He's Back in the Game—And Still in Shape, Of Course.
Sixteen years away was enough. That’s how long Ivan Lendl’s hiatus from competitive tennis lasted. But now the former No. 1 has decided he’s ready to resume some of his most storied rivalries at a few high-profile exhibitions and on the senior circuit. Lendl has been training as hard as he did when he won three U.S. Opens, three French Opens and a pair of Australian Open championships while racking upmore than $21 million in prize money.
“I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been in,” says Lendl, now 50, whose phenomenal success in the 1980s was due in large part to his rigorous training regimen. “I feel so strong in my upper body that the tennis racquet feels like a toothpick to me.”
Lendl, who was diagnosed with facet joint syndrome, which sends the back muscles into spasms, has benefited from injection treatments that act like a root canal for the back. He still has a blown disc, but, he says, he has learned to become an expert in pain management. It’s enabled him to work hard for a year and a half, biking, rollerblading and sparring three times a week against younger opponents near his homes in Vero Beach, Fla., and Goshen, Conn.
Lendl tested the waters by playing an exhibition in Atlantic City last spring, and is scheduled to play John McEnroe at the BNP Paribas Showdown at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Feb. 28, on a bill that will also feature Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.
During his time away from the game Lendl and his wife, Samantha, have been busy raising five daughters—both Marika, 20, and Isabelle, 19, play varsity golf at the University of Florida, and Daniela, 17, has committed to play golf at the of University of Alabama next year. They take after their dad’s other sports passion. Lendl himself is a scratch golfer with an eye toward playing on the pro senior tour.
In the meantime, he's focused on tennis. "The timing was right," he says. “The girls are older now and they don’t need me as much. My back has gotten better and it’s been fun to challenge myself again. I never thought I would enjoy playing tennis again, but I really do."
Originally published in the November/December 2010 issue of TENNIS.