Ilie Năstase

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Ilie Năstase (born July 19, 1946 in Bucharest) was a Romanian professional tennis player and one of the top players of 1970s, being twice number one in 1972 and 1973.

Among his 57 singles titles are the US Open in 1972 and the French Open in 1973, and in doubles he won at Wimbledon in 1973, the French Open in 1970 and the US Open in 1975. He was runner-up in the Wimbledon singles competition in 1972, playing in a classic men's final against Stan Smith. Nastase was famous for his good humour on court, but also had a reputation for gamesmanship, and acquired the nickname "Nasty" after several incidents where his temperament got the better of him.

One example of his pranks was switching his racket with the net of a ballpicker and ask his opponent to play on. Even though the opponents serve would stay in the ballipeckers net, the audience would laugh hard, take Ilies side while the opponent would be left in the shadows. The referees would often scratch their head.

Nastase's greatest victory was arguably his 6-3,3-6,6-7,6-4,6-3 against Arthur Ashe in the '72 U.S. Open final. Earlier that season, he lost a five set final at Wimbledon to Stan Smith 4-6,6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 (netting a high backhand volley at match point). Smith and Nastase were polar opposites in terms of temperament, but had unusually cordial personal relations.

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

1 Quotations
2 Grand Slam finals
- 2.1 Wins (2)
- 2.2 Runner-ups (3)
3 Singles titles (57)
4 External links

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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 Ilie Nastase mentioned that he slept with around 2500 women. After hearing this, his wife said that she is happy to have conquered such a man.

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Grand Slam finals

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Wins (2)

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

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Runner-ups (3)

Year   Championship             Opponent in Final           Score in Final
1971   French Open              Jan Kodes                   6-8, 2-6, 6-2, 5-7 
1972   Wimbledon                Stan Smith                  4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
1976   Wimbledon                Bjorn Borg                  6-4, 6-2, 9-7

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Singles titles (57)

1970
- Rome

1971
- Richmond, Hampton, Nice, Monte Carlo, Bastad, Wembley, Masters

1972
- Baltimore, Omaha, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Nice, Dusseldorf, Montreal, US Open (Grass), South Orange, Seattle, London, Masters

1973
- Omaha, Barcelona, Calgary, Monte Carlo WCT, Florence, Rome, French Open, Queens, Gstaad, Cincinnati, Madrid, Barcelona-2, Paris Indoor, Masters