Jan Kodeš

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Czech tennis player (born 1946)

title: "Jan Kodeš" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["czech-male-tennis-players", "czechoslovak-male-tennis-players", "french-open-champions", "tennis-players-from-prague", "international-tennis-hall-of-fame-inductees", "wimbledon-champions", "1946-births", "living-people", "grand-slam-(tennis)-champions-in-men's-singles"] description: "Czech tennis player (born 1946)" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Kodeš" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Czech tennis player (born 1946) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox tennis biography"]

Field	Value
name	Jan Kodeš
image	Jan Kodeš.JPG
country
residence	Prague, Czech Republic
birth_date
birth_place	Prague, Czechoslovakia
(now Czech Republic)
height
turnedpro	1968 (amateur from 1966)
retired	1983
plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
careerprizemoney	$693,197
tennishofyear	1990
tennishofid	jan-kodes
singlesrecord	in pre Open-Era & Open Era
singlestitles	9
highestsinglesranking	No. 5 (13 September 1973)
FrenchOpenresult	W (1970, 1971)
Wimbledonresult	W (1973)
USOpenresult	F (1971, 1973)
Othertournaments	yes
MastersCupresult	RR (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973)
WCTFinalsresult	SF (1974)
doublesrecord	313-183
doublestitles	17
highestdoublesranking	No. 12 (21 May 1979)
FrenchOpenDoublesresult	F (1977)
::

|name = Jan Kodeš |image = Jan Kodeš.JPG |country = |residence = Prague, Czech Republic |birth_date = |birth_place = Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) |height = |turnedpro = 1968 (amateur from 1966) |retired = 1983 |plays = Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |careerprizemoney = $693,197 |tennishofyear = 1990 |tennishofid = jan-kodes |singlesrecord = in pre Open-Era & Open Era |singlestitles = 9 |highestsinglesranking = No. 5 (13 September 1973) |FrenchOpenresult = W (1970, 1971) |Wimbledonresult = W (1973) |USOpenresult = F (1971, 1973) |Othertournaments = yes |MastersCupresult = RR (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973) |WCTFinalsresult = SF (1974) |doublesrecord = 313-183 |doublestitles = 17 |highestdoublesranking = No. 12 (21 May 1979) |FrenchOpenDoublesresult = F (1977)}}

Jan Kodeš (born 1 March 1946) is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time major singles champion, Kodeš was one of the premier players in the early 1970s.

Kodeš's greatest success was achieved on the clay courts of the French Open. He won the singles title in 1970 French Open beating Željko Franulović in straight sets in the final. He won the 1971 French Open over Ilie Năstase in the final in four sets, his "tireless running and gifted anticipation" proving too much for the Romanian. He also won Wimbledon on grass courts in 1973, beating Alex Metreveli in the final in straight sets, although the tournament was largely boycotted by top players that year in a show of solidarity over the ban of Nikola Pilić by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF).

Kodeš never played at the Australian Open, but was twice the runner-up at the US Open, in 1971 to Stan Smith and 1973 to John Newcombe. Kodeš reached his highest ATP ranking of world No. 5 in September 1973. During the Open Era, he won nine top-level singles titles and 17 doubles titles.

Kodeš was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2013, he received the Czech Fair Play Award from the Czech Olympic Committee. He is an economics graduate of the Prague University.

Career statistics

The table for open era finals below does not include victories and final participation in tournaments from 1966 to 1969, such as victories in international championships and tournaments in Santiago, Viña del Mar, Sao Paulo, Lyon, Cannes, Luxembourg, St. Petersburg (USA), Beirut, Zaragoza, Split, Varna, Plovdiv, Paris (Racing Club) and three times in the MM CSSR in Bratislava. In doubles with Javorsky in Bratislava, then with Jan Kukal, he won tournaments in Lyon, Hilversum, Macon (USA), Pittsburgh, Caracas, Istanbul, Bratislava, Beirut and Split. With Pala in Luxembourg and Zaragoza. With Rodriguez in Viña del Mar, Chile. In all these tournaments or championships, the starting field was always at least 32 players, like today's ATP tour tournaments, but they are not listed in the ATP Tour yearbooks because the ATP Tour did not exist at that time and did not publish publications.

In the book written by Petr Kolar and Jan Kodes, "A Journey to Glory from behind the Iron Curtain", there are 25 singles wins, 27 appearances in finals, 32 doubles wins and 29 appearances in doubles finals. He participated in the first Grand Prix "Masters" tournaments (now ATP Finals) from 1970-1974 (Tokyo 1970, Paris 1971, Barcelona 1972, Boston 1973 and Dallas 1974).

Grand Slam finals: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)

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Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1970	French Open	Clay	YUG Željko Franulović	6–2, 6–4, 6–0
Win	1971	French Open (2)	Clay	ROU Ilie Năstase	8–6, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5
Loss	1971	US Open	Grass	USA Stan Smith	6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–7(3–5)
Win	1973	Wimbledon	Grass	Soviet Union Alex Metreveli	6–1, 9–8(7–5), 6–3
Loss	1973	US Open (2)	Grass	AUS John Newcombe	4–6, 6–1, 6–4, 2–6, 3–6
::

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

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Tournament	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	SR	W–L	Win %
Australian Open	Absent	0 / 0	0–0	–
French Open	2R	4R	1R	4R	W	W	QF	QF	4R	4R	3R	4R	3R	2R	2R	1R	2 / 16	43–13	76.79
Wimbledon	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	1R	SF	W	QF	2R	A	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	1 / 15	19–14	57.58
US Open	A	A	A	2R	A	F	2R	F	4R	4R	QF	3R	A	2R	A	A	0 / 9	27–9	75.00
::

1968 French Open counts as 0 wins, 0 losses. Fernando Gentil received a walkover in the first round, after Kodeš withdrew, does not count as a Kodeš loss (nor a Gentil win).

Open era finals

Singles (9 titles, 19 runner-ups)

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Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	1970	St. Petersburg, U.S.	Clay	MEX Joaquín Loyo-Mayo	6–3, 6–3, 6–3
Win	2.	1970	French Open, Paris	Clay	YUG Željko Franulović	6–2, 6–4, 6–0
Loss	1.	1970	Rome, Italy	Clay	ROU Ilie Năstase	3–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–8
Loss	2.	1971	Nice, France	Clay	ROU Ilie Năstase	8–10, 9–11, 1–6
Win	3.	1971	Catania, Italy	Clay	FRA Georges Goven	6–3, 6–0, 6–2
Loss	3.	1971	Rome WCT, Italy	Clay	AUS Rod Laver	5–7, 3–6, 3–6
Win	4.	1971	French Open, Paris	Clay	ROU Ilie Năstase	8–6, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5
Loss	4.	1971	US Open, New York	Grass	USA Stan Smith	6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–7
Loss	5.	1971	Stockholm WCT, Sweden	Hard (i)	USA Arthur Ashe	1–6, 6–3, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6
Loss	6.	1972	Nice, France	Clay	ROU Ilie Năstase	0–6, 4–6, 3–6
Loss	7.	1972	Rome, Italy	Clay	ESP Manuel Orantes	6–4, 1–6, 5–7, 2–6
Win	5.	1972	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	ESP Manuel Orantes	6–3, 6–2, 6–3
Win	6.	1973	Cologne, West Germany	Carpet (i)	NZL Brian Fairlie	6–1, 6–3, 6–1
Loss	8.	1973	Vancouver, Canada	Carpet (i)	USA Tom Gorman	6–3, 2–6, 5–7
Win	7.	1973	Wimbledon, London	Grass	URS Alex Metreveli	6–1, 9–8, 6–3
Loss	9.	1973	US Open, New York	Grass	AUS John Newcombe	4–6, 6–1, 6–4, 2–6, 3–6
Loss	10.	1973	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Carpet (i)	TCH Jiří Hřebec	6–4, 1–6, 6–3, 0–6, 5–7
Loss	11.	1974	Acapulco, Mexico	Carpet (i)	NED Tom Okker	2–6, 6–7
Loss	12.	1975	Hampton, U.S.	Carpet (i)	USA Jimmy Connors	6–3, 3–6, 0–6
Loss	13.	1975	Hamburg, West Germany	Clay	ESP Manuel Orantes	6–3, 2–6, 2–6, 6–4, 1–6
Loss	14.	1975	Düsseldorf, West Germany	Clay	CHI Jaime Fillol	4–6, 6–1, 0–6, 5–7
Loss	15.	1975	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	ITA Adriano Panatta	6–2, 2–6, 5–7, 4–6
Win	8.	1975	Madrid, Spain	Clay	ITA Adriano Panatta	6–2, 3–6, 7–6, 6–2
Win	9.	1976	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet (i)	TCH Jiří Hřebec	6–4, 6–2, 6–3
Loss	16.	1976	Nice, France	Clay	ITA Corrado Barazzutti	2–6, 6–2, 7–5, 6–7, 6–8
Loss	17.	1976	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	ESP Manuel Orantes	6–7, 2–6, 6–7
Loss	18.	1976	Aviles, Spain	Clay	YUG Željko Franulović	6–7, 1–6, 7–5, 6–7
Loss	19.	1977	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	ARG Guillermo Vilas	7–5, 2–6, 6–4, 3–6, 2–6
::

Doubles (17 titles, 24 runner-ups)

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Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents
Loss	1.	1970	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	YUG Željko Franulović	AUS Dick Crealy
AUS Allan Stone	2–6, 6–2, 12–12 ret.
Loss	2.	1970	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	YUG Željko Franulović	AUS John Alexander
AUS Phil Dent	8–10, 2–6, 4–6
Loss	3.	1970	Phoenix, U.S.	Hard	USA Charlie Pasarell	AUS Dick Crealy
AUS Ray Ruffels	6–7, 3–6
Loss	4.	1970	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	YUG Željko Franulović	AUS Bob Carmichael
AUS Ray Ruffels	5–7, 2–6, 7–5, 7–6, 3–6
Loss	5.	1971	Macon, U.S.	Carpet	YUG Željko Franulović	USA Clark Graebner
BRA Thomaz Koch	3–6, 6–7
Loss	6.	1971	Catania, Italy	Clay	TCH Jan Kukal	FRA Pierre Barthès
FRA François Jauffret	6–7, 6–2, 3–6
Win	1.	1971	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	YUG Željko Franulović	USA Clark Graebner
USA Erik van Dillen	7–6, 5–7, 6–3
Win	2.	1972	Nice, France	Clay	USA Stan Smith	RSA Frew McMillan
ROU Ilie Năstase	6–3, 3–6, 7–5
Win	3.	1972	Hamburg, West Germany	Clay	ROU Ilie Năstase	RSA Bob Hewitt
ROU Ion Țiriac	4–6, 6–0, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2
Loss	7.	1972	Montreal, Canada	Clay	TCH Jan Kukal	ROU Ilie Năstase
ROU Ion Țiriac	6–7, 3–6
Win	4.	1973	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	TCH Vladimír Zedník	USA Jimmy Connors
ROU Ilie Năstase	6–2, 6–4
Win	5.	1973	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Mateflex	TCH Vladimír Zedník	HUN Róbert Machán
HUN Balázs Taróczy	7–6, 7–6
Win	6.	1974	Palm Desert, U.S.	Hard	TCH Vladimír Zedník	USA Raymond Moore
NZL Onny Parun	6–4, 6–4
Win	7.	1974	Düsseldorf, West Germany	Clay	TCH Jiří Hřebec	JPN Kenichi Hirai
JPN Toshiro Sakai	6–1, 6–4
Loss	8.	1975	Salisbury, U.S.	Carpet	GBR Roger Taylor	USA Jimmy Connors
ROU Ilie Năstase	6–7, 2–6
Win	8.	1975	Munich, West Germany	Clay	POL Wojciech Fibak	TCH Milan Holeček
FRG Karl Meiler	7–5, 6–3
Loss	9.	1975	Hamburg, West Germany	Clay	POL Wojciech Fibak	ESP Juan Gisbert Sr.
ESP Manuel Orantes	3–6, 6–7
Win	9.	1975	Düsseldorf, West Germany	Clay	FRA François Jauffret	FRG Harald Elschenbroich
AUT Hans Kary	6–2, 6–3
Loss	10.	1975	Montreal, Canada	Hard	ROU Ilie Năstase	RSA Cliff Drysdale
RSA Raymond Moore	4–6, 7–5, 6–7
Win	10.	1975	Madrid, Spain	Clay	ROU Ilie Năstase	ESP Juan Gisbert Sr.
ESP Manuel Orantes	6–4, 3–6, 9–7
Win	11.	1976	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	TCH Jiří Hřebec	FRG Jürgen Fassbender
FRG Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	6–7, 6–2, 6–4
Loss	12.	1977	Baltimore, U.S.	Carpet	AUS Ross Case	ROU Ion Țiriac
ARG Guillermo Vilas	3–6, 7–6, 4–6
Win	12.	1977	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	FRA François Jauffret	POL Wojciech Fibak
NED Tom Okker	2–6, 6–3, 6–2
Loss	13.	1977	French Open, Paris	Clay	POL Wojciech Fibak	USA Brian Gottfried
MEX Raúl Ramírez	6–7, 6–4, 3–6, 4–6
Win	13.	1977	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	POL Wojciech Fibak	RSA Bob Hewitt
RSA Frew McMillan	6–0, 6–4
Loss	14.	1977	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	POL Wojciech Fibak	RSA Bob Hewitt
RSA Frew McMillan	4–6, 3–6
Loss	15.	1977	Oviedo, Spain	Carpet	MEX Raúl Ramírez	USA Fred McNair
USA Sherwood Stewart	3–6, 1–6
Loss	16.	1978	Springfield, U.S.	Carpet	USA Marty Riessen	USA Robert Lutz
USA Stan Smith	3–6, 3–6
Loss	17.	1978	Nice, France	Clay	TCH Tomáš Šmíd	FRA Patrice Dominguez
FRA François Jauffret	4–6, 0–6
Loss	18.	1978	Rome, Italy	Clay	TCH Tomáš Šmíd	PAR Víctor Pecci
CHI Belus Prajoux	7–6, 6–7, 1–6
Win	14.	1978	Stuttgart, West Germany	Clay	TCH Tomáš Šmíd	BRA Carlos Kirmayr
CHI Belus Prajoux	6–3, 7–6
Loss	19.	1978	Aix-en-Provence, France	Clay	TCH Tomáš Šmíd	ROU Ion Țiriac
ARG Guillermo Vilas	6–7, 1–6
Win	15.	1978	Madrid, Spain	Clay	POL Wojciech Fibak	TCH Pavel Složil
TCH Tomáš Šmíd	6–7, 6–1, 6–2
Win	16.	1979	Hamburg, West Germany	Clay	TCH Tomáš Šmíd	AUS Mark Edmondson
AUS John Marks	6–3, 6–1, 7–6
Loss	20.	1979	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	TCH Tomáš Šmíd	NED Tom Okker
HUN Balázs Taróczy	1–6, 3–6
Loss	21.	1979	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	TCH Tomáš Šmíd	USA Gene Mayer
USA John McEnroe	4–6, 6–7
Loss	22.	1980	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	HUN Balázs Taróczy	USA Steve Denton
TCH Ivan Lendl	2–6, 7–6, 3–6
Loss	23.	1980	Cologne, West Germany	Carpet	TCH Tomáš Šmíd	RSA Bernard Mitton
ZWE Andrew Pattison	4–6, 1–6
Win	17.	1982	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	TCH Tomáš Šmíd	HUN Balázs Taróczy
SUI Heinz Günthardt	7–6, 6–4
Loss	24.	1983	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	TCH Tomáš Šmíd	SUI Heinz Günthardt
HUN Balázs Taróczy	6–3, 2–6, 3–6
::

At results above are not shown wins and runner-ups from 1965 to 1969, such as tournaments in Santiago, Viňa del Mar, São Paulo, Lyon, Cannes, Luxembourg, Split, Varna, Plovdiv, Paris (Racing Club) or International championships of Czechoslovakia in Bratislava. The draws of players were always minimum 32 players, same as at contemporary ATP Tour events, but they are not listed in ATP Annuals, since ATP was founded at 1972.

References

(7 June 1970). "Jan Kodes net champ in Paris". Reading Eagle.
(7 June 1971). "Kodes cops French title". Star News.
''Wimbledon: The Official History of the Championships''. Barrett, John. Collins Willow 2011 {{ISBN. 0-00-711707-8
(8 July 1973). "Wimbledon Singles Titles Captured by King, Kodeš".
(1974). "World of Tennis '74 : a BP and Commercial Union yearbook". Queen Anne Press.
(10 September 1973). "Newcombe cops U.S. net Open".

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