Nastas, Ilie

Won 88 tournaments (57 of them are recognized as ATP ) in singles and 45 in doubles.

Top scores in Grand Slam tournaments :

• Winner of the French Open (1973) singles, champion (1970) in doubles.
• Winner of the USA (1972) in singles, champion (1975) in doubles, in a pair of Jimmy Connors .
• Finalist Wimbledon tournament (1972, 1976) in singles, champion (1973) in doubles, paired with Jimmy Connors.

The four-time winner of the Masters tournament (1971, 1972, 1973, 1975) is the third result after Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras , who won the cup five times, and also Roger Federer , who won the cup six times.

The first who won the title of the first racket of the world (August 23, 1973), keeping it for 40 weeks.

He completed his professional career in 1985.

• In 1976, he became the first European to earn more than a million dollars in prize money during his career.
• Until 2016, the name Nastasa wore the ATP tournament in Bucharest.
• In my entire career, I played only one match at the Australian Open and, having lost it, never again participated in this tournament.
• He played for the army club Steaua, is the rank of Major General of the Air Force of Romania ^[8] .

Ilie Nastase is known not only for his achievements on the tennis courts, but also for his many strange antics:

• At the Paris Masters of 1971, Nastasa clashed with American Cliff Richie and demanded that the judge call himself "Mr. Nastas". When the arbitrator agreed, the Romanian said to Richie: “You see, they call me Mr. Nastasa, but you don’t. Because I am a gentleman, and you are an animal! ” Dazed Cliff lost the decisive game with a score of 6: 8, and in 2005, Elijah called his autobiography - “Mr. Nastasa”.
• On the eve of the Roland Garros 1977 pair quarterfinal, Nastas and his partner Bob Hewitt (who received 6 years in prison for pedophilia in 2015) faced the main favorites in the restaurant, a couple of Adriano Panatta - Paolo Bertolucci . The Italians ran across a black cat, and they went to another establishment. Elijah decided to use it during the match: the Romanian gave 500 francs to the slaughter to put the black cat in the bag with his rackets. “After the warm-up, I told the judge that I needed to change the racket and went to the bench. I let the frightened cat out on the court, and he rushed straight in the direction of Panatta! ”Nastas laughed. As a result, the Italians spent a lot of emotions on sorting out relations with Ilie and lost the match, and the Romanians were then banned from playing on the central court Roland Garros.
• Nastase was a friend of Arthur Ash and often played with him in a pair, but this did not save the American from jokes Elijah, who once specifically put the mouse in Ash's locker - he knew about a friend's phobia. Balanced Arthur, not offended even by the ironic "Negril!", Endured. But in 1975, Nastasa got it for real, losing to Ash in the decisive set of the match of the tournament in Stockholm. When the American stopped the game, Nastasa decided that Arthur was just pulling time, and started teasing him. He threw the ball when serving, caught it and turned to his opponent: “Are you ready, Mr. Ash?”. Romanians did this until Ash got mad and left the court. The organizing committee of the tournament initially disqualified both players, but Arthur threatened that he would never play in Sweden again, after which the decision was revised and they gave him the victory. Feeling guilty Nastase gave Ash a huge bouquet of roses and received forgiveness.
• But especially Nastasa came off at Wimbledon. He repeatedly violated the strict rules of the tournament and shocked the cold British public. One day, in the rain, he took the umbrella from the viewer and played a game with him. In another match, Elijah got the cheers of the fans, and he barked at her: “If you don’t shut up, I ***** [defeat] your beautiful white hat!”. And the biggest resonance was caused by a replica of Nastas against the Duke of Kent , who laughed loudly in the royal box: "Sir, please close your mouth!" In 2014, already as a spectator, he went to the games in a general's costume, but the British did not accept Romanian panache, and the newspapers called him “the Bucharest jester”. As a result, over the years, Nastase’s application for membership in the Wimbledon Club has been denied.
• In 2013, the Romanian government fined Ilie Nastase for discrimination against 600 euros, after he supported the decision of the French government to destroy more than 165 gypsy camps and deport 19,380 people.
• In the autumn of 2016, after being appointed captain of the Romanian tennis team, the 70-year-old Nastas, eager for attention, received a new proving ground for shocking. At first, Ilie fantasized about why Sharapova was depressed after being disqualified, and therefore she drank a lot: “She’s Russian, they are resistant to alcohol.” Then went to Serena : “The image of Russia suffered in the sports plan due to doping, but this also applies to Serena Williams. You see how it looks. ” But the main show followed in April 2017, during the confrontation between Romania and the UK at the Fed Cup. First, Nastase again walked through Serena and her pregnancy: “I wonder what color the child will be - milk chocolate?”, And then Elijah was embarrassed by the unequivocal tackle of the British captain, pregnant Anne Keotavong , asking in which hotel room she stayed. The story continued during the match. Kirsti and Konty - the Romanian called the judge “m * dacom”, and when he was removed from the court, he threw in the address Komty and Keotavong: “You bitches!”. The match was interrupted, crying Johanna Comte left the court, and calmed Simone Halep . The next day, the captain of Romania sent flowers to the entire British national team, but it was already too late: the International Tennis Federation pushed Ilie away from all the ITF tournaments, until the end of the investigation into the incident. “I even know where I would put them (flowers),” commented the attempt at reconciliation of the ex-captain of the British team Judy Murray . The Romanian himself said: “I don’t regret anything, and they can even plant me - I don’t care. And I don't give a shit, they will fine me or dismiss me from the post of captain. ” ^{[9] [10]} .
• In 2017, Ilie Nastas, who holds the post of captain of the Romanian national team in the Federation Cup, was forbidden to attend the Royal Lodge at the Wimbledon tournament ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]} . At the same time, a number of media outlets reported that Nastase allegedly completely denied access to the Wimbledon tournament ^{[15] [16] [17]} .
• In February 2018, the ITF considered Ilie’s appeal against his punishment for his behavior in last year’s Federation Cup match. Nastasa was forbidden to hold official positions in ITF team tournaments until 2021 and attend ITF tournaments (except “Helmets”) until 2019, and he had to pay $ 10,000 in fines. The Tribunal reduced the removal of Nastas from team tournaments and from visiting ITF tournaments by 8 months (until April 23, 2020 and 2018, respectively), but doubled the fine, without appealing this decision ^[18] .

Singles (5)

Victory (2)

Defeats (3)

Men's doubles (5)

Victory (3)

Defeats (2)

Mixed doubles (3)

Victory (2)

Defeat (1)

Singles (5)

Victory (4)

Defeat (1)

Doubles (1)

Defeat (1)

• Profile on ATP website (eng.)

• Profile on the Davis Cup website (eng.)