Pavel Složil Explained

Pavel Složil (born 29 December 1955) is a former professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia.

Složil enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won 32 doubles titles and finished runner-up an additional 29 times, including at the French Open in.

Slozil and his partner, Renata Tomanová (also from Czechoslovakia), won the 1978 French Open mixed-doubles championship, defeating Virginia Ruzici (Romania) and Patrice Dominguez (France). The mixed doubles championship was an important event in those days, contested by top players, with John McEnroe and Mary Carillo having won the year before.

In 1985, Složil achieved a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4.

Složil participated in eleven Davis Cup ties for Czechoslovakia from 1978 to 1986, posting a 7–2 record in doubles and a 4–2 record in singles. He was a member of the winning Czech Davis Cup team in 1980, along with teammates Ivan Lendl, Tomáš Šmíd and Jan Kodeš.

Složil served as Steffi Graf's coach from November 1986 until the end of 1991. Shortly after the start of his tenure as Graf's coach, she had her Grand Slam breakthrough year in 1987, winning six tournaments and then defeating Martina Navratilova in the French Open. Graf went on to be a finalist at Wimbledon and the US Open, losing both times to Navratilova. The next year, Graf achieved a calendar year's Grand Slam, a feat performed only twice before. She also won the 1988 Olympics singles and the Wimbledon ladies' doubles that same year.

From 1987 through 1991, coached by Složil, Graf won ten Grand Slam singles championships, winning the Australian Open (1988–89-90), the French Open (1987–88), Wimbledon (1988–89-91) and the US Open (1988–89), plus numerous side tournaments.

He subsequently served as coach for Jennifer Capriati, Anna Kournikova and Magdalena Maleeva between 1992 and 1999.

In 2002, he began work at the World Tennis Club in Naples, Florida. He served there as Tennis Director until 2014 when he began coaching and teaching at the Sanchez-Casal Tennis Academy, also in Naples. There he works with the junior players in the morning and continues to teach tennis to a wide range of players.

Career finals

Singles (2 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Jul 1979	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Vitas Gerulaitis	2–6, 2–6, 4–6
Win	1–1	Mar 1981	Nancy, France	Carpet (i)	Ilie Năstase	6–2, 7–5
Loss	1–2	Feb 1983	Delray Beach WCT, U.S.	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	1–6, 4–6, 0–6
Loss	1–3	Oct 1984	Vienna, Austria	Carpet (i)	Tim Wilkison	1–6, 1–6, 2–6
Win	2–3	Aug 1985	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Michael Westphal	7–5, 6–2

Doubles (32 titles, 29 runner-ups)

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Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	1978	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Pavel Hutka	Mike Fishbach Chris Lewis	7–6, 4–6, 3–6
Loss	2.	1978	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Wojciech Fibak Jan Kodeš	7–6, 1–6, 2–6
Loss	3.	1979	Nice, France	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Peter McNamara Paul McNamee	1–6, 6–3, 2–6
Loss	4.	1979	Florence, Italy	Clay	Ivan Lendl	Paolo Bertolucci Adriano Panatta	4–6, 3–6
Loss	5.	1979	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Wojciech Fibak	Colin Dowdeswell Frew McMillan	4–6, 2–6, 6–2, 4–6
Loss	6.	1979	Cologne, Germany	Carpet (i)	Heinz Günthardt	Gene Mayer Stan Smith	3–6, 4–6
Loss	7.	1980	Vienna, Austria	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Gianni Ocleppo Christophe Roger-Vasselin	def.
Loss	8.	1980	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Balázs Taróczy	Steve Denton Ivan Lendl	2–6, 7–6, 3–6
Loss	9.	1980	Vienna, Austria	Carpet (i)	Heinz Günthardt	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	1–6, 2–6
Loss	10.	1981	Linz, Austria	Hard (i)	Brad Drewett	Anders Järryd Hans Simonsson	4–6, 6–7
Loss	11.	1981	Nice, France	Clay	Chris Lewis	Yannick Noah Pascal Portes	6–4, 3–6, 4–6
Loss	12.	1981	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy	3–6, 3–6
Win	1.	1981	Florence, Italy	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	Paolo Bertolucci Adriano Panatta	6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Win	2.	1981	Boston, U.S.	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	Hans Gildemeister Andrés Gómez	6–4, 7–6
Loss	13.	1981	Washington, D.C., U.S.	Hard	Ferdi Taygan	Raúl Ramírez Van Winitsky	7–5, 6–7, 6–7
Loss	14.	1981	North Conway, U.S.	Clay	Ferdi Taygan	Heinz Günthardt Peter McNamara	7–6, 5–7, 4–6
Loss	15.	1981	Geneva, Switzerland	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy	4–6, 6–3, 2–6
Loss	16.	1981	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Markus Günthardt	José Luis Clerc Ilie Năstase	6–7, 7–6, 6–7
Win	3.	1982	Genova WCT, Italy	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Mike Cahill Buster Mottram	6–7, 7–5, 6–3
Win	4.	1982	Brussels, Belgium	Carpet (i)	Sherwood Stewart	Tracy Delatte Chris Dunk	6–4, 6–7, 7–5
Win	5.	1982	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy	6–1, 3–6, 9–7
Win	6.	1982	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Anders Järryd Hans Simonsson	6–4, 6–3
Loss	17.	1982	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Rod Frawley	Mark Edmondson Kim Warwick	6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Loss	18.	1982	Cap d'Agde WCT, France	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Andy Andrews Drew Gitlin	2–6, 4–6
Win	7.	1982	Geneva, Switzerland	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Carl Limberger Mike Myburg	6–4, 6–0
Loss	19.	1982	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Fritz Buehning	Henri Leconte Yannick Noah	2–6, 2–6
Win	8.	1982	Vienna, Austria	Carpet (i)	Henri Leconte	Mark Dickson Terry Moor	6–1, 7–6
Win	9.	1982	Dortmund WCT, Germany	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Mike Cahill Francisco González	6–2, 6–7, 6–1
Win	10.	1982	Toulouse, France	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Jean-Louis Haillet Yannick Noah	6–4, 6–4
Win	11.	1983	Richmond WCT, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Fritz Buehning Brian Teacher	6–2, 6–4
Win	12.	1983	Delray Beach WCT, U.S.	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Anand Amritraj Johan Kriek	7–6, 6–4
Loss	20.	1983	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet (i)	Peter Fleming	Fritz Buehning Tom Gullikson	6–7, 6–4, 6–7
Win	13.	1983	Milan, Italy	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Fritz Buehning Peter Fleming	6–2, 5–7, 6–4
Loss	21.	1983	Lisbon, Portugal	Clay	Ferdi Taygan	Carlos Kirmayr Cássio Motta	5–7, 4–6
Win	14.	1983	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Heinz Günthardt	Markus Günthardt Zoltán Kuhárszky	6–3, 6–3
Win	15.	1983	Munich, Germany	Clay	Chris Lewis	Anders Järryd Tomáš Šmíd	6–4, 6–2
Win	16.	1983	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Colin Dowdeswell Wojciech Fibak	6–7, 6–4, 6–2
Loss	22.	1983	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Anand Amritraj Mike Bauer	6–4, 3–6, 2–6
Win	17.	1983	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Wojciech Fibak	Colin Dowdeswell Zoltán Kuhárszky	7–5, 6–2
Win	18.	1983	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Stefan Edberg Florin Segărceanu	6–1, 3–6, 7–6
Win	19.	1983	Toulouse, France	Carpet (i)	Heinz Günthardt	Bernard Mitton Butch Walts	5–7, 7–5, 6–4
Win	20.	1984	Masters Doubles WCT, London	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Anders Järryd Hans Simonsson	1–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1, 6–3
Win	21.	1984	Milan, Italy	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Kevin Curren Steve Denton	6–4, 6–3
Loss	23.	1984	French Open, Paris	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Henri Leconte Yannick Noah	4–6, 6–2, 6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Win	22.	1984	Washington, D.C., U.S.	Clay	Ferdi Taygan	Drew Gitlin Blaine Willenborg	7–6, 6–1
Win	23.	1984	Bordeaux, France	Clay	Blaine Willenborg	Loïc Courteau Guy Forget	6–1, 6–4
Win	24.	1984	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Martín Jaite Víctor Pecci	6–2, 6–0
Win	25.	1984	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Stefan Edberg Tim Wilkison	7–6, 6–2
Loss	24.	1984	Wembley, England	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Andrés Gómez Ivan Lendl	2–6, 2–6
Win	26.	1984	Treviso, Italy	Clay	Tim Wilkison	Jan Gunnarsson Sherwood Stewart	6–2, 6–3
Loss	25.	1984	Toulouse, France	Carpet (i)	Tim Wilkison	Jan Gunnarsson Michael Mortensen	4–6, 2–6
Loss	26.	1984	Masters, New York	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Peter Fleming John McEnroe	2–6, 2–6
Win	27.	1985	Memphis, U.S.	Hard (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Kevin Curren Steve Denton	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win	28.	1985	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Vitas Gerulaitis Paul McNamee	6–4, 6–4
Win	29.	1985	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Shlomo Glickstein Shahar Perkiss	6–2, 6–3
Win	30.	1985	Nice, France	Clay	Claudio Panatta	Loïc Courteau Guy Forget	3–6, 6–3, 8–6
Loss	27.	1985	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Kim Warwick	Ken Flach Robert Seguso	4–6, 4–6
Loss	28.	1985	Toulouse, France	Carpet (i)	Tomáš Šmíd	Ricardo Acuña Jakob Hlasek	6–3, 2–6, 7–9
Win	31.	1986	Nice, France	Clay	Jakob Hlasek	Gary Donnelly Colin Dowdeswell	6–3, 4–6, 11–9
Win	32.	1986	Saint Vincent, Italy	Clay	Libor Pimek	Bud Cox Michael Fancutt	6–3, 6–3
Loss	29.	1986	Toulouse, France	Carpet (i)	Jakob Hlasek	Miloslav Mečíř Tomáš Šmíd	2–6, 6–3, 4–6