Ilie Năstase

ofessional sports figure to sign an endorsement contract with Nike, doing so in 1972. Năstase also wrote several novels in French in the 1980s, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991.

At the beginning of his career in 1966, Năstase traveled around the world competing with Ion Țiriac. They represented Romania in the Davis Cup competition, being runners up in 1969, 1971, and 1972. In singles, Năstase won his first tournament at Cannes on 16 April 1967. His first victories against top players happened in 1969 in Stockholm, where he defeated Tony Roche and Stan Smith. Năstase became one of the best players in 1970, with many experts ranking him as the sixth-best player in the world at that time, behind the Australians Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe, and Tony Roche and the American Arthur Ashe. Năstase's high ranking resulted from his success at the Italian Open in Rome and at the U.S. Indoor Open in Salisbury, Maryland. With Tiriac, Năstase won the men's doubles title at the French Open. In 1971, Năstase was the runner-up at the French Open, where he lost the final in four sets to Jan Kodeš. In December, Năstase won his first Masters Grand Prix title, finishing in front of Stan Smith in a round robin competition.

In 1972, at Wimbledon, Năstase narrowly lost to Stan Smith in an epic five-set final, one of the more exciting championship matches. He won the US Open in a five-set final over Ashe, despite trailing 2 sets to 1 and 4-2 in the fourth set. This tournament was the only event of the year in which all the best players participated. In the Davis Cup, Năstase was undefeated in singles until losing to Stan Smith in the final played on clay in his native Bucharest. In December at the year-end tour finals, Năstase defeated Smith, winning his second consecutive Masters Grand Prix title. ...

Source: Article "Ilie Năstase" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.