There were times when Ivan Lendl himself claimed to be the best player in tennis history. Lendl, who was born in Czechoslovakia, had not spilled glory with the majors until his comeback success against John McEnroe at the French Open in 1984, but after that the knot was loosened, Lendl also sat down at the US Open and the Australian Open open the crown at least once. Only in Wimbledon did the ex-coach of Andy Murray and Alexander Zverev fail to triumph: in 1986 Lendl failed in the final to Boris Becker, in 1987 to Pat Cash.

In the debate about who was the “Greatest of all Time” (GOAT) in tennis, Ivan Lendl answered the usual pragmatic conversation with the US TV channel Channel 9. And made a split: in the time before the start of the professional tennis circus and the years since 1969.

Rod Laver and one of the Big Three

"For me there is a player before the Open Era, even if he only won his second Grand Slam in 1969, when the professionals had already played," said Lendl. “And that's Rod Laver.” At the end of his career, “The Rocket” had accumulated eleven titles in the four largest tennis tournaments in the world, and could not win any more between 1963 and 1968 due to his professional status.

Ivan Lendl does not take a spectacular view of the modern age. “It is decided between Novak , Rafa and Roger . Whoever won the most majors at the end of his career will go down in history as the best player in the Open Era. ”Federer currently holds 20 titles, Nadal 19, Djokovic 17 after his triumph at the Australian Open earlier this year.
Parallels to golf

"This chapter is still ongoing," Lendl continued. “It will be fascinating to watch, just like in golf. We are lucky to see Tiger Woods ( 15 major titles, editor's note ) chasing Jack Nicklaus ( 18 major titles ). I would have thought in tennis that Pete Sampras' record would last with 14 wins. And suddenly we have three boys who broke his record. "