Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Ilie Năstase (born July 19 1946, Bucharest) was an Romanian professional tennis player and one of the top players of 1970s, being twice number one in 1972 and 1973 Among his 57 single titles are the US Open (tennis) in 1972, French Open in 1973 and on doubles he won at Wimbledon in 1973, French Open in 1970 and the US Open in 1975. He was runner-up in the Wimbledon singles competition in 1972, playing in a classic men's final against Stan Smith. Nastase was famous for his good humour on court, but also had a reputation for gamesmanship, and acquired the nickname "Nasty" after several incidents where his temperament got the better of him. He wrote a couple of novels in French in the 1980s and he entered politics in the 1990s, making in 1996 an unsuccessful run for mayor of Bucharest. Quotations If you have confidence you have patience. Confidence, that is everything. As long as I can get angry then I play well. If I play well I can beat everybody. I am happy because I am getting angry. My ambition is to do a good job. I never plan anything. I haven't reported my missing credit card to the police because whoever stole it is spending less than my wife. External Links Tennis Hall of Fame: Ilie Nastase This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.