Ivan Lendl: Best-Ever ATP Shots! 

He achieved so much and people barely ever refer to him or his accomplishments. He's somehow very underrated.

The most under celebration played of all time. This man is a LEGEND.

Most underrated player ever. One of the best of all times, with winning record against much younger Agassi and Courier, played and won against 4 generations of champions, underrated net play, all court. Unbeatable on indoor carpet, equally strong on all surfaces, he could have achieved even more if he had not rub against the most amazing players of all time in their best days. Fantastic player

That dude was so badass and totally inspired me as a kid

He was one of my favourite tennis players. He played very elegantly, quiet, very technical tennis. Legend.

Lendl transformed the sport in the early ‘80s with his systematic approach to training. Nutrition, weightlifting and early-morning aerobics became a standard part of the tennis-player’s regimen, and no detail was too small to consider. Before Lendl, it was unthinkable that a player would switch racquets with every ball change, in case the properties of the frame had altered during those nine games. After Lendl, it became standard practice.

Lendl is the Pioneer modern Tennis

His backhand is really something else, slice on clay, power on grass and hardcourt, all kinds of variations

Just imagine Lendl's forehand with today's racquets, strings, nutrition, strength & conditioning training... 🤯

God I absolutely loved his backhand ! Very underrated nowadays

One of the best players of all time

I miss his play very much. Great player and person. Real legend.

Such a legend, a master, ferocious ground strokes, vicious running forehand, and a true giant of the game who transformed it forever into power hitting

Probably the most feared tennis player of the mid to late 80’s

I starded playing tennis cause of Ivan Lendl, and I still love him 💋💋💋💋💋💋💘💘💘💘😍😍😍😍👍👍👍👍👍👍❤❤❤❤💖💖💖💖💖💖

I loved Lendl, his stoic approach, always made me crack up during his misunderstood interviews. Amazing talent.

no one had such devastating backhand passes like Lendl.

The most underrated player

His most recent interviews shows how above the average this guy was, Inteligent, sarcastis and with a Deep understanding of the game! I hated him when i was young (Teenager´s dumbness), today and forever I consider him a genius...

Happy Birthday Ivan Lendl and wishing you many more happy and healthy birthdays.

The father of modern tennis. He would have had another several good years competing with the young guns if it were not for chronic spine problems forcing him to retire.

Ivan was very adaptable in his approach. He would overpower McEnroe with big serves, returns, and groundstrokes. Against Connors, he would soft ball to Jimmy's forehand and elicit errors. On grass he would serve and volley and on clay he would roll topspin groundstokes. He was at his best on hard courts where his natural power would be rewarded.

In my wildest tennis fantasies only Federer and Lendl possess all the hits I'd dream to have myself. Those two are the kings of clean and elegant techniques

the greatest player of all times.

Ivan Lendl is a terrific player.His shot making is unbelievable, especially the forehand.He won 94 titles including 8 grandslams and 5 masters.Press was intially was not supportive to him as the entire attention was on Borg, Connors and McEnroe in early eighties.But Lendl was such a dedicated, determined,hard working and self disciplined player he rose to the top position and held it for 270 weeks which was a record during those days and was broken by Federer and later on by Diojkovic.He won every tournament except Wimbeldon ( runner up twice). People have highlighted it as a big failure.But McEnroe, Connors could not win French open and Borg could not win US Open and their failures were not highlighted by the press.Taking the victories of grandslams,ATP tournaments,year ending masters and number of weeks spend as number 1 he is all time top 10 player(7 the position)after Federer, Diojkovic,Nadal, Sampras,Borg,Laver,Lendl, McEnroe,Agassi, Connors..

This actually underrepresents Lendl as only tournaments since 1990 are considered, that's why it's mostly the same courts.

One of the best of all time. Fourth on the list of total weeks nr 1, after Djokovic, Federer and Sampras.

Lendl was an awesome player. His greatest strength was that his topspin backhand was as lethal as his forehand, so he had more weapons than most of his opponents.

Ivan lendl is the father of modern tennis.

Huh - basically no endless grunting, no show-boating after making shots, no constant gesturing to the player's box/coach. Nice.

Growing up, I idolized this man. Lendl had a very unique grip set for his serve and what made him so powerful in his baseline game was his ability to twist the wrist upon impact. He was dangerous anywhere on the court, and one of the few players I've ever seen play no man's land like it didn't exist.

I didnot remember he was THAT GOOD OMG !!!!

His running forehand shots up the line were lethal, and so cool to watch. He used more wrist flicking than a lot of guys which helped him hit shots like that. He was not as well liked b/c he always seemed super serious, but man was that guy a beast of a player who could get to so many balls that other guys could not. Legend.

What a machine he was!

It's amazing to see that it's mainly coming from 1991 when Lendl was at the end of his career . And he never played so well. But the young generation (Agassi/Sampras/Courier/Chang...) pushed very hard at this time. Lendl was the most dominant player of the 1980's and he achieved his best level in the 1990's

Ivan Lendle got me watching tennis as a little boy. It really surprises me how little he is mentioned in the sport these days considering his legacy.

I really wish he would have won that 89 US Open (or the 88) and the 87 Wimbledon. That would have cemented his legacy.

This is best Czech Republic tennis player!!!

My dad’s favourite player, ever...

Lendl's form on both his forehand and backhand were picture perfect. His footwork on his backhand could be a little dodgy sometimes and may have contributed to the eventual back problems that drove him from the game, regardless, his technique was so good that Vic Braden used vids of Lendl's hitting as teaching tools at his tennis academy. Lendl's relative popularity (he was popular in Europe) was mostly an American thing. Connors and McEnroe would relentlessly denigrate Lendl, insults that the American media was quick to parrot while turning a blind eye to the truly appalling behavior of Connors and McEnroe. Modern tennis is indebted to Ivan Lendl and is a better game because of him. Cheers!

My all-time favorite player. Ivan Lendl (so fun to watch)

An athlete years ahead of his time , the ultimate professional and competitor with the best backhand in tennis

He was a tennis player of the future

My all time tennis hero.

I saw lendl play as a teenager, just awesome

Magnifique joueur Ivan Lendl ! Il avait tous les coups du tennis dans sa raquette. Il avait la puissance, l'accélération, le touché de ball, le déplacement... Il préfigurait à lui tout seul les futurs champions Federer-Nadal-Djokovic !!

Wow, no less brilliant than the shots of the best we see today. And to think that the rackets were much heavier then etc.

My All-time Tennisidol. Congratulation to you.

He is still so understated! Was my favorite at the time.One of the all-time greats. Also, I think that that tennis era was much stronger and competitive than today's-when Lendl started playing McEnroe was still in his prime,Connors played, and then Becker, Edberg,Wilander and so on

The Legend of my Youth! Ivan!

i'm a left handed player, but my technical reference (passing shot, service) always been Ivan Lendl very fast legs, and a perfect grip variation in any position... always nice to see

00:22 was one of the best backhand smacks ever. absolutely vicious sound effect...

American media was jealous of his badassness

he was terrifying, a passing shot machine, won everything

Those days tennis very difficult to compare with current days, Ivan the greatest legend of all time

A big fan of Lendl, laser-sharp forehand and backhand, mean cool demeanor, one hell of a top player.

I love Lendl to this day ❤️🥰

He absolutely RIPPED backhands.

His running forehand and backhands where he'd hit around the ball like a side topspin and the ball would curve out and then curve back in. Towards the end of his career his only weakness was age.

The best backhand stroke ever. Lendl could rip it faster than his forehand; which was also very good.

L'un des joueurs les plus sous-estimés de tous les temps. Loin d'être mon joueur favori durant cette époque et pourtant avec le recul des ans, peut-être le précurseur du tennis moderne, athlète à la fois puissant, véloce et endurant, avec un jeu de fond de court d'une solidité quasi sans faille, une des meilleures premières balles du circuit , et une qualité de volée certes très moyenne mais loin d'être catastrophique non plus. Premier joueur à s'entourer d'un staff pléthorique (coach, entraîneur physique, nutritionniste), il n'aura eu de cesse de gommer ses faiblesses techniques de ses débuts et de devenir à force de travail acharné le meilleur athlète de ce sport dans les années 80. Hélas pour lui, il n'aura pu malgré tous ses efforts (avec notamment l'impasse sur les Roland-Garros 89 et 90) aller conquérir son Graal personnel, Wimbledon, l'ultime tournoi du Grand Chelem qui manque à son immense palmarès. Affligé d'une fébrilité parfois dramatique dans les moments cruciaux des grandes finales, il sera souvent passé à côté de certains titres où il faisait pourtant figure de grandissime favori, je pense notamment à ses deux finales de l'US Open perdues en 82 et 83 face à Connors, une attitude frileuse qui en ces occasions lui avait valu de la part de son peu charitable adversaire le surnom de "chicken". Rarement cité parmi les meilleurs joueurs de l'histoire, j'en garde pour ma part un souvenir marquant d'un champion impressionnant à son top, quasiment injouable lorsqu'il faisait la course en tête et qui aura traversé plusieurs générations de joueurs sans avoir jamais semblé dépassé.

His running down the line backhand was money

1:06 that backhand speed :O

Ivan Lendl appeared in the US Open final eight consecutive years in the 1980s. That's still a record in 2024. Living legend.

Still love watching Lendl. There is reason he was number one for the longest duration.

Lendl took us into the modern era of power tennis from the baseline that is built primarily around the forehand, but he had a great backhand also.

I loved Lendl’s playing and his icy cold look.

I recognised a lot of federer style shots in lendl’s best plays

Happy Birthday Ivan !!!

Ivan lendl-my childhood hero

Definately one of the guys I tried to model my game around. Took fitness to a new level at the time.

I've always liked and respected Lendl

One of the most graceful players ever

When Tennis was still Tennis

Wow...my first tennis player fixation. Could it be said he is the originator of the heavy heavy groundstroke game...and he was heavy in both fore and bakchand? He also was the first to put on emphasis on physical training (weights and technology). From a country that ceased to exist (Cheloskovakia along with Martina Navratilova) to become an US citizen Connecticut. Seeing these highlights, he hit the ball hard.

I stopped watching Tennis when this guy left. Hail the GOAT!!

Dudes got some canons wow

'Life story that stood the test of time, bravo, the Lendl' s.

I could only imagine how dominant he would be in today's game with today's racquets. He forever transformed the way tennis would be played but didn't get to enjoy the technology benefits that his own influence created.

I was a ball boy for Lendyl vs. Becker in 1982 Indianapolis Clay Court!

Úžasný hráč 👍👍👍

I never held him in the highest esteem when I watched him. I comdered him robotic boring etc. Years later I consider him to be the greatest player ever. He revolutionised tennis. When I watch him now it's pure technical and power brilliance. Clean game. Clean hitting. Simgrl handled backhand, just like game should be played. Bravo

My favorite player!

Brilliant player loved him

Amazing that despite his long career, Lendl's best ever ATP shots all occurred in four or five tournaments ...

He was unloved at the time because of his personality. I firstly got interested into him because of that and then I loved him because his tennis. He worked hard to change his mindset so he became the boss of his generation.

His raquet might have been just a bit too small for bumpy men's wimbledon court. BUT he won there as a junior, in my view that counts too! One of my all time favorite players.

The first true modern power baseliner and consummate professional who left no stone unturned to maximize his potential. Phenomenal forehand, backhand, passing shots, ROS..where are the points with becker from masters 1988??

Who'd have thought Lendl would do all his best ever shots at the same 3 tournaments 🙄

he has that easy power on the forehand

I still miis him .... loved to see him playing....

Great player.

Vraiment l un des plus grands ! Quand je pense que je l'aimais pas enfant 😏

King Ivan!!

That Belgium girl also had a one handed backhand, amazing.

Amazing lvan!

Lendl is the first GOAT of the modern tennis!

Best backhand ever! Single handed like true players do!

I loved him so much

There was no shame in being passed by Lendl, after all Lendl was second only to the gods.