Hana Mandlíková

Mandlíková first came to the tennis world's attention as a junior player. In 1978, the International Tennis Federation launched the world junior rankings, and Mandlíková became the first ever female world No. 1 junior player.

Mandlíková captured her first Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open in 1980, defeating Wendy Turnbull in straight sets in the final.[6] Her second came a year later at the French Open with straight-sets wins over Chris Evert in the semifinals and West German left-hander Sylvia Hanika in the final. Mandlíková was also the runner-up at the US Open in 1980 and 1982 and at Wimbledon in 1981, losing in all three finals to Evert. From the US Open 1980 through to Wimbledon 1981, she made four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals. Mandlikova ended Chris Evert's 72 match-win streak on clay at the 1981 French Open.

In 1983, Mandlíková led Czechoslovakia to the first of three consecutive Fed Cup titles. The following year she defeated Martina Navratilova in three sets in the final at Oakland, California, ending Navratilova's 54-match winning streak, two short of tying the record held by Evert at the time.[3] Navratilova then embarked on a 74-match winning streak, a record that still stands.

In 1985, Mandlíková became the first woman since Tracy Austin to beat both Evert and Navratilova in the same tournament when she beat the top-seeded Evert in the semifinals and then the second-seeded Navratilova in the three-set final at the US Open. This win made her only the third woman, after Evert and Navratilova, to win Grand Slam titles on grass, clay and hard courts. Since then, only three other women have achieved this feat: Steffi Graf, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. The following year, Mandlíková teamed with Turnbull to win the women's doubles title at the WTA Tour Championships. In doing so, they defeated the top two teams of the time, Navratilova and Pam Shriver in the semifinals and Claudia Kohde-Kilsch and Helena Suková in the final. Mandlíková and Turnbull were also runners-up to Navratilova and Shriver at Wimbledon and the US Open in 1986. Mandlíková also lost in the Wimbledon singles final that year to Navratilova. Another high point of Mandlíková's summer that year was a win over Steffi Graf in the quarterfinals of the French Open. Graf had won four titles that season on clay with victories over Mandlíková, Evert, Navratilova, Kohde Kilsch, and Gabriela Sabatini, and held a match point in the second set of their quarterfinal before Mandlíková stopped another win streak, as Graf had won her previous 23 matches that year.

In 1987, Mandlíková won her fourth and final Grand Slam singles title when she beat Navratilova in straight sets in the final of the Australian Open.[6][7] With this victory, she once again ended a Navratilova win streak, this time after 56 matches.

Mandlikova attained Australian citizenship in 1988,[8] and her last consistent performance in a Grand Slam event was at the 1988 Australian Open, where, as the defending champion, she reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Steffi Graf. 1988 also saw her divorced from Sedlak. Her injury problems saw her year-end ranking for 1988 drop to 29, her lowest since 1978. She ended the 1989 season ranked 14 in the world. Mandlíková and Navratilova teamed in 1989 to win the US Open women's doubles title, defeating Shriver and Mary Joe Fernández in the final.

She retired from the professional tennis tour in 1990 at age 28, having won 27 singles and 19 doubles titles. Since retiring from the tour, she has become a successful tennis coach. She coached Jana Novotná for nine years (1990–99), during which time Novotná won Wimbledon and reached the world No. 2 ranking. Mandlíková has also captained the Czech Republic's Fed Cup team.

Mandlíková is one of 13 women during the open era to have reached the singles final of all four Grand Slam tournaments. She is one of six women who have won Grand Slam singles titles on clay, grass, and hard courts, with the others being Graf, Navratilova, Evert, Serena Williams and Sharapova.

During her professional career Mandlíková was coached by former tennis player Betty Stöve.[3][9][10] Mandlíková was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1994 and received the Hall of Fame ring in 2017.[6]