Ilie Năstase
Ilie Năstase (born
July 19,
1946 in
Bucharest) was a
Romanian professional tennis player and one of the top players of
1970s, being twice number one in
1972 and
1973.
Among his 57 singles titles are the
US Open in
1972 and the
French Open in
1973, and in doubles he won at
Wimbledon in
1973, the
French Open in
1970 and the
US Open in
1975. He was the runner-up in the Wimbledon singles competition in 1972, playing in a classic men's final against
Stan Smith and in 1976 against
Björn Borg . In Grand Slam tournaments , Nastase loose a part of his energy with parallel matches (doubles and mixed).His strength as tennis player was proved especially in the Masters. He won for the four times the Masters tournament (
Tennis Masters Cup) in 1971,1972,1973 and 1975. Only
Pete Sampras and
Ivan Lendl have a better performance with five titles each.
Năstase was famous for his good humour on court, but also had a reputation for
gamesmanship, and acquired the nickname "Nasty" after several incidents where his temperament got the better of him.
Năstase's greatest victory was arguably his 6-3,3-6,6-7,6-4,6-3 against
Arthur Ashe in the '72 U.S. Open final. Earlier that season, he lost a five set final at Wimbledon to Stan Smith 4-6,6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 (netting a high backhand volley at match point). Smith and Năstase were polar opposites in terms of temperament, but had unusually cordial personal relations.
Năstase was great friends with American star
Jimmy Connors; the two would often play doubles together, refused to join the
ATP (preferring to play in a parallel tour organized by their long-time manager Bill Riordan), and would room together on tour.
He wrote a couple of novels in
French in the
1980s and entered politics in the
1990s, making an unsuccessful run for mayor of
Bucharest in
1996.
In
2005, TENNIS Magazine put him in 28th place in its list of
40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.
If you have confidence you have patience. Confidence, that is everything. As long as I can get angry then I play well. If I play well I can beat everybody. I am happy because I am getting angry.My ambition is to do a good job. I never plan anything. I haven't reported my missing credit card to the police because whoever stole it is spending less than my wife.In his recent book Ilie Năstase mentioned that he slept with around 2500 women. After hearing this, his wife said that she was happy to have conquered such a man.
Wins (2)
Runner-ups (3)
Wins (4)
| Year | Opponent in Final | '''Score in Final |
| 1975 | Björn Borg | 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 |
| 1973 | Tom Okker | 6-3, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 |
| 1972 | Stan Smith | 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3 |
| 1971 | Stan Smith | 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 |
Runner-ups (1)
* 1970
** Rome
* 1971
** Richmond, Hampton, Nice, Monte Carlo, Bastad, Wembley, Masters
*
1972 ** Baltimore, Omaha, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Nice, Dusseldorf, Montreal,
US Open (Grass), South Orange, Seattle, London, Masters
*
1973** Omaha, Barcelona, Calgary, Monte Carlo WCT, Florence, Rome,
French Open, Queens, Gstaad, Cincinnati, Madrid, Barcelona-2, Paris Indoor, Masters
* 1974
** Richmond WCT, Washington WCT, Bournemouth, Cedar Grove, Madrid, Barcelona
* 1975
** Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, South Orange, Masters
* 1976
** Atlanta WCT, Salisbury, La Costa, South Orange, Pepsi Grand Slam
* 1977
** Mexico City WCT, Aix-en-Provence
* 1978
** Miami
*
Tennis Hall of Fame: Ilie Nastase*
ATP Official Site
