Jan Kodeš

Jan Kodeš (born 1 March 1946) is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time major singles champion, Kodeš was one of the premier players in the early 1970s.

Kodeš's greatest success was achieved on the clay courts of the French Open. He won the singles title in 1970 French Open beating Željko Franulović in straight sets in the final. He won the 1971 French Open over Ilie Năstase in the final in four sets, his "tireless running and gifted anticipation" proving too much for the Romanian. He also won Wimbledon on grass courts in 1973, beating Alex Metreveli in the final in straight sets, although the tournament was largely boycotted by top players that year in a show of solidarity over the ban of Nikola Pilić by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF).

Kodeš never played at the Australian Open, but was twice the runner-up at the US Open, in 1971 to Stan Smith and 1973 to John Newcombe. Kodeš reached his highest ATP ranking of world No. 5 in September 1973. During the Open Era, he won nine top-level singles titles and 17 doubles titles.

Kodeš was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2013, he received the Czech Fair Play Award from the Czech Olympic Committee. He is an economics graduate of the Prague University.

Career statistics

The table for open era finals below does not include victories and final participation in tournaments from 1966 to 1969, such as victories in international championships and tournaments in Santiago, Viña del Mar, Sao Paulo, Lyon, Cannes, Luxembourg, St. Petersburg (USA), Beirut, Zaragoza, Split, Varna, Plovdiv, Paris (Racing Club) and three times in the MM CSSR in Bratislava. In doubles with Javorsky in Bratislava, then with Jan Kukal, he won tournaments in Lyon, Hilversum, Macon (USA), Pittsburgh, Caracas, Istanbul, Bratislava, Beirut and Split. With Pala in Luxembourg and Zaragoza. With Rodriguez in Viña del Mar, Chile. In all these tournaments or championships, the starting field was always at least 32 players, like today's ATP tour tournaments, but they are not listed in the ATP Tour yearbooks because the ATP Tour did not exist at that time and did not publish publications.

In the book written by Petr Kolar and Jan Kodes, "A Journey to Glory from behind the Iron Curtain", there are 25 singles wins, 27 appearances in finals, 32 doubles wins and 29 appearances in doubles finals. He participated in the first Grand Prix "Masters" tournaments (now ATP Finals) from 1970-1974 (Tokyo 1970, Paris 1971, Barcelona 1972, Boston 1973 and Dallas 1974).

Grand Slam finals: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

1968 French Open counts as 0 wins, 0 losses. Fernando Gentil received a walkover in the first round, after Kodeš withdrew, does not count as a Kodeš loss (nor a Gentil win).

Open era finals Singles (9 titles, 19 runner-ups) ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreWin 1. 1970 St. Petersburg, U.S. Clay Joaquín Loyo-Mayo 6–3, 6–3, 6–3Win 2. 1970 French Open, Paris Clay Željko Franulović 6–2, 6–4, 6–0Loss 1. 1970 Rome, Italy Clay Ilie Năstase 3–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–8Loss 2. 1971 Nice, France Clay Ilie Năstase 8–10, 9–11, 1–6Win 3. 1971 Catania, Italy Clay Georges Goven 6–3, 6–0, 6–2Loss 3. 1971 Rome WCT, Italy Clay Rod Laver 5–7, 3–6, 3–6Win 4. 1971 French Open, Paris Clay Ilie Năstase 8–6, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5Loss 4. 1971 US Open, New York Grass Stan Smith 6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–7Loss 5. 1971 Stockholm WCT, Sweden Hard (i) Arthur Ashe 1–6, 6–3, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6Loss 6. 1972 Nice, France Clay Ilie Năstase 0–6, 4–6, 3–6Loss 7. 1972 Rome, Italy Clay Manuel Orantes 6–4, 1–6, 5–7, 2–6Win 5. 1972 Barcelona, Spain Clay Manuel Orantes 6–3, 6–2, 6–3Win 6. 1973 Cologne, West Germany Carpet (i) Brian Fairlie 6–1, 6–3, 6–1Loss 8. 1973 Vancouver, Canada Carpet (i) Tom Gorman 6–3, 2–6, 5–7Win 7. 1973 Wimbledon, London Grass Alex Metreveli 6–1, 9–8, 6–3Loss 9. 1973 US Open, New York Grass John Newcombe 4–6, 6–1, 6–4, 2–6, 3–6Loss 10. 1973 Prague, Czechoslovakia Carpet (i) Jiří Hřebec 6–4, 1–6, 6–3, 0–6, 5–7Loss 11. 1974 Acapulco, Mexico Carpet (i) Tom Okker 2–6, 6–7Loss 12. 1975 Hampton, U.S. Carpet (i) Jimmy Connors 6–3, 3–6, 0–6Loss 13. 1975 Hamburg, West Germany Clay Manuel Orantes 6–3, 2–6, 2–6, 6–4, 1–6Loss 14. 1975 Düsseldorf, West Germany Clay Jaime Fillol 4–6, 6–1, 0–6, 5–7Loss 15. 1975 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Adriano Panatta 6–2, 2–6, 5–7, 4–6Win 8. 1975 Madrid, Spain Clay Adriano Panatta 6–2, 3–6, 7–6, 6–2Win 9. 1976 Basel, Switzerland Carpet (i) Jiří Hřebec 6–4, 6–2, 6–3Loss 16. 1976 Nice, France Clay Corrado Barazzutti 2–6, 6–2, 7–5, 6–7, 6–8Loss 17. 1976 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Manuel Orantes 6–7, 2–6, 6–7Loss 18. 1976 Aviles, Spain Clay Željko Franulović 6–7, 1–6, 7–5, 6–7Loss 19. 1977 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Guillermo Vilas 7–5, 2–6, 6–4, 3–6, 2–6

Doubles (17 titles, 24 runner-ups) ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1. 1970 Båstad, Sweden Clay Željko Franulović Dick Crealy Allan Stone 2–6, 6–2, 12–12 ret.Loss 2. 1970 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Željko Franulović John Alexander Phil Dent 8–10, 2–6, 4–6Loss 3. 1970 Phoenix, U.S. Hard Charlie Pasarell Dick Crealy Ray Ruffels 6–7, 3–6Loss 4. 1970 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Željko Franulović Bob Carmichael Ray Ruffels 5–7, 2–6, 7–5, 7–6, 3–6Loss 5. 1971 Macon, U.S. Carpet Željko Franulović Clark Graebner Thomaz Koch 3–6, 6–7Loss 6. 1971 Catania, Italy Clay Jan Kukal Pierre Barthès François Jauffret 6–7, 6–2, 3–6Win 1. 1971 Indianapolis, U.S. Clay Željko Franulović Clark Graebner Erik van Dillen 7–6, 5–7, 6–3Win 2. 1972 Nice, France Clay Stan Smith Frew McMillan Ilie Năstase 6–3, 3–6, 7–5Win 3. 1972 Hamburg, West Germany Clay Ilie Năstase Bob Hewitt Ion Țiriac 4–6, 6–0, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2Loss 7. 1972 Montreal, Canada Clay Jan Kukal Ilie Năstase Ion Țiriac 6–7, 3–6Win 4. 1973 Los Angeles, U.S. Hard Vladimír Zedník Jimmy Connors Ilie Năstase 6–2, 6–4Win 5. 1973 Prague, Czechoslovakia Mateflex Vladimír Zedník Róbert Machán Balázs Taróczy 7–6, 7–6Win 6. 1974 Palm Desert, U.S. Hard Vladimír Zedník Raymond Moore Onny Parun 6–4, 6–4Win 7. 1974 Düsseldorf, West Germany Clay Jiří Hřebec Kenichi Hirai Toshiro Sakai 6–1, 6–4Loss 8. 1975 Salisbury, U.S. Carpet Roger Taylor Jimmy Connors Ilie Năstase 6–7, 2–6Win 8. 1975 Munich, West Germany Clay Wojciech Fibak Milan Holeček Karl Meiler 7–5, 6–3Loss 9. 1975 Hamburg, West Germany Clay Wojciech Fibak Juan Gisbert Sr. Manuel Orantes 3–6, 6–7Win 9. 1975 Düsseldorf, West Germany Clay François Jauffret Harald Elschenbroich Hans Kary 6–2, 6–3Loss 10. 1975 Montreal, Canada Hard Ilie Năstase Cliff Drysdale Raymond Moore 4–6, 7–5, 6–7Win 10. 1975 Madrid, Spain Clay Ilie Năstase Juan Gisbert Sr. Manuel Orantes 6–4, 3–6, 9–7Win 11. 1976 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Jiří Hřebec Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann 6–7, 6–2, 6–4Loss 12. 1977 Baltimore, U.S. Carpet Ross Case Ion Țiriac Guillermo Vilas 3–6, 7–6, 4–6Win 12. 1977 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay François Jauffret Wojciech Fibak Tom Okker 2–6, 6–3, 6–2Loss 13. 1977 French Open, Paris Clay Wojciech Fibak Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez 6–7, 6–4, 3–6, 4–6Win 13. 1977 Barcelona, Spain Clay Wojciech Fibak Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan 6–0, 6–4Loss 14. 1977 Vienna, Austria Carpet Wojciech Fibak Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan 4–6, 3–6Loss 15. 1977 Oviedo, Spain Carpet Raúl Ramírez Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart 3–6, 1–6Loss 16. 1978 Springfield, U.S. Carpet Marty Riessen Robert Lutz Stan Smith 3–6, 3–6Loss 17. 1978 Nice, France Clay Tomáš Šmíd Patrice Dominguez François Jauffret 4–6, 0–6Loss 18. 1978 Rome, Italy Clay Tomáš Šmíd Víctor Pecci Belus Prajoux 7–6, 6–7, 1–6Win 14. 1978 Stuttgart, West Germany Clay Tomáš Šmíd Carlos Kirmayr Belus Prajoux 6–3, 7–6Loss 19. 1978 Aix-en-Provence, France Clay Tomáš Šmíd Ion Țiriac Guillermo Vilas 6–7, 1–6Win 15. 1978 Madrid, Spain Clay Wojciech Fibak Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd 6–7, 6–1, 6–2Win 16. 1979 Hamburg, West Germany Clay Tomáš Šmíd Mark Edmondson John Marks 6–3, 6–1, 7–6Loss 20. 1979 Hilversum, Netherlands Clay Tomáš Šmíd Tom Okker Balázs Taróczy 1–6, 3–6Loss 21. 1979 Indianapolis, U.S. Clay Tomáš Šmíd Gene Mayer John McEnroe 4–6, 6–7Loss 22. 1980 Barcelona, Spain Clay Balázs Taróczy Steve Denton Ivan Lendl 2–6, 7–6, 3–6Loss 23. 1980 Cologne, West Germany Carpet Tomáš Šmíd Bernard Mitton Andrew Pattison 4–6, 1–6Win 17. 1982 Hilversum, Netherlands Clay Tomáš Šmíd Balázs Taróczy Heinz Günthardt 7–6, 6–4Loss 24. 1983 Hilversum, Netherlands Clay Tomáš Šmíd Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy 6–3, 2–6, 3–6

At results above are not shown wins and runner-ups from 1965 to 1969, such as tournaments in Santiago, Viňa del Mar, São Paulo, Lyon, Cannes, Luxembourg, Split, Varna, Plovdiv, Paris (Racing Club) or International championships of Czechoslovakia in Bratislava. The draws of players were always minimum 32 players, same as at contemporary ATP Tour events, but they are not listed in ATP Annuals, since ATP was founded at 1972.