of him. He seems to be in great shape and is all set to show the world that he still has it. His match up against McEnroe will be the one to watch and tennis fans will be able to see a repeat of a very famous match taking place in 2010. Let’s see how long Lendl’s return to tennis lasts and what he can achieve from it.
Tags: