1.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
2.
West Germany
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West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990. During this Cold War era, NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border, after 1961 West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states and this period is referred to as the Bonn Republic by historians, alluding to the interwar Weimar Republic and the post-reunification Berlin Republic. The Federal Republic of Germany was established from eleven states formed in the three Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, US and British forces remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Its population grew from roughly 51 million in 1950 to more than 63 million in 1990, the city of Bonn was its de facto capital city. The fourth Allied occupation zone was held by the Soviet Union, as a result, West Germany had a territory about half the size of the interbellum democratic Weimar Republic. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided among the Western and Eastern blocs, Germany was de facto divided into two countries and two special territories, the Saarland and divided Berlin. The Federal Republic of Germany claimed a mandate for all of Germany. It took the line that the GDR was an illegally constituted puppet state, though the GDR did hold regular elections, these were not free and fair. For all practical purposes the GDR was a Soviet puppet state, from the West German perspective the GDR was therefore illegitimate. Three southwestern states of West Germany merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952, in addition to the resulting ten states, West Berlin was considered an unofficial de facto 11th state. It recognised the GDR as a de facto government within a single German nation that in turn was represented de jure by the West German state alone. From 1973 onward, East Germany recognised the existence of two German countries de jure, and the West as both de facto and de jure foreign country, the Federal Republic and the GDR agreed that neither of them could speak in the name of the other. The first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who remained in office until 1963, had worked for an alignment with NATO rather than neutrality. He not only secured a membership in NATO but was also a proponent of agreements that developed into the present-day European Union, when the G6 was established in 1975, there was no question whether the Federal Republic of Germany would be a member as well. With the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolised by the opening of the Berlin Wall, East Germany voted to dissolve itself and accede to the Federal Republic in 1990. Its five post-war states were reconstituted along with the reunited Berlin and they formally joined the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990, raising the number of states from 10 to 16, ending the division of Germany
3.
Boris Becker
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Boris Franz Becker is a German former world No.1 professional tennis player. He is a major singles champion, including, having been the youngest Wimbledon mens champion when he was 17. He has won 3 Wimbledon titles and he also won 13 Masters Series titles, five elite indoor titles. He is the player to have won all 3 Open era season end finals ATP Tour Finals, WCT Finals. Becker also won Olympic gold medal in doubles, Tennis magazine ranked Becker the 11th best male player of the period 1965–2005. He also coached Novak Djokovic for three years beginning in 2013, Boris Becker was born in Leimen, Germany, the only son of Elvira and Karl-Heinz Becker. His mother was Catholic, and they raised him as a Catholic and his father Karl-Heinz, an architect, founded a tennis centre in Leimen, where Becker learned the game. Becker turned professional in 1984, under the guidance of Romanian-born coach Günther Bosch and Romanian manager Ion Ţiriac, and won his first professional doubles title that year in Munich. As a German teenager, Becker won the Tennis World Young Masters at the NEC in Birmingham in 1985, two weeks later, on 7 July, he became the first unseeded player and the first German to win the Wimbledon singles title, defeating Kevin Curren in four sets. Becker was at that time ranked 20th in ATP ranking, and was unseeded and he was the youngest ever male Grand Slam singles champion at 17 years,227 days. Two months after his triumph, Becker became the youngest winner of the Cincinnati Open, Becker has since said that The plan from my parents for me was to finish school, go to university, get a proper degree and learn something respectful. The last thing on everyones mind was me becoming a tennis professional, in 1986, Becker successfully defended his Wimbledon title, defeating world no.1 Ivan Lendl in straight sets in the final. In 1987 Becker, then ranked world no,2, was upset in the second round of Wimbledon by the world no.70 player, Peter Doohan. In the Davis Cup that year, Becker and John McEnroe played one of the longest matches in tennis history, Becker won 4–6, 15–13, 8–10, 6–2, 6–2. The match lasted 6 hours and 22 minutes, Becker was back in the Wimbledon final in 1988, where he lost in four sets to Stefan Edberg in a match that marked the start of one of Wimbledons great rivalries. Becker also helped West Germany win its first Davis Cup in 1988 and he won the year-end Masters title in New York City, defeating five-time champion Lendl in the final. The same year he won season ending WCT Finals for the rival World Championship Tennis tour. In 1989, Becker won two Grand Slam singles titles, the year he won more than one
4.
The Championships, Wimbledon
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The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and is widely considered the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. Since the Australian Open shifted to hardcourt in 1988, Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass. The tournament takes place two weeks in late June and early July, culminating with the Ladies and Gentlemens Singles Final. Five major, junior, and invitational events are each year. Wimbledon traditions include a dress code for competitors and Royal patronage. The tournament is notable for the absence of sponsor advertising around the courts. In 2009, Wimbledons Centre Court was fitted with a roof to lessen the loss of playing time due to rain. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is a club founded on 23 July 1868. Its first ground was off Worple Road, Wimbledon, in 1876, lawn tennis, a game devised by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so earlier and originally given the name Sphairistikè, was added to the activities of the club. In spring 1877, the club was renamed The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, a new code of laws, replacing the code administered by the Marylebone Cricket Club, was drawn up for the event. Todays rules are similar except for such as the height of the net and posts. The inaugural 1877 Wimbledon Championship started on 9 July 1877 and the Gentlemens Singles was the event held. It was won by Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian rackets player, about 200 spectators paid one shilling each to watch the final. The lawns at the ground were arranged so that the court was in the middle with the others arranged around it. The name was retained when the Club moved in 1922 to the present site in Church Road, however, in 1980 four new courts were brought into commission on the north side of the ground, which meant the Centre Court was once more correctly defined. The opening of the new No.1 Court in 1997 emphasised the description, by 1882, activity at the club was almost exclusively confined to lawn tennis and that year the word croquet was dropped from the title. However, for reasons it was restored in 1899
5.
Australian Open
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The Australian Open is a major tennis tournament held annually over the last fortnight of January in Melbourne, Australia. First held in 1905, the tournament is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events of the year – the other three being the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. It features mens and womens singles, mens, womens and mixed doubles and juniors championships, as well as wheelchair, legends, the Australian Open typically has high attendances, rivalling and occasionally exceeding the US Open. The tournament holds the record for the highest attendance at a Grand Slam event, the Australian Open is managed by Tennis Australia, formerly the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia, and was first played at the Warehousemans Cricket Ground in Melbourne in November 1905. This facility is now known as the Albert Reserve Tennis Centre, the tournament was first known as the Australasian Championships and then became the Australian Championships in 1927 and the Australian Open in 1969. Since 1905, the Australian Open has been staged in five Australian and two New Zealand cities, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Christchurch and Hastings. Though started in 1905, the tournament was not designated as being a championship until 1924. The tournament committee changed the structure of the tournament to include seeding at that time, in 1972, it was decided to stage the tournament in Melbourne each year because it attracted the biggest patronage of any Australian city. The tournament was played at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club from 1972 until the move to the new Melbourne Park complex in 1988, the new facilities at Melbourne Park were envisaged to meet the demands of a tournament that had outgrown Kooyongs capacity. The move to Melbourne Park was an success, with a 90 percent increase in attendance in 1988 on the previous year at Kooyong. Because of Australias geographic remoteness, very few foreign players entered this tournament in the early 20th century, in the 1920s, the trip by ship from Europe to Australia took about 45 days. The first tennis players who came by boats were the US Davis Cup players in November 1946, even inside the country, many players could not travel easily. When the tournament was held in Perth, no one from Victoria or New South Wales crossed by train, in Christchurch in 1906, of a small field of 10 players, only two Australians attended and the tournament was won by a New Zealander. The first tournaments of the Australasian Championships suffered from the competition of the other Australasian tournaments, before 1905, all Australian states and New Zealand had their own championships, the first organised in 1880 in Melbourne and called the Championship of the Colony of Victoria. In those years, the best two players – Australian Norman Brookes and New Zealander Anthony Wilding – almost did not play this tournament, Brookes came once and won in 1911, and Wilding entered and won the competition twice. Their meetings in the Victorian Championships helped to determine the best Australasian players, even when the Australasian Championships were held in Hastings, New Zealand, in 1912, Wilding, though three times Wimbledon champion, did not come back to his home country. It was a problem for all players of the era. Brookes went to Europe only three times, where he reached the Wimbledon Challenge Round once and then won Wimbledon twice
6.
French Open
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The French Open, often referred to as Roland Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam event held on clay, French spelling rules dictate that in the name of a place or event named after a person, the elements of the name are joined together with a hyphen. Therefore, the names of the stadium and the tournament are hyphenated as Roland-Garros, in 1891 the Championnat de France, which is commonly referred to in English as the French Championships, was begun. It was only open to players who were members of French clubs. The first winner was a Briton—H, the first womens singles tournament, with four entries, was held in 1897. The mixed doubles event was added in 1902 and the doubles in 1907. This French club members only tournament was played until 1924, using four different venues during that period, Île de Puteaux, in Puteaux, the Racing Club de France, played on clay. For one year,1909, it was played at the Société Athlétique de la Villa Primrose in Bordeaux, Tennis Club de Paris, at Auteuil, Paris, played on clay. Another tournament, the World Hard Court Championships, is considered the precursor to the French Open as it was open to international competitors. Winners of this tournament included world no, 1s such as Tony Wilding from New Zealand and Bill Tilden from the US. In 1924 there was no World Hard Court Championships due to tennis being played at the Paris Olympic Games, in 1925, the French Championships became open to all amateurs internationally and was designated a major championship by the ILTF. It was held at the Stade Français in Saint-Cloud in 1925 and 1927, in 1926 the Racing Club de France hosted the event in Paris, site of the previous French club members only Championship, also on clay. In 1928, the Roland Garros stadium was opened and the event has held there ever since. After the Mousquetaires or Philadelphia Four won the Davis Cup on American soil in 1927, the Stade de France had offered the tennis authorities three hectares of land with the condition that the new stadium must be named after the World War I pilot, Roland Garros. The new Stade de Roland Garros, and its Center Court hosted that Davis Cup challenge, during World War II the tournament was held from 1941 through 1945 on the same grounds but these editions are not recognized by the French governing body, Fédération Française de Tennis. From 1946 through 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon, in 1968, the French Championships became the first Grand Slam tournament to go open, allowing both amateurs and professionals to compete. Since 1981, new prizes have been presented, the Prix Orange, the Prix Citron, in another novelty, since 2006 the tournament has begun on a Sunday, featuring 12 singles matches played on the three main courts. Additionally, on the eve of the opening, the traditional Benny Berthet exhibition day takes place
7.
Rod Laver
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Rodney George Rod Laver AC, MBE is an Australian former tennis player widely regarded as one of the greatest in tennis history. He was the No.1 ranked professional from 1964 to 1970, spanning four years before and he also was the No.1 amateur in 1961–62 according to Lance Tingay. He excelled on all of the surfaces of his time, grass, clay, hard, carpet. Despite being banned from playing the Grand Slam tournaments for the five prior to the Open Era. He is the player to twice achieve the calendar-year Grand Slam, in 1962 and 1969. Rodney George Laver was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia and he was the third of four children of Roy Laver, a cattleman and butcher, and his wife Melba Roffey. In 1966 Laver, aged 27, married Mary Benson in San Rafael, born Mary Shelby Peterson in Illinois, she was a divorcee with three children. Laver and Mary had a son and the family lived at various locations in California including Rancho Mirage, Corona del Mar, Mary Laver died in November 2012 at the age of 84 at their home in Carlsbad. Although of a short and medium build, Laver developed a technically complete serve-and-volley game. Dan Maskell, the Voice of Wimbledon, described him as technically faultless and his left-handed serve was well disguised and wide swinging. His groundstrokes on both flanks were hit with topspin, as was the attacking topspin lob, which Laver developed into a weapon and his stroke technique was based on quick shoulder turns, true swings, and accurate timing. His backhand, often hit on the run, was a point-ender that gave him an advantage, Laver was very quick and had a strong left forearm. Rex Bellamy wrote, The strength of that wrist and forearm gave him blazing power without loss of control, even when he was on the run, the combination of speed and strength, especially wrist strength, enabled him to hit ferocious winners when way out of court. At the net, he had forcing volleys, often hit as stroke volleys, especially on the backhand, he could hit sharp underspin angles as well. He was difficult to lob, because of his agility. As an amateur, Laver was a flashy player, often a late starter. He had to learn to control his adventurous shot-making and integrate percentage tennis into his game when he turned professional, in his prime, he could adapt his style to all surfaces and to all conditions. Laver had a record in five-set-matches, often turning things around with subtle changes of tactics
8.
Rafael Nadal
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Rafael Rafa Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as the greatest clay-court player in history and his evolution into an all-court threat has established him as one of the greatest players in tennis history, with some considering Nadal to be the greatest player of all time. Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles,28 titles in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and he was also a member of the winning Spain Davis Cup team in 2004,2008,2009, and 2011. In 2010, he became the player in history and youngest of four in the Open Era to achieve the Career Grand Slam at age 24. He is the male player, after Andre Agassi, to complete the singles Career Golden Slam. In 2011, Nadal was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, the left-hander is the sixth player in the Open Era to reach more than 100 finals on the ATP World Tour. Nadal and Mats Wilander are the two male players who have won at least two Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces—hard court, grass, and clay. Nadal holds the record for most consecutive titles at one event after winning his eighth straight Monte-Carlo Masters in 2012 and he is the only player in the open era to achieve such a feat. Nadal is the male player in tennis history to win one Grand Slam. He equalled Guillermo Vilass Open Era record of 49 clay-court titles by winning the Barcelona Open in 2016, Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor, Balearic Islands, Spain. His father, Sebastián Nadal, is a businessman who owns a company and a glass and window company, Vidres Mallorca. His mother is Ana María Parera, a housewife and he has a younger sister named María Isabel. His uncle, Miguel Ángel Nadal, is a professional footballer, who played for RCD Mallorca, FC Barcelona. Nadal supports football clubs Real Madrid and RCD Mallorca, recognizing that Nadal had a natural talent for tennis, another uncle, Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, introduced him to tennis when he was three years old. At age eight, Nadal won an under-12 regional tennis championship at a time when he was also a football player. This may be due to the fact he is ambidextrous, playing tennis with his left hand, when Nadal was 12, he won the Spanish and European tennis titles in his age group and was playing tennis and football all the time. Nadals father made him choose between football and tennis so that his work would not deteriorate entirely. Football had to stop straight away, when he was 14, the Spanish tennis federation requested that he leave Mallorca and move to Barcelona to continue his tennis training
9.
John McEnroe
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John Patrick McEnroe Jr. is an American former World No.1 professional tennis player, often rated among the greatest players of all time in the sport, especially for his touch on the volley. He won seven Grand Slam singles titles, nine Grand Slam mens doubles titles and he also won a record eight year-end championships,19 Grand Prix Super Series titles, and finished his career with 77 ATP-listed singles titles and 78 in doubles. In 1981,1983 and 1984 he was both the ATP player of the year and the ITF World Champion for Mens singles and his match record of 82–3 in 1984 remains the best single season win rate of the Open Era. McEnroe is a former Captain of the United States Davis Cup team and he continues to play tennis and competes in senior events on the ATP Champions Tour. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999, after his tennis career he became a television commentator, a game show host and a chat show host. Additionally, he has appeared in films and television shows as himself and has played music live. He has been married since 1997 to musician and former Scandal lead singer Patty Smyth, McEnroe was born in Wiesbaden, Hessen, West Germany, to American parents, John Patrick McEnroe Sr. and his wife Kay, née Tresham. His father, who is of Irish descent, was at the time stationed with the United States Air Force, in 1960, the family moved to the New York City area, where McEnroes father worked daytime as an advertising agent while attending Fordham Law School by night. He has two brothers, Mark and former professional tennis player Patrick. McEnroe grew up in Douglaston, Queens, New York City and he started playing tennis when he was eight, at the nearby Douglaston Club with his brothers. When he was nine, his parents enrolled him in the Eastern Lawn Tennis Association and he then began competing in national juniors tournaments, and at twelve—when he was ranked seven in his age group—he joined the Port Washington Tennis Academy, Long Island, New York. McEnroe attended Trinity School and graduated in 1977 and it was the best performance by a qualifier at a Grand Slam tournament and a record performance by an amateur in the open era. After Wimbledon in 1977, McEnroe entered Stanford University and won the National Collegiate Athletic Association singles, later in 1978, he joined the ATP tour and signed his first professional endorsement deal, with Sergio Tacchini. He again advanced to the semifinals at a Grand Slam, this time the US Open, following which, he proceeded to win five titles that year, including his first Masters Grand Prix, beating Arthur Ashe in straight sets. In 1979, McEnroe won the Wimbledon Doubles title, the duo later adding the 1979 US Open Doubles title to their haul as well, McEnroe won his first Grand Slam singles title at the US Open. He defeated his friend Vitas Gerulaitis in straight sets in the final to become the youngest male winner of the title at the US Open since Pancho Gonzales. He also won the prestigious season-ending WCT Finals, beating Björn Borg in four sets, McEnroe won 10 singles and 17 doubles titles that year. At Wimbledon, McEnroe reached the 1980 Wimbledon Mens Singles final—his first final at Wimbledon—where he faced Björn Borg, at the start of the final, McEnroe was booed by the crowd as he entered Centre Court following heated exchanges with officials during his semifinal victory over Jimmy Connors
10.
Czechoslovakia
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From 1939 to 1945, following its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, the state did not de facto exist but its government-in-exile continued to operate. From 1948 to 1990, Czechoslovakia was part of the Soviet bloc with a command economy and its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949, and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of May 1955. A period of liberalization in 1968, known as the Prague Spring, was forcibly ended when the Soviet Union, assisted by several other Warsaw Pact countries. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split into the two states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Form of state 1918–1938, A democratic republic, 1938–1939, After annexation of Sudetenland by Nazi Germany in 1938, the region gradually turned into a state with loosened connections among the Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian parts. A large strip of southern Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine was annexed by Hungary, 1939–1945, The region was split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic. A government-in-exile continued to exist in London, supported by the United Kingdom, United States and its Allies, after the German invasion of Russia, Czechoslovakia adhered to the Declaration by United Nations and was a founding member of the United Nations. 1946–1948, The country was governed by a government with communist ministers, including the prime minister. Carpathian Ruthenia was ceded to the Soviet Union, 1948–1989, The country became a socialist state under Soviet domination with a centrally planned economy. In 1960, the country became a socialist republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was a state of the Soviet Union. 1989–1990, The federal republic consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic, 1990–1992, Following the Velvet Revolution, the state was renamed the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, consisting of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Neighbours Austria 1918–1938, 1945–1992 Germany Hungary Poland Romania 1918–1938 Soviet Union 1945–1991 Ukraine 1991–1992 Topography The country was of irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands, the eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of the Danube River basin. Climate The weather is mild winters and mild summers, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. The area was long a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire until the Empire collapsed at the end of World War I, the new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who served as its first president from 14 November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He was succeeded by his ally, Edvard Beneš. The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, nationalism became a mass movement in the last half of the 19th century
Stefan Edberg
Boris Becker
Ivan Lendl (Semifinals)
Mats Wilander (Quarterfinals)
Pat Cash (Quarterfinals)
Jimmy Connors (Fourth round)
Boris Becker (Final)
Henri Leconte (Fourth round)
Emilio Sánchez (Second round)
Andrei Chesnokov (First round)
Amos Mansdorf (Second round)
Slobodan Živojinović (Fourth round)
Ivan Lendl
Tim Mayotte
Pat Cash
D Felgate
G Muller
M Schapers
A Antonitsch
G Connell
R Krishnan
D Nargiso
G Ivanišević
A Mansdorf
H Leconte
S Casal
J Frana
A Olhovskiy
P Arraya
N Odizor
Y Doumbia
J Hlasek
R Acuña
A Moreno
K Evernden
E Masso