Article by Tripp from Georgia, USA
Towards the end of her career Hana Mandlikova called the US Open her favorite tournament “after Wimbledon.” That seemed unusual since many European players did not particularly enjoy the Open with its hectic, circus-like atmosphere in muggy late-summer heat. At least that was the perception in the early years of what is now the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens.
But not Hana. She once said,
“I like playing in New York, that is for sure. I like the people. They seem to know a lot about tennis. I like them.”
She appreciated the crowds’ energy and the fact that the Open was the first major staged on hard courts. The genteel club days of Forest Hills were gone. The new center, which opened in 1978, had a distinctly New York City vibe.
That same year was Hana’s first on tour. She didn’t mind the fans crowding the outside courts, or the smoke and smell of hot dogs and hamburgers drifting over players. She ignored the roar of planes overhead from LaGuardia. She accepted the New York elite, former presidents, athletes, and autograph seekers wandering through matches. What Wimbledon would never tolerate was routine here.
For a player sometimes labeled unfocused, this might have seemed a problem. Yet Hana thrived amid distractions. The crowd, whether with her or against her, stayed lively, especially at night. She fed off that atmosphere. The public wanted fights, and Hana often delivered—just ask Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, and Andrea Jaeger. Between 1980 and 1985 she produced some of her best tennis, capped by her 1985 US Open title.
Here are Hana’s five biggest victories at the US Open.
1980 US OPEN 4th round : Hana Mandlikova d. Martina Navratilova 7-6(2) 6-4
Coming off her first win over Martina Navratilova at the Mahwah warm-up, Hana Mandlikova stepped onto the stadium court at the US Open with new confidence. Facing the powerful Navratilova, she earned what was then the biggest victory of her career. Martina herself admitted afterward she had “played her best match of the tournament.” Yet even her best was not enough to stop the rising Czech star.
The first set unfolded evenly. Each broke once before holding serve to 6-6. In the tiebreak, Hana seized control, racing to a 5-0 lead and closing it 7-2. She then broke early in the second, but Navratilova rallied back to 3-3. At that stage, Hana later explained, “The change came when I broke her at 3-3 and then held my serve.”
Controversy soon followed. Serving at 3-3, 30-40, Navratilova was broken on a return judged good by the lineswoman. Martina protested, pointing to a mark she thought was out.
“The umpire said she was sorry,” Navratilova recounted afterward.
The call stood, and Hana led 4-3.
Navratilova battled to 15-40 in what proved the final game, but Hana held firm.
“I was sure she’d beat me again,” she admitted. “But I knew I couldn’t wait for her to do it. I had to play my game, be aggressive.”
When Martina’s last return fell into the net, Hana raised her arms and tapped her racquet on the tape in triumph.
In the press room, Navratilova acknowledged her missed chances:
“I was out of it on some of the big points. I was there, but I didn’t hit the shot.”
She was also generous toward her conqueror: “She has no weaknesses. If she plays the way she did last week, she’s got all the shots. A loss is a loss, but I guess the fact that she’s such a good kid takes some of the sting out of it.”
The press cast it as the Czech-born American defector against the new Czech sensation. But for Mandlikova, once a Prague ball girl, this was about stepping out of her idol’s shadow and making headlines of her own.
1980 US Open Semifinal – Hana Mandlikova d. Andrea Jaeger 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3)
At just 18 years of age, Hana Mandlikova was contesting only her second Grand Slam semifinal. Her opponent Andrea Jaeger was even younger—just 15 years and three months, the youngest US Open semifinalist in history. For once, Hana, long considered the teenage prodigy, found herself cast as the older, more experienced player.
The opening set suggested the occasion was too much for Jaeger. Tentative and overawed, she surrendered it 6-1. But rain halted play early in the second set and gave her a chance to regroup. When they resumed, Jaeger broke Mandlikova’s serve—the only time all day—and held firm to level the match. “I started slow in the first set,” Jaeger admitted. “The rain delay helped me, but then she started going for more than she usually does.”
Mandlikova herself conceded that the interruption unsettled her.
“I was a little bit nervous after the rain,” she said. “I felt stiff and it took me longer to warm up.”
Yet in the deciding set, she rose to the challenge. She later reflected:
“Andrea wasn’t going to lose this match, I had to win it. I just kept telling myself to stay aggressive, to go for my shots.”
The final act came in a tense tiebreak. Hana produced her best tennis: a drop volley that clipped the net cord and dribbled over, bold serves, and sharply angled volleys. Jaeger fought bravely but could not stop her rival, and Hana prevailed 7-3.
CBS’s commentators captured the drama.
Virginia Wade called it the “biggest match of their lives,” adding, “Everyone was thrilled with this match.”
Pat Summerall added, “I can’t think of a match that I enjoyed more. There may have been better ones, but I can’t remember when.” Wade concluded simply: “It was a lovely match.”
For Mandlikova, the victory was a breakthrough. Having already stunned Martina Navratilova earlier in the week, she now outlasted a fearless 15-year-old to reach her first US Open final. Looking ahead, she remained grounded:
“I will try and beat her. If I lose it won’t matter because I’m happy to be in the finals. Chris is tougher than Tracy for me. She’s not nervous on the big points either.”
1982 US Open Quarterfinal – Hana Mandlikova d. Tracy Austin 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Earlier in the year Hana Mandlikova had already beaten Tracy Austin at the French Open. But doing it again in New York carried greater weight. Since her debut loss to Betty Stove as a 14-year-old, only Chris Evert had managed to beat Tracy at the US Open. This time, after falling to Hana, Tracy admitted,
“I love it here. I’m very disappointed, but I didn’t lose it, Hana won. She went for a lot of shots and hit enough winners.”
The match began on Thursday with Austin up a break at 5-4 when rain forced a postponement. Returning the next day, she quickly closed out the first set, 6-4. From there, however, the momentum shifted. Hana’s variety and aggressive shot-making began to trouble Tracy. Down 1-3 in the second, Hana surged, breaking twice and capitalizing when Austin double-faulted on set point, 6-4.
Both players had struggled that year with back injuries. Tracy, short on match play, confessed she wasn’t feeling “match tough,” admitting,
“I’m disappointed how I played on the big points.”
For Hana, who had missed the first three months of the season, the chance to turn things around in New York was crucial.
Once again trailing 1-3 in the final set, Hana recalled:
“Being behind like that, I wasn’t even thinking about whether I would win or lose. I just started to play every point. Every point. I began to win them.”
One rally summed up her determination: after diving for a volley and scrambling back to her feet, she lunged again to punch a backhand volley winner past Austin.
That resolve carried her to 5-4. Serving to stay in the match, Tracy double-faulted once more to give Hana match point. Mandlikova sealed it with an overhead and raised her arms in victory, 6-4.
She would ride that momentum to defeat Pam Shriver in the semifinals before bowing once again to Chris Evert in the final. But as Hana knew, if she could keep returning to that stage, the third time might be the charm.
1985 US Open Semifinal – Hana Mandlikova d. Chris Evert 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
At first, it looked like the script would hold true. Evert, playing in her 42nd career Grand Slam semifinal, captured the opening set 6-4 with her trademark steadiness, while Mandlikova piled up unforced errors and looked vulnerable under the weight of the occasion.
But the match began to turn in the second set. Mandlikova found her range, cut down on her mistakes, and started attacking with precision, rushing the net and unsettling Evert. From the baseline, her variety forced the American to defend instead of dictate. The Czech raced through the set 6-2, and suddenly the momentum was hers.
Evert later admitted that she never really found her footing on the day.
“I just wasn’t charged up as I usually am, considering that it was a Grand Slam semifinal,” she said. “I just got nervous out there. My serve let me down… I just played tentative, especially when I had important game points.”
The decisive moment came in the third set with the score locked at 2-3 on Evert’s serve. The game stretched on for nearly ten minutes, with Mandlikova squandering and saving multiple advantages.
“That was a huge game,” Hana said. “I had my ad so many times. When I had my ad, I didn’t play aggressive. But when I attacked, I had the good returns.”
At last, she broke through with a backhand winner to seize a 4-2 lead.
From there, Mandlikova never looked back. She consolidated with bold shotmaking, mixing sharp volleys with a perfectly measured lob, and at 5-3 broke Evert again to close out the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Evert conceded her rival had been the braver player: “She played very aggressive on the big points and she played very well. I just didn’t get pumped up enough.” For Mandlikova, it was one of her sweetest victories, earned by seizing her chance in the tightest moment.
1985 US Open Final – Hana Mandlikova d. Martina Navratilova 7-6(3), 1-6, 7-6(2)
Hana Mandlikova arrived in New York with a history of faltering late in the tournament, but on this Saturday she produced the defining performance of her career. Facing world No.1 and defending champion Martina Navratilova, Hana controlled the first set brilliantly, racing to a 5-0 lead by breaking twice and conceding only four points in those opening games. Martina, however, fought back, breaking Hana twice and saving set points in a long tenth game. The set eventually went to a tiebreak where Hana steadied herself and closed it out 7-3.
Navratilova then seized the momentum in the second. Breaking Mandlikova in the fourth and sixth games, she dominated the rallies with deep returns and relentless net attacks. The set was quickly hers, 6-1, and once again Hana found herself forced to regroup against the sport’s most consistent champion.
The decider became a test of nerve. At 4-3, Mandlikova broke to serve for the title, only for Navratilova to break back and hold for 5-5. Both players held serve to set up a final tiebreak. There, Hana raced to a 6-0 lead and finished it 7-2 with a backhand volley, falling to her knees before raising her arms in triumph.
Afterward, Navratilova was quick to acknowledge her opponent:
“It wasn’t me, it was her. She was just swinging and hitting winners all over the place. I didn’t lose those points, she won them. So give her credit there.”
Mandlikova, for her part, recognized the fight she had faced:
“She played unbelievable shots. That’s why she’s a great champion. Even coming back from five-love, that shows how great she really is. I just think that finally everything fell into place and I showed I can play.”
She also underlined her respect for Navratilova’s stature:
“Martina, I think, is a great champion and always will be. She has been a great champion — not only in tennis but outside of tennis, too. She’s done a great deal for the sport, and I think everybody has to give her credit for that.”
And she placed the victory in its larger context: “To win here and beat both Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova in the same tournament — that’s something very special. They are the two best players in the world, and to do it against them makes it even more important.”
For Hana Mandlikova, it was not only her fourth Grand Slam title but the confirmation that she could rise to the occasion on the game’s biggest stage.
