Miloslav Mečíř

Miloslav Mečíř

File:Miloslav Mecir.jpg Mečíř at the victory ceremony after winning the 1987 Dutch Open
Country (sports)	Czechoslovakia
Residence	Bratislava, Slovakia
Born	(1964-05-19) 19 May 1964 Bojnice, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Turned pro	1982
Retired	1990
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,632,538
Singles
Career record	262–122 (68.2%)
Career titles	11
Highest ranking	No. 4 (22 February 1988)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	F (1989)
French Open	SF (1987)
Wimbledon	SF (1988)
US Open	F (1986)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (1987)
WCT Finals	W (1987)
Olympic Games	W (1988)
Doubles
Career record	100–54 (64.9%)
Career titles	9
Highest ranking	No. 4 (7 March 1988)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	4R (1987)
French Open	4R (1989)
Wimbledon	3R (1987, 1989)
US Open	4R (1987, 1988)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour Finals	W (1987)
Olympic Games	SF (1988)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	SF (1985, 1986)
Hopman Cup	W (1989)
Medal record Men's tennis Representing Czechoslovakia Gold medal – first place 1988 Seoul Singles Bronze medal – third place 1988 Seoul Doubles

Miloslav Mečíř (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmilɔslaw ˈmetʂiːr̝̊]; born 19 May 1964) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. He won the men's singles gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games, representing Czechoslovakia, and contested two major singles finals. In 1987 he won the WCT Finals, the season-ending championship for the World Championship Tennis tour. His son Miloslav Jr. is also a former professional tennis player.

Career

Mečíř was born in Bojnice, Czechoslovakia (now part of Slovakia).

He reached two ATP finals in 1984 and began 1985 by beating Jimmy Connors in the semifinal at Philadelphia, before losing to world No. 1 John McEnroe in the final. He won his first ATP singles title in Rotterdam later that year, and ended 1985 ranked just outside the world's top 10.

He consolidated his position as a world class player in 1986, beating rising Stefan Edberg in straight sets at Wimbledon, before losing to defending champion Boris Becker in the quarterfinals. He reached his first Grand Slam final at the US Open later that year, beating Mats Wilander and Boris Becker in the US Open semi finals. He "handled the West German's booming serve with ease, used his groundstrokes to move Becker from side to side, and hit his serves so deep that Becker had trouble handling them" and Mecir won in five sets. In the final he faced fellow Czechoslovak, defending champion and world No. 1, Ivan Lendl. The 1986 US Open was notable for the fact that four players from Czechoslovakia competed in the two singles finals for men and women – Mečíř and Lendl, Helena Suková and Martina Navratilova. Lendl won the match in straight sets. Mečíř's 1986 US Open final appearance was the last major final to see a player still using a wooden racket.

Mečíř improved further in 1987, winning six singles and six doubles titles, notably winning the WCT Finals in Dallas, where he defeated John McEnroe in four sets. He met Lendl again in three high-profile matches that year, winning the final of the Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne, Florida, while Lendl won the final of the German Open in Hamburg and the semifinals of the French Open.

By this time, Mečíř's sedate playing style was known to frustrate a lot of the more-powerful top ranked players. The Swedish players, in particular, were said to dislike playing against him.

Mečíř was on top form at Wimbledon in 1988, where he defeated Mats Wilander in the quarterfinal. It was Wilander's only Grand Slam singles defeat of the year (he won the 1988 Australian Open, French Open and US Open) yet Mečíř beat him in straight sets. He took a two-set lead in the semifinal against Edberg with a similar display, and later led by a break of serve in the final set, but Edberg eventually wore him down on the way to his first Wimbledon crown.

The highlight of Mečíř's career came later in 1988 when he was selected to represent Czechoslovakia in the Seoul Olympics. He defeated Eric Jelen, Jeremy Bates, Guy Forget and Michiel Schapers and then in the men's singles semifinals he exacted revenge over Wimbledon champion Edberg, in a five-set match. He then met Tim Mayotte of the U.S. in the men's singles final and won in four sets to claim the gold medal. He also won a bronze medal in the men's doubles, partnering Milan Šrejber.

In 1989, Mečíř reached his second Grand Slam final at the Australian Open in Melbourne. Again he came up against Lendl and lost in straight sets. He was overpowered by Lendl on a hot day when the court surface reached 135 degrees. Lendl's win saw him reclaim the world No. 1 ranking from Wilander. After the match, Lendl apologized to the crowd, explaining that he and coach Tony Roche had decided the best tactic against Mečíř was to hit shots deep and down the centre of the court, denying his opponent the angles he thrived on.

Mečíř was a member of the Czechoslovak teams that won the World Team Cup in 1987 and the inaugural Hopman Cup in 1989. He is currently the Slovak Davis Cup captain.

During his career, Mečíř won 11 singles titles and nine doubles titles. His career-high world ranking in both singles and doubles was world No. 4. His final career singles title came in 1989 at Indian Wells. His last doubles title was also won in 1989 in Rotterdam.

Throughout most of 1989 and into 1990, Mečíř suffered from a worsening back injury and he retired in July 1990, aged just 26.

Playing style

Mečíř was a finesse player whose career straddled the transition from wooden and metal racquets towards modern graphite composites. He was noted for his touch shots as well as the ability to disguise his shots, particularly his two-handed backhand. His court coverage and graceful footwork earned him the nickname "The Big Cat". The French called him "Le Prestidigitateur" (The Conjuror).

Many top players used to cite Mečíř as the one player they most enjoyed watching because of his beautifully simple style and touch. He was known as the "Swede Killer" for the success that he had against Swedish players, especially Mats Wilander.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 (0–2)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1986	US Open	Hard	Ivan Lendl	4–6, 2–6, 0–6
Loss	1989	Australian Open	Hard	Ivan Lendl	2–6, 2–6, 2–6

WCT Year–end championship finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1987	Dallas	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	6–0, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2

Olympic finals

Singles: 1 (1 gold medal)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Gold	1988	Seoul	Hard	Tim Mayotte	3–6, 6–2, 6–4, 6–2

ATP Career finals

Singles: 24 (11 titles, 13 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–2)
Year-end championships – WCT (1–0)
Grand Prix (9–11)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Dec 1983	Adelaide, Australia	Grass	Mike Bauer	6–3, 4–6, 1–6
Loss	0–2	Sep 1984	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Francesco Cancellotti	0–6, 3–6
Loss	0–3	Oct 1984	Cologne, West Germany	Carpet (i)	Joakim Nyström	6–7, 2–6
Loss	0–4	Jan 1985	Philadelphia, U.S.	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	3–6, 6–7(5–7), 1–6
Win	1–4	Mar 1985	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet (i)	Jakob Hlasek	6–1, 6–2
Win	2–4	Apr 1985	Hamburg, West Germany	Clay	Henrik Sundström	6–4, 6–1, 6–4
Loss	2–5	May 1985	Rome, Italy	Clay	Yannick Noah	3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 6–7(4–7)
Win	3–5	Apr 1986	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Andrés Gómez	6–4, 4–6, 6–1, 2–6, 6–3
Loss	3–6	Aug 1986	US Open, New York	Hard	Ivan Lendl	4–6, 2–6, 0–6
Loss	3–7	Sep 1986	Hamburg, West Germany	Clay	Henri Leconte	2–6, 7–5, 4–6, 2–6
Win	4–7	Jan 1987	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Michiel Schapers	6–2, 6–3, 6–4
Win	5–7	Jan 1987	Sydney, Australia	Grass	Peter Doohan	6–2, 6–4
Win	6–7	Feb 1987	Miami, U.S.	Hard	Ivan Lendl	7–5, 6–2, 7–5
Loss	6–8	Mar 1987	Milan, Italy	Carpet (i)	Boris Becker	4–6, 3–6
Win	7–8	Apr 1987	WCT Finals, Dallas	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	6–0, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2
Loss	7–9	Apr 1987	Hamburg, West Germany	Clay	Ivan Lendl	1–6, 3–6, 3–6
Win	8–9	Jul 1987	Stuttgart, West Germany	Clay	Jan Gunnarsson	6–0, 6–2
Win	9–9	Jul 1987	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Guillermo Pérez Roldán	6–4, 1–6, 6–3, 6–2
Loss	9–10	Aug 1987	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Emilio Sánchez	4–6, 1–6, 6–4, 1–6
Loss	9–11	Feb 1988	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet (i)	Stefan Edberg	6–7(5–7), 2–6
Loss	9–12	Mar 1988	Orlando, U.S.	Hard	Andrei Chesnokov	6–7(6–8), 1–6
Win	10–12	Sep 1988	Olympic Games, Seoul	Hard	Tim Mayotte	3–6, 6–2, 6–4, 6–2
Loss	10–13	Jan 1989	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Ivan Lendl	2–6, 2–6, 2–6
Win	11–13	Mar 1989	Indian Wells, U.S.	Hard	Yannick Noah	3–6, 2–6, 6–1, 6–2, 6–3

Doubles: 12 (9 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
Year-end championships – ATP (1–0)
Grand Prix (8–3)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	28 July 1986	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Tom Nijssen Johan Vekemans	6–4, 6–2
Win	2.	6 October 1986	Toulouse, France	Hard (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Jakob Hlasek Pavel Složil	6–2, 3–6, 6–4
Win	3.	27 April 1987	Hamburg, West Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Claudio Mezzadri Jim Pugh	4–6, 7–6, 6–2
Loss	1.	11 May 1987	Rome, Italy	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Guy Forget Yannick Noah	2–6, 7–6, 3–6
Win	4.	27 July 1987	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Wojciech Fibak	Tom Nijssen Johan Vekemans	7–6, 5–7, 6–2
Loss	2.	3 August 1987	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	6–7, 6–7
Win	5.	10 August 1987	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Stanislav Birner Jaroslav Navrátil	6–3, 6–7, 6–3
Win	6.	21 September 1987	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Javier Frana Christian Miniussi	6–1, 6–2
Win	7.	9 November 1987	Wembley, U.K.	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Ken Flach Robert Seguso	7–5, 6–4
Win	8.	7 December 1987	Masters Doubles, New York	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Ken Flach Robert Seguso	6–4, 7–5, 6–7(5–7), 6–3
Loss	3.	15 February 1988	Milan, Italy	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Boris Becker Eric Jelen	3–6, 3–6
Win	9.	6 February 1989	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet (i)	Milan Šrejber	Jan Gunnarsson Magnus Gustafsson	7–6, 6–0

Singles performance timelines

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

DNQ

A

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Grand Slam tournaments

Tournament	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	Career SR	Career win–loss
Australian Open	1R	2R	A	NH	QF	A	F	4R	0 / 5	12–5
French Open	A	1R	3R	2R	SF	A	1R	1R	0 / 6	8–6
Wimbledon	A	2R	1R	QF	3R	SF	3R	2R	0 / 7	15–7
US Open	A	A	2R	F	QF	3R	3R	A	0 / 5	15–5
Grand Slam Win–loss	0–1	2–3	3–3	11–3	14–4	7–2	10–4	4–3	N/A	50–23
Grand Slam SR	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 2	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 23	N/A
Year-end ranking	101	50	9	9	6	13	18	116	N/A

Grand Prix tournaments

Tournament	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	Career SR
Indian Wells	A	A	A	A	QF	QF	W	1R	1 / 4
Miami	NH	NH	2R	A	W	SF	2R	A	1 / 4
Monte Carlo	A	A	A	3R	A	A	A	A	0 / 1
Rome	A	1R	F	3R	1R	A	1R	A	0 / 5
Hamburg	A	A	W	F	F	A	A	A	1 / 3
Canada	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	0 / 1
Cincinnati	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	0 / 1
Paris	A	A	A	1R	2R	2R	2R	A	0 / 4
The Masters	A	A	A	A	RR	A	A	A	0 / 1
Grand Prix SR	0 / 0	0 / 1	1 / 3	0 / 4	1 / 5	0 / 4	1 / 5	0 / 1	3 / 23

Record against top-10 players

Mečíř's record against those who have been ranked in the top 10, with active players in boldface.

Player	Years	Matches	Record	Win%	Hard	Clay	Grass	Carpet
Number 1 ranked players
Andre Agassi	1988	1	1–0	100%	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
Ilie Nastase	1984	1	1–0	100%	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
Pete Sampras	1989	1	1–0	100%	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
Mats Wilander	1985–1988	11	7–4	64%	1–1	2–2	1–0	3–1
Jimmy Connors	1985–1989	4	2–2	50%	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–0
John McEnroe	1985–1989	5	2–3	40%	0–0	1–0	1–3	0–0
Stefan Edberg	1983–1990	15	5–10	33%	3–1	0–2	2–3	0–4
Thomas Muster	1986–1988	3	1–2	33%	0–0	1–2	0–0	0–0
Boris Becker	1985–1990	9	2–7	22%	1–2	0–1	0–1	1–3
Ivan Lendl	1986–1989	6	1–5	17%	1–2	0–2	0–0	0–1
Number 2 ranked players
Michael Chang	1989	1	1–0	100%	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
Goran Ivanišević	1989	1	1–0	100%	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
Petr Korda	1988	1	1–0	100%	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0
Manuel Orantes	1983	1	1–0	100%	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0
Michael Stich	1990	1	0–1	0%	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0
Number 3 ranked players
Yannick Noah	1985–1989	3	2–1	67%	2–0	0–1	0–0	0–0
Vitas Gerulaitis	1984	1	0–1	0%	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1
Number 4 ranked players
Guy Forget	1986–1988	4	4–0	100%	2–0	0–0	0–0	2–0
Andrés Gómez	1986–1987	2	2–0	100%	0–0	1–0	0–0	1–0
Brad Gilbert	1984–1988	3	2–1	67%	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–1
Pat Cash	1987	2	1–1	50%	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–1
José Luis Clerc	1985	1	0–1	0%	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0
Number 5 ranked players
Jimmy Arias	1987	1	1–0	100%	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
Anders Järryd	1983–1987	9	4–5	44%	0–0	2–3	0–2	2–0
Kevin Curren	1987	1	0–1	0%	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1
Henri Leconte	1986	2	0–2	0%	0–0	0–2	0–0	0–0
Number 6 ranked players
Henrik Sundström	1984–1985	2	2–0	100%	0–0	2–0	0–0	0–0
Kent Carlsson	1984–1987	6	4–2	67%	1–0	3–2	0–0	0–0
Number 7 ranked players
Jay Berger	1988	1	1–0	100%	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
Johan Kriek	1987	1	1–0	100%	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–0
Tim Mayotte	1988	1	1–0	100%	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
Jakob Hlasek	1985–1987	5	4–1	80%	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–1
Joakim Nyström	1984–1986	6	4–2	67%	1–2	1–0	0–0	2–0
Emilio Sánchez	1986–1990	6	3–3	50%	0–2	0–1	0–0	3–0
Juan Aguilera	1984–1989	3	0–3	0%	0–0	0–3	0–0	0–0
Sandy Mayer	1984	1	0–1	0%	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0
Brian Teacher	1984	1	0–1	0%	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0
Number 8 ranked players
Karel Nováček	1986–1987	3	3–0	100%	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–0
Number 9 ranked players
Bill Scanlon	1986–1987	2	2–0	100%	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–0
Andrei Chesnokov	1983–1988	2	1–1	50%	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–0
Number 10 ranked players
Mikael Pernfors	1986–1987	3	3–0	100%	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–0
Jonas Svensson	1986–1988	6	4–2	67%	0–0	1–1	0–0	3–1
Martín Jaite	1983–1987	5	3–2	60%	0–0	3–2	0–0	0–0
Thierry Tulasne	1985–1989	4	2–2	50%	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–0
Wojciech Fibak	1986	1	0–1	0%	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1
Total	1983–1990	149	81–68	54.36%	25–13 (65.79%)	28–28 (50%)	5–8 (38.46%)	23–19 (54.76%)

External links

• Miloslav Mečíř at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Miloslav Mečíř at the International Tennis Federation
• Miloslav Mečíř at the Davis Cup
• Miloslav Mečíř at Olympics.com
• Miloslav Mečíř at Olympic.sk (in Slovak)