Mats Wilander, who turns 60 today, was one of the best tennis professionals in the world in the 1980s – until, after the best year of his career, he suddenly found himself unable to achieve anything at all.
Today’s tennis fans know him very well, or at least his face.
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Mats Wilander, who turns 60 today, is one of the most visible TV personalities in his sport. Since 2006, the Swede has been an expert on the English-language version of Eurosport at almost all Grand Slam tournaments; his knowledgeable and pointed analyses have accompanied the careers of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and now Carlos Alcaraz and Alex Zverev.
What younger fans are less aware of is that Wilander was once the best tennis player in the world – but then suffered a sudden and severe sporting decline at a young age.
Legendary duels with Boris Becker
Wilander, born on August 22, 1964 in the small Swedish town of Växjö, rose as quickly in 1982 as Boris Becker’s did three years later.
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As an unseeded 17-year-old, Wilander eliminated one favorite after another at the French Open – and after victories over Ivan Lendl, Vitas Gerulaitis, José Luis Clerc and Guillermo Vilas, he became the youngest Grand Slam tournament winner in history. (Vitas Gerulaitis: The tragic death of a tennis playboy)
One year after the last great triumph of Wilander’s compatriot Björn Borg, Sweden had a completely unexpected new tennis hero – who also won sympathy with a remarkable fair play gesture: after a controversial referee decision in his favor in the semi-final against Clerc, he insisted on a replay of the match point.
Wilander established himself among the world’s best, won six more Grand Slam tournaments and the Davis Cup three times with Sweden. The three major final duels with the German team led by Becker (lost in 1985, victorious in 1988 and 89) are legendary.
Wilander reached his personal peak with his fabulous season in 1988: In the same year that Steffi Graf won the Golden Slam, Wilander did not do much worse: he won for the third time in Melbourne and Paris and finally, after a five-set final battle against Ivan Lendl, also for the first time at the US Open.
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Mats Wilander was 24 years old, number 1 in the world and at the top. But after that (almost) nothing worked anymore.
An inglorious end to a career
Wilander was defeated in the second round of the Australian Open in 1989 by Indian Ramesh Krishnan – and as it turned out, it was not an accident, but the beginning of a decline from which Wilander could not find a way out.
At the end of the year, Wilander had not won a single tournament and had fallen to 12th place in the world rankings. A year later, he had fallen to 41st place. He did win one last tournament in 1990. Wilander himself said afterwards, however, that he only triumphed in Itaparica, Brazil, because his competitors on the picturesque island paradise had celebrated too much.
Wilander was not a force of nature like Becker, nor an artist like McEnroe: he was an all-rounder who did not have one decisive weapon. His success was based on hard work and ambition – and he himself admitted that both of these things waned once he reached the top.
“I had to defeat every opponent with tactics, energy and a high level of playfulness, I always had to work for it,” Wilander said in an interview with Ubitennis back: “At some point your head starts saying ‘I don’t want to throw myself in the dirt like that anymore’, then the defeats and the big crash begin.” The fact that Wilander’s father also became seriously ill in 1989 and died the following year contributed to Wilander losing focus.
The former top player remained active until 1996, but he stopped after a drug scandal made headlines the year before: At the 1995 French Open, a doping test found traces of cocaine on Wilander and his doubles partner Karel Novacek. Wilander claimed that the consumption was accidental, but got away with a three-month ban.
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Wilander’s place in tennis history
Wilander’s decline in athletic ability at a young age was not untypical for his time: Björn Borg also lost motivation at the age of 26 and ended his career early as a result; rival McEnroe won his last Grand Slam title at the age of 25 and never again reached the level of his early years. Boris Becker also won five of his six Grand Slam titles before he turned 24.
Experts believe that the stars of that time did not have the same longevity as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic as a result of the different conditions on the tour at that time: even top players did not have the large, expensive and highly professional environment that would get the most out of them, both mentally and physically, even in old age.
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Although Wilander’s sporting career was relatively short, his legacy is great: to date, he is one of only seven players (Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Alcaraz) to have won Grand Slam titles on all surfaces – the 1983 and 1984 Australian Opens were played on grass.
Wilander, who also works as a coach after his career, lives with his wife Sonya – a former model from South Africa – and their four children on an estate in the US ski resort of Sun Valley in Idaho.
