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| Thursday, July 11 Updated: July 12, 3:14 PM ET In 1988, Wilander had an amazing run By Greg Garber ESPN.com |
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The 1980s were a golden era in men's tennis. Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe battled for the No. 1 ranking at the cusp of the decade and Ivan Lendl joined the fray a few years later. From September 1985 to the summer of 1990, Lendl held the top spot for an amazing 237 weeks -- a longer reign than anyone not named Pete Sampras or Connors. There was one hiccough, however. For 20 weeks late in the 1988 season, Lendl slipped to No. 2 in the ATP Tour rankings.
The accidental tourist was Mats Wilander. "After I became (No.) 1 -- which was a little too soon for me -- I started working really hard," Wilander remembers. "Before that, I was surviving on talent and natural physics. I reached No. 1 a year after I started working really hard. It hit me fast. "I worked as hard in '89 and '90, but I didn't feel like I had the motivation to win and to compete in the same way I did before. I'm not sure. Hope it doesn't happen to anybody else." He reached the quarterfinals at the French Open and Wimbledon in 1989 and the semifinals a year later at the Australian Open. Wilander was never truly a factor after that. He had peaked in his 24th year, and by 1992 he was out of tennis. "I started early," Wilander said. "That [1988] was my seventh year in the top 10. It wasn't really a burnout. I came out and played in '95 again, played for a couple years. I never would have done that had I stayed up there for longer." There is a gnawing sense of incompleteness about the career of Wilander. Like Phil Mickelson, who continues to labor in the magnificent wake of Tiger Woods, maybe he just had the misfortune to be born at the wrong time. For while Borg, his fellow Swede, won Wimbledon five times, Wilander never held up the hardware on Centre Court. Connors, McEnroe and Lendl all surpassed him in terms of tournament victories and prize money. His name does not inspire immediate thoughts of greatness in the manner of Boris Becker or Andre Agassi or even Stefan Edberg, another fellow countryman. And yet ... and yet. Wilander belongs in the firmament of tennis greats. His record, a seven-year run of sustained excellence (featuring 33 career titles) and a final flourish in that magnificent season of 1988, demands it. For his accomplishments he will be inducted, along with Pam Shriver, into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., on Saturday. Both athletes were elected in their first appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot. "I'll take the good with the bad, I guess," Wilander said in typical, self-deprecating fashion. The good, with all due respect, positively overwhelms the bad.
Wilander, only 37 years old, seems more at peace with tennis these days. He plays in the occasional seniors event and he recently enjoyed a stint as the coach of Marat Safin, the mercurial Russian star. He lives with his wife and four children in Sun Valley, Idaho -- under the radar, as he likes it. "You can walk down the street without everybody shouting your name," Wilander said. "I was purely an athlete, trying to win every time I stepped on the court. That's where it ends. I don't really care how people write you up in the press or anything. I know my accomplishments. I can step out of the limelight for those guys, no problem." Wilander, born in Vaxjo, Sweden, on Aug. 22, 1964, entered the limelight of tennis with historic swiftness. At the age of 17 years, 9 months, he became the youngest man to win a Grand Slam singles title when he unstrung Guillermo Vilas in the 1982 French Open final. Subsequently, Becker, who won the 1985 Wimbledon at 17 years and seven months, and Michael Chang (the 1989 French Open at 17 years, 3 months) surpassed that record. Still, Wilander went on to win Grand Slam titles in each of the next three years, winning back-to-back Australian Opens in 1983 and 1984 and the French Open again in 1985. He reached two Slam finals -- the French Open and U.S. Open -- in 1987, telegraphing his intentions for the following year. In Australia, Wilander took out two Davis Cup teammates -- Anders Jarryd and Edberg -- to reach the finals, where he defeated Aussie Pat Cash in a epic five-set match that was decided by an 8-6 score. Wilander dispatched the young Agassi in the French semifinals before beating another athlete playing for his country at home, France's Henri Leconte, in straight sets. At the U.S. Open, Lendl defeated Agassi to reach the final but fell to Wilander there in a grueling five-set match. The only lapse for Wilander came at Wimbledon, where he fell to Miroslav Mecir in the quarters. Edberg won the final that year, underlining how close Wilander came to the Slam of Slams. At the time, Wilander's departure from tennis was a quiet one. Today, with the fractured state of men's tennis -- with Sampras and Agassi in decline and only Australia's Lleyton Hewitt on the horizon of greatness -- perhaps those seven Grand Slam titles will stand the test of time. Wilander, though modest to a double fault, has come to know his place in history. He suspected the Hall of Fame would call him to its emerald courts at Newport Casino. "I didn't really think of it until I was done," Wilander said. "I sort of knew it ... I'm not putting myself in John McEnroe's league or anything, but I won the same number of majors. I guess I knew that I would be inducted at some point in my career. I had a hunch, yeah." Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com. |
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