Ivan Lendl enjoyed perhaps the best season of his career in 1982, winning 15 of the 23 tournaments he entered.
Between September 1981 and February 1982, Lendl amassed 44 consecutive match wins on the Tour; a figure that remains the fourth-highest in tennis history, behind only Bjorn Borg and Guillermo Vilas.
Heading into the 1982 Indian Wells Masters – then called the Congoleum Classic – Lendl had won nine consecutive titles and looked set to win his 10th after beating Scott Davis, Robert Lutz, Kim Warwick, Victor Amaya and Raul Ramirez.
However, the Czech-American was unable to leap over the final hurdle, losing to French star Yannick Noah in the championship showpiece.
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Yannick Noah ended Ivan Lendl’s 44-match win streak
Noah, the last French man to win a Grand Slam singles title, defeated Andrew Pattison, Bernard Mitton, Christopher Mottram, Philip Dent and Eliot Teltscher to reach the 1982 Indian Wells final.
There, he faced Ivan Lendl – a future seven-time Grand Slam champion.
After losing the first set 3-6, Noah roared back to claim the next two sets 6-2, 7-5, securing a historic victory in La Quinta, California.
After the final, Noah was adamant that the pressure was on Lendl heading into the contest.
”His streak didn’t put any pressure on me,” he said, as per the New York Times. ”The pressure was on him.”
Lendl, meanwhile, accepted that he did not play his best tennis during the final.
”I just had a horrible day,” said the Czech-American star. ”You have many bad days but it just depends on when it comes.
“If it comes in the final when you play a good player, he can take advantage of it. But I’m sure I’m going to lose many more in my career.”
Noah went on to win three more titles that year: the South Orange Open, Toulouse Open and Basel Open.
Noah won Roland Garros a year later, capturing his sole Grand Slam singles title.
In 1984, Noah added the French Open Men’s Doubles title to his collection. Paired with compatriot Henri Leconte, Noah defeated Czech pair Pavel Složil and Tomáš Šmíd in the final.
Yannick Noah’s record against Ivan Lendl
Yannick Noah and Ivan Lendl faced off 18 times over a period spanning 11 years.
Lendl won their first-ever contest in 1979, defeating the young Frenchman 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 9-7 in the Davis Cup.
Lendl ended up winning 11 of their 18 contests, last beating the Frenchman 6-4, 6-1, 6-2, in the 1990 Australian Open semi-finals.
Lendl went on to win the title after Stefan Edberg was forced to retire midway through the final due to a stomach injury.
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“It is not the greatest feeling to win the title this way,’ Lendl said, as per UPI. “It was unfortunate that Stefan was hurt, he showed great courage to continue playing for as long as he did.
“I hope we get the chance to repeat this match next year and slug it all the way to the end.”
The occasion marked the first time in Australian tennis history that a final was decided by retirement due to injury.
Noah’s last victory over Lendl came in the weeks prior to the 1990 Australian Open: Noah defeated Lendl 6-1, 6-4 in the Sydney Open quarter-finals.
