Mats Wilander: A Fan's Retrospective

When Janis Ian sang softly that she had learned the truth at 17, she might have been strumming in perfect rhythm and purring into Mats Wilander’s ear. 

At 17, Wilander absorbed his truth the hard way.

That year he ravaged Roland Garros by upending second seed Ivan Lendl, fifth seed Vitas Gerulaitus, fourth seed Jose Louis Clerc, and third seed Guillermo Vilas in successive rounds to win the 1982 French Open Championship as an unseeded teenager. 

Remarkably, it was his first try...nothing is impossible at 17.

Sweden’s own Wilander became the youngest man ever to win a grand slam at age 17 years and nine months, a record later surpassed by Boris Becker and Michael Chang. 

Mats had been a pro for about a year.  During that fateful time Sweden’s Bjorn Borg, tennis’ stoic superstar, packed up his rackets and left the game for good. 

Prior to that, Wilander's fellow countryman Borg had won the last four French Open titles. 

The thought that this untested teenager could win against a well-seasoned and accomplished retinue of players was ridiculous. But win he did against the best clay-courters in the world—anyway, those who were left playing tennis.

Shocked and abandoned, Borg fans flocked to Wilander as their new savior, as the second coming of Bjorn, so to speak. The onslaught of such overwhelming and immediate fame stunned Wilander who had no wish to become Borg. 

He cut his blond hair short and distanced himself as best he could from the constant comparisons, spurning the media spotlight.

Mats was never big for center stage, but he was always big on center court.  Competition honed the edges of his razor sharp mind and his expertly tuned body.  He perfected both at 17, too.

When he stared across the net, Mats always paid particular attention to the body language of his next opponent, even during warm-up.  He continually sought an advantage. 

Better than most, Wilander exploited the weakness of his opposition while dictating play with his incredible foot speed, relentless energy, and consistency.

While Wilander was a good player, he had no immediate major gifts—no big serve, no extraordinary net play, no big strokes.  He played a two-handed back hand like many on tour. 

What propelled Wilander to the top of the men’s game was his ability to think, to plan, and to execute. 

He played with enormous consistency and within himself.  He was maddeningly patient, driving his opponents crazy as he wore them down.  He never grew tired.  He never quit.

In that regard, Nadal has followed in Wilander’s footsteps.  Their work ethics are identical.  What Wilander knew was that sooner or later, most players would twitch mentally and let him win.  True, too, of Nadal today.

Wilander’s ascension to the No. 1 spot took him seven years, from 1981 until 1988 when he finally wrestled the No. 1 ranking from Ivan Lendl who had held it in his iron grip for three years.

During Wilander’s seven-year climb he won seven grand slam championships—three Australian, three French, and one US Open.  He was 24 years of age when he won his last Grand Slam and reached the No. 1 ranking. 

He is one of three men today, including Jimmy Connors and Andre Agassi, holding grand slam titles on three different surfaces—hard court, clay, and grass.  That is because prior to 1988 the Australian Open was a grass court tournament.

His best finish at Wimbledon, however, was the quarterfinals.

1988 was the culmination of Wilander’s tennis journey.  He started the year winning the Australian Open by defeating the Aussie’s own Pat Cash in five sets. 

At the 1988 French Open Championship, Wilander took out Henri Leconte, a Frenchman, in the final.  He won in straight sets and missed only one first serve in the whole match.  It was a master clinic. 

At Wimbledon, however, Wilander met Miloslav Mecir in the quarterfinals.  No one ever wanted to face Mecir, especially Wilander.  The man quite literally did to Mats what Mats typically did to his opposition.  Mecir won 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.  It proved to be Mats’ only singles defeat in grand slams during 1988. 

Wilander met Lendl at the 1988 U.S. Open final and defeated him in five sets, taking approximately five hours and finally ending Lendl’s reign as the No. 1 player.  Wilander had won three of the four Majors during the 1988 campaign.  The accomplishment was enormous and the relief sublime.

After years of chasing the ranking, of clawing his way to the top, once Wilander scaled the mountain and reached the summit, the fire within him dimmed. 

There was nothing in front of him anymore holding him back, denying him the prize.  The challenge shifted—it often does when you are trying to hang on instead of pull ahead.

Mats Wilander held his No. 1 ranking for less than half a year.  Lendl snatched it back in January of 1989. 

In the professional ranks there is not much space between magnificent and mediocre—half a step slower, half a heartbeat more anxious, half an ounce of less intensity.  So you fall back, not understanding why, and most often you never find your way back to the top again.

So it was for Mats Wilander.  He never won another grand slam, he was never again ranked No. 1. and only briefly retained a top 10 ranking. 

But he never gave up on the game and he continued to coach and speak out, often more bluntly than was acceptable after his official retirement in 1996. 

As a lover and a keen observer of the game, Wilander abhors waste—wasted talent and wasted effort.  He retains his keen eye for spotting weakness and promotes economy of scale.  He’s become a critic.

He admires the rich and varied talents of modern players in the game today but decries the lack of spontaneity and ability to think and adjust—to alter your game as the situation dictates. 

Wilander’s recent criticism of Roger Federer’s play against Nadal at the French Open Championships has outraged Roger’s fans and perhaps the great man himself...but no one admires the gifts and the play of Federer more than Mats Wilander because from his perspective Federer represents the best in the game.

Subtlety has not been a gift accorded to Wilander—he is often brutally honest in his critiques, having learned the hard way that nothing is what it seems at 17. 

But any man who professes a love of the artistry of Bob Dylan and Neil Young has earned the right to speak his mind...

Photo by Clive Brunskill Getty Images