January KODES

Background

KODES, January was born on March 1, 1946 in Prague. Son of January KodeS and Vlasta Richterova-KodeSovA.

Education

College, of Economics, Prague.

Career

Kodeš beat home favorite Roger Taylor in the semifinals in five sets and Alex Metreveli in the final in three straight sets. Kodeš never played the Australian Open but he was twice the runner-up at the United States Open, in 1971, losing to Stan Smith, and 1973 when he lost in five sets to John Newcombe. Kodeš reached his highest tour ranking of World Number.

4 in September 1973.

He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1990. He is an economics graduate of the Prague University.

Achievements

• Kodeš"s greatest success was achieved on the clay courts of the French Open played at the Stade Roland Garros. He won the singles title there in 1970, beating Željko Franulović in the final in straight sets, and again in 1971, this time defeating Ilie Năstase in the final in four sets. He also won Wimbledon on grass in 1973, although 13 of the top 16 players, and 81 players in total, did not play the tournament that year because of a boycott over the banning from Wimbledon of Nikola Pilić by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF). During his career, he won a total of eight top-level singles titles and 17 doubles titles. In 2013 he received the Czechoslovakian fair play award from the Czechoslovakian Olympic Committee.

Membership

Czechoslovak Davis Cup Team 1964-1980, inch 1975 (runners-up), 1980 (winners), non-playing Captain 1982-1987. Czechoslovak Tennis Association (CTA), representative for Czechoslovakia on international bodies including International Tennis Federation and ETA since 1982.

Interests

• Football, other sports, stamp collecting, films.

Connections

Married Lenka RosslerovaKodeSova in 1967 (divorced in 1988).

Father:

January KodeS

Mother:

Vlasta Richterova-KodeSovA

Spouse:

Lenka RosslerovaKodeSova