Ilie Năstase

**Ilie Năstase**

Country	Romania
Residence	-
Date of birth	July 19, 1946
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Height	m ({{FORMATNUM:5 ft 11+¹⁄₂ in}})
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Turned Pro	1969 (debut in 1966)
Retired	1985
Plays	Right; One-handed backhand
Career Prize Money	US$2,076,761
Singles
Career record:	730 - 275
Career titles:	88 including 53 listed by the ATP Website
Highest ranking:	1 (August 23, 1973)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	-
French Open	W (1973) F (1971)
Wimbledon	F (1972, 1976)
U.S. Open	W (1972)
Doubles
Career record:	480 - 207
Career titles:	45
Highest ranking:	59 (January 3,1983)
Infobox last updated on: April 07, 2007.

Ilie Năstase (born July 19, 1946, in Bucharest, Romania) is a former Romanian professional tennis player and one of the top players of the 1970s. Năstase was the World No. 1 in 1973 according to the Association of Tennis Professionals computer rankings, which placed him first from August 23, 1973, to June 2, 1974.

Career

Among his 88 singles titles, only 53 of which are recorded on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) website, are the U.S. Open in 1972 (defeating Arthur Ashe in a five set final) and the French Open in 1973. In men's doubles, he won Wimbledon in 1973, the French Open in 1970, and the U.S. Open in 1975. He was the singles runner-up at Wimbledon in 1972, losing in five sets to Stan Smith, and in 1976, losing to Björn Borg.

Năstase won the Masters tournament four times, in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1975. Only Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl won more titles there.

At the beginning of his career in 1966, Năstase travelled around the world competing with his good friend Ion Tiriac. Together, they reached the Davis Cup challenge round in 1969 and 1971. In 1972, they reached the Davis Cup final, the challenge round having been abolished. However, they never won the trophy for Romania.

In singles, Năstase won his first minor tournament at Cannes on April 16, 1967. His first final at an important tournament was in 1969 in Stockholm, where he defeated Tony Roche and Smith.

Năstase became one of the best players in 1970, with many experts ranking him as the sixth best player in the world after the Australians Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe, and Roche and the American Ashe. Năstase's high ranking resulted from his success at the Italian Open in Rome and at the U.S. Indoor Open in Salisbury, Maryland. With Tiriac, Năstase won the men's doubles title at the French Open.

In 1971, Năstase was the runner-up at a depleted French Open with 16 of the 32 World Championship Tennis (WCT) players absent. Năstase lost in four sets to Jan Kodeš. In December, Năstase won the Grand Prix Masters, again without the WCT players.

The two following years saw Năstase's apogee.

In 1972, he became the second ranked player in the world (see World number one male tennis player rankings), owing to his winning the U.S. Open in a five set final over Ashe. This tournament was the only event of the year in which all the best players participated. Two months before in a depleted Wimbledon, Năstase lost to Smith in five sets. In the Davis Cup, in which WCT players were still not allowed to participate, Năstase was undefeated in singles until losing to Smith in the final tie. In December, Năstase won his first match of the year with Smith and his second consecutive Grand Prix Masters title. (The WCT players were again absent from the tournament.) Smith defeated Năstase four of the five times they played that year.

In 1973, Wimbledon and the Australian Open again had very depleted fields. Roughly 80 players boycotted Wimbledon because of a controversy involving Nikki Pilic. Only 4 of the 20 best players in the world entered (Năstase, Kodeš, Roger Taylor and Connors). As usual from 1972 through 1982, very few of the best players visited the Australian continent. Among the top 20 players, only Rosewall and Newcombe participated. Five events stood out that year: (1) the U.S. Open with only Roy Emerson missing; (2) the French Open (among the best claycourt players, only Rosewall, Laver, and Emerson were absent); (3) the Grand Prix Masters, this time accessible to all players; (4) the WCT finals, reserved for WCT players (not including Năstase, Newcombe, Connors, and Manuel Orantes); and (5) the Davis Cup, open to everyone for the first time in its history. By winning 17 tournaments in 1973 (the French Open, the Masters, the other 12 listed on the ATP website plus Washington D.C., Istanbul, and Kingston), Năstase was the undisputed World No. 1 that year. In the Davis Cup, he won 7 of 8 singles rubbers, including a victory over Tom Okker, the "Flying Dutchman." In matches against the other top players, Năstase was 1-0 against Newcombe and 1-1 against Smith. The Romanian won the French Open without dropping a set (a feat repeated twice by Borg in in 1978 and 1980), and he won the French Open (clay) - Rome (clay) - Queen's Club (grass) in succession, a feat never equalled in the open era.

In terms of public popularity, Năstase was then at the peak of his career, famous both for his technical and physical genius and for his good humour on court. But among referees and other players, his reputation for gamesmanship resulted in the nickname "Nasty" after several incidents where his temperament got the better of him. For one year, other players scorned him in locker rooms and did not speak to him.

Năstase's play began to decline in 1974 even though he was the only player to qualify for both the WCT Finals and the Grand Prix Masters. (Newcombe played both events, although he played the Masters at Kooyong as an invitee instead of a qualifier.) As usual, Năstase played well in the Masters, in particular against Newcombe in the semi-finals. (Năstase finished his career with a 4-1 record versus Newcombe, losing only their first match in 1969.) The Romanian, however, lost the final to Guillermo Vilas in five sets.

For the fifth consecutive year, Năstase reached the Masters final in 1975 (an event Connors did not enter even though he qualified for the second consecutive year), where he played perhaps the best match of his career to defeat Borg 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.

During the first half of 1976, Năstase won four tournaments (Atlanta WCT, Avis Challenge Cup WCT, U.S. Open Indoor, and La Costa), and head-to-head, he led Connors 2-1, Vilas 1-0, Ashe 1-0, and Borg 1-0. Năstase did not enter the Australian Open, which was again avoided by most of the top players. Năstase was prevented from entering the French Open because he participated in World Team Tennis. In the second half of the year, Năstase lost to Borg in the men's singles final of Wimbledon and in the semi-finals of the U.S. Open. Năstase won three other tournaments during the second half of the year, the Pepsi Grand Slam, South Orange, and the 4-man tournament of Caracas, Venezuela, in October (not to be confused with the Caracas WCT tournament in March), making seven tournament championships for the year. Năstase was generally considered to be the World No. 3 for the year, behind Connors and Borg.

In 1977, most tennis specialists considered Năstase to have finished the year just out of the top 10, although he finished ninth in the ATP rankings. He was a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon and the French Open and participated in the WCT Finals.

Năstase was still one of the 20 best players in 1978. At Wimbledon, he again reached the quarter-finals, losing to Okker after defeating Roscoe Tanner.

During the remainder of his career, Năstase steadily declined and only occasionally defeated a good player, such as Johan Kriek in the third round of the 1982 U.S. Open.

Năstase retired from the tour in October 1985 at the age of 39 after playing in the tournament in Toulouse, although he did play the challenger tournament at Dijon in June 1988.

Various facts

Năstase was able to play every tennis shot except that his volley was comparatively weak. When Năstase was playing well, his speed around the court and superb anticipation compensated for his lack of an excellent volley. He was one of the only players to have an effective offensive and defensive lob off both his forehand and backhand. His major weakness was a periodic loss of concentration, especially during high pressure matches such as: (1) the 1972 Davis Cup final singles match against Stan Smith; and (2) the 1976 Wimbledon final.

Năstase and Jimmy Connors were good friends, often playing doubles together. They refused to join the Association of Tennis Professionals, preferring to play in a parallel tour organised by their long-time manager Bill Riordan.

Năstase was the first professional sports figure to sign an endorsement contract with Nike in 1972.

Năstase 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 Năstase in 28th place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.

Quotations

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, Năstase claimed that he slept with around 2,500 women. After hearing this, his wife said that she was happy to have conquered such a man.

Career statistics

Grand Slam finals

Singles

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1972	U.S. Open	Arthur Ashe	3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3
1973	French Open	Nikola Pilic	6-3, 6-3, 6-0

Runner-ups (3)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1971	French Open	Jan Kodeš	8-6, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
1972	Wimbledon	Stan Smith	4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
1976	Wimbledon (2nd)	Björn Borg	6-4, 6-2, 9-7

Doubles

Wins (3)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1970	French Open	Ion Ţiriac	Arthur Ashe Charlie Pasarell	6-2, 6-4, 6-3
1973	Wimbledon	Jimmy Connors	John Cooper Neale Fraser	3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 8-9(3), 6-1
1975	U.S. Open	Jimmy Connors	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6-4, 7-6

Runner-ups (2)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1966	French Championships	Ion Ţiriac	Clark Graebner Dennis Ralston	6-3, 6-3, 6-0
1973	French Open	Jimmy Connors	John Newcombe Tom Okker	6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4

Mixed doubles

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1970	Wimbledon	Rosemary Casals	Olga Morozova Alex Metreveli	6-3, 4-6, 9-7
1972	Wimbledon	Rosemary Casals	Evonne Goolagong Cawley Kim Warwick	6-4, 6-4

Runner-up (1)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1972	U.S. Open	Rosemary Casals	Margaret Smith Court Marty Riessen	6-3, 7-5

Masters finals

Singles

Wins (4)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1971	Paris	Stan Smith	5-7, 7-6, 6-3
1972	Barcelona	Stan Smith	6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3
1973	Boston	Tom Okker	6-3, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
1975	Stockholm	Björn Borg	6-2, 6-2, 6-1

Runner-up (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1974	Melbourne	Guillermo Vilas	7-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4

Singles titles (88)

Career official titles (57)

only 53 listed on ATP Website

* non-ATP listed events

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1970	*Salisbury, U.S.	Carpet	Cliff Richey	6-8, 3-6, 6-4, 9-7, 6-0
2.	1970	Rome, Italy	Clay	Jan Kodeš	6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 8-6
3.	1971	Richmond, U.S.	Hard (i)	Arthur Ashe	3-6, 6-2, 6-4
4.	1971	Hampton, U.S.	Hard (i)	Clark Graebner	7-5, 6-4, 7-6
5.	1971	Nice, France	Hard	Jan Kodeš	10-8, 11-9, 6-1
6.	1971	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Tom Okker	3-6, 8-6, 6-1, 6-1
7.	1971	Bastad, Sweden	Clay	Jan Leschly	6-7, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
8.	1971	Wembley, England	Hard (i)	Rod Laver	3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
9.	1971	Masters, Paris	Carpet	Stan Smith	5-7, 7-6, 6-3
10.	1972	Baltimore, U.S.	Hard	Jimmy Connors	1-6, 6-4, 7-6
11.	1972	Omaha, U.S.	Hard (i)	Ion Ţiriac	2-6, 6-1, 6-1
12.	1972	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Frantisek Pala	6-1, 6-0, 6-3
13.	1972	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Frantisek Pala	6-0, 6-0, 6-1
14.	1972	Nice, France	Clay	Jan Kodeš	6-0, 6-4, 6-3
15.	1972	Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	Jurgen Fassbender	6-0, 6-2, 6-1
16.	1972	Montreal, Canada	Clay	Andrew Pattison	6-4, 6-3
17.	1972	U.S. Open, New York	Grass	Arthur Ashe	3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3
18.	1972	South Orange, U.S.	Hard	Manuel Orantes	6-4, 6-4
19.	1972	Seattle, U.S.	Other	Tom Gorman	6-4, 3-6, 6-3
20.	1972	London, England	Carpet	Tom Gorman	6-4, 6-3
21.	1972	Masters, Barcelona	Carpet	Stan Smith	6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3
22.	1973	Omaha, U.S.	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	5-0, ret.
23.	1973	Calgary, Canada	Indoor	Paul Gerken	6-4, 7-6
24.	1973	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Adriano Panatta	6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
25.	1973	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Björn Borg	6-4, 6-1, 6-2
26.	1973	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Adriano Panatta	6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1
27.	1973	Florence, Italy	Clay	Adriano Panatta	6-3, 3-6, 0-6, 7-6, 6-4
28.	1973	French Open, Paris	Clay	Nikola Pilić	6-3, 6-3, 6-0
29.	1973	Rome, Italy	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6-1, 6-1, 6-1
30.	1973	London/Queen's Club, England	Grass	Roger Taylor	9-8, 6-3
31.	1973	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Roy Emerson	6-4, 6-3, 6-3
32.	1973	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Manuel Orantes	5-7, 6-3, 6-4
33.	1973	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Manuel Orantes	2-6, 6-1, 8-6, 6-4
34.	1973	Paris, France	Hard (i)	Stan Smith	4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
35.	1973	Masters, Boston	Carpet	Tom Okker	6-3, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
36.	1974	Richmond WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Tom Gorman	6-2, 6-3
37.	1974	Washington WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Tom Okker	6-3, 6-3
38.	1974	Bournemouth, England	Clay	Paolo Bertolucci	6-1, 6-3, 6-0
39.	1974	Cedar Grove, U.S.	Other	Juan Gisbert Sr.	6-4, 7-6
40.	1974	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Björn Borg	6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
41.	1974	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Manuel Orantes	8-6, 9-7, 6-3
42.	1975	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Juan Gisbert Sr.	6-1, 7-5, 6-2
43.	1975	Valencia, Spain	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6-3, 6-0
44.	1975	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Manuel Orantes	7-6, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3
45.	1975	South Orange, U.S.	Clay	Bob Hewitt	7-6, 6-1
46.	1975	Masters, Stockholm	Hard (i)	Björn Borg	6-2, 6-2, 6-1
47.	1976	Atlanta WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Jeff Borowiak	6-2, 6-4
48.	1976	Salisbury, U.S.	Carpet	Jimmy Connors	6-2, 6-3, 7-6
49.	1976	La Costa, U.S.	Hard	Jimmy Connors	4-6, 6-0, 6-1
50.	1976	Myrtle Beach - Pepsi Grand Slam	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6-4, 6-3
51.	1976	*Honolulu - WCT Avis Challenge Cup	Hard	Arthur Ashe	6-3, 1-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-1
52.	1976	South Orange, U.S.	Clay	Roscoe Tanner	6-4, 6-2
53.	1977	Mexico City WCT, Mexico	Hard	Wojtek Fibak	4-6, 6-2, 7-6
54.	1977	Aix en Provence, France	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	6-1, 7-5, ret.
55.	1977	*Las Vegas, U.S. - WCT Challenge Cup	Carpet	Jimmy Connors	3-6, 7-6, 6-4, 7-5
56.	1978	Miami, U.S.	Clay	Tom Gullikson	6-3, 7-5
57.	1978	*Montego Bay, Jamaica - WCT Challenge Cup	Hard	Peter Fleming	2-6, 5-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4

Other titles (31)

Here are Năstase's tournament wins that are not included in the statistics on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) website. The website is very incomplete from 1968 to 1970 and has some omissions for tournaments held since 1968.

Năstase won several tournaments during the early years of his career that were equivalent to the present day "challenger" tournaments. Because the term "challenger" started to be applied to second-rank tournaments in 1978, those tournaments are termed "minor tournaments" in the following list.

1967 - Cannes (minor tournament), Travemunde (minor tournament)
1968 - Viareggio, Bucharest (minor tournament), Bogota
1969 - Madras (minor tournament), New Delhi (minor tournament), Gauhati (minor tournament), Barranquilla, Travemunde, La Corogne, Budapest, Denver (according to Michel Sutter) or Ancona (according to Joe McCauley)
1970 - Napoli, Ancona
1971 - Omaha, Istanbul
1973 - Washington D.C., Istanbul, Kingston
1974 - Portland, World Invitational Tennis Classic (WITC) at Hilton Head (four-man invitational tournament, not to be confused with the CBS Classic tournament also played at Hilton Head)
1975 - WITC at Hilton Head (four-man invitational tournament), Helsinki, Dutch Round Robin (Haarlem Netherlands), Graz, Uppsala
1976 - Caracas (a four-man invitation tournament in October, not to be confused with the Caracas WCT in March that was won by Raúl Ramírez), Argentine Round Robin (invitational tournament)
1977 - Rotterdam World Star (invitational tournament)
1978 - Frankfurt (invitational tournament)

Singles runner-ups (35)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1969	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Nikola Pilić	6-4, 4-6, 6-1
2.	1970	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Tom Okker	4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4
3.	1971	Macon, USA	Hard	Željko Franulović	6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6
4.	1971	French Open, Paris	Clay	Jan Kodeš	8-6, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
5.	1971	Brussels, Belgium	Clay	Cliff Drysdale	6-0, 6-1, 7-5
6.	1971	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Željko Franulović	6-3, 7-6, 6-1
7.	1972	Salisbury, USA	Hard (i)	Stan Smith	5-7, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
8.	1972	Hampton, USA	Hard (i)	Stan Smith	6-3, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4
9.	1972	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Stan Smith	4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
10.	1972	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6-4, 6-3, 6-1
11.	1973	Hampton, USA	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3
12.	1973	Bournemouth, England	Clay	Adriano Panatta	6-8, 7-5, 6-3
13.	1973	London, England	Carpet	Tom Okker	6-3, 6-4
14.	1974	Toronto WCT, Canada	Carpet	Tom Okker	6-3, 6-4
15.	1974	Hampton, USA	Carpet	Jimmy Connors	6-4, 6-4
16.	1974	Monte Carlo WCT, Monaco	Clay	Andrew Pattison	5-7, 6-3, 6-4
17.	1974	Rome, Italy	Clay	Björn Borg	6-3, 6-4, 6-2
18.	1974	Masters, Melbourne	Grass	Guillermo Vilas	7-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
19.	1975	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet	Jiří Hřebec	6-1, 7-6, 2-6, 6-4
20.	1975	Tucson, USA	Hard	John Alexander	7-5, 6-2
21.	1975	Louisville, USA	Clay