Michael Stich

Michael Stich

Country	West Germany (1988–1990)  Germany (from 1990)
Residence	Elmshorn, Germany
Born	October 18, 1968 (1968-10-18) (age 43) Pinneberg, West Germany
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Turned pro	1988
Retired	1997
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$12,592,483
Singles
Career record	385–176
Career titles	18
Highest ranking	No. 2 (November 22, 1993)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	SF (1993)
French Open	F (1996)
Wimbledon	W (1991)
US Open	F (1994)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	W (1993)
Doubles
Career record	165–111
Career titles	10
Highest ranking	No. 9 (March 22, 1991)
Other Doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	W (1992)
Last updated on: June 21, 2007.

Olympic medal record
Men's Tennis
Gold	1992 Barcelona	Men's Doubles

Michael Detlef Stich (born October 18, 1968 in Pinneberg, Schleswig-Holstein) is a former professional tennis player from Germany. He is best remembered for winning the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1991. He also won the men's doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the Olympic Games, and was a singles runner-up at the US Open and the French Open.

Career

Stich was raised in Elmshorn, Schleswig-Holstein. He turned professional in 1988 and won his first top-level singles title in 1990 at Memphis, Tennessee.

Stich won Wimbledon in 1991. He defeated the defending champion and world no. 1 Stefan Edberg in the semifinals, 4–6, 7–6, 7–6, 7–6, without breaking his service once. Then in the final, he beat his compatriot and three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker in straight sets.

In 1992, Stich teamed with John McEnroe to win the men's doubles title at Wimbledon in a five-set and five-hour final that stretched into Monday (the day after the tournament normally ends) and ended with a 19–17 final set. Then at the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Stich teamed with Becker to win the men's doubles gold medal. Stich also won the 1992 Grand Slam Cup, defeating Michael Chang in the final.

A major highlight of 1993 for Stich came at the end-of-year ATP World Championships, where he defeated Pete Sampras in the final. Playing for Germany, Stich also won both the Davis Cup and the Hopman Cup in 1993.

Stich reached his second Grand Slam singles final at the 1994 US Open, where he lost in straight sets to Andre Agassi. Stich also helped Germany win the World Team Cup in 1994.

Stich upset defending champion Thomas Muster in four sets in the fourth round of the 1996 French Open en route to appearing in his third and final Grand Slam singles final, where he was defeated by Yevgeny Kafelnikov in straight sets. He also won his final career singles title that year at Antwerp. His last doubles title came in 1997 at Halle.

Stich's all-round ability, both from the baseline and at the net, allowed him to become one of the few players to win tournaments on all surfaces. He is one of only five players of his generation^{[clarification needed]} to have a positive career head-to-head record against Sampras.^[1]

Stich won 18 singles titles and 10 doubles titles. His career-high singles ranking was world no. 2 in 1993.

Stich announced his retirement from the professional tour in 1997 following Wimbledon. His last run at Wimbledon started with a win over U.S. top-10 player Jim Courier and ended with a five-set loss to Cédric Pioline in the semifinals. Prior to the match with Pioline, Stich had played down the impression that the tournament was a swan song by saying in English at a press conference, "I had not come to retire. I had come here to win Wimbledon."^{[citation needed]}

Since his retirement, he has devoted most of his time to his own AIDS foundation. He also works as a tennis commentator for the BBC. Stich was married to the German actress Jessica Stockmann from 1992 to 2003. In 2005, he married Alexandra Rikowski. They live in Hamburg.

Serena Williams controversy

At the Wimbledon tournament in 2007, Stich accused Serena Williams of exaggerating an injury, stating that "You're either injured or you're not. I'm not sure what we saw last night." Williams had collapsed in pain in a fourth round match with Daniela Hantuchová. Williams denied the allegations angrily, stating "My career is actually more stellar than Stich's, so he can say whatever he pleases."^[2]

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles (3)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1991	Wimbledon	Grass	Boris Becker	6–4, 7–6(4), 6–4
Runner-up	1994	US Open	Hard	Andre Agassi	6–1, 7–6(5), 7–5
Runner-up	1996	French Open	Clay	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	7–6(4), 7–5, 7–6(4)

Men's doubles (1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1992	Wimbledon	Grass	John McEnroe	Jim Grabb Richey Reneberg	5–7, 7–6(5), 3–6, 7–6(5), 19–17

Olympic men's doubles final

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Gold	1992	Barcelona Olympics	Clay	Boris Becker	Wayne Ferreira Piet Norval	7–6(5), 4–6, 7–6(5), 6–3

Masters Series finals

Singles: 3 finals (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1992	Hamburg	Clay	Stefan Edberg	5–7, 6–4, 6–1
Winner	1993	Hamburg	Clay	Andrei Chesnokov	6–3, 6–7(1), 7–6(7), 6–4
Winner	1993	Stockholm	Hard (i)	Goran Ivanišević	4–6, 7–6(6), 7–6(3), 6–2

Men's doubles: 3 finals (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1990	Hamburg	Clay	Udo Riglewski	Sergi Bruguera Jim Courier	4–6, 6–1, 7–6
Winner	1992	Monte Carlo	Clay	Boris Becker	Petr Korda Karel Nováček	3–6, 6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	1992	Hamburg	Clay	Carl-Uwe Steeb	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	6–3, 3–6, 6–4

Career finals

Singles: 31 (18–13)

Wins (18)

Legend Grand Slam (1–2) Tennis Masters Cup (1–0) Grand Slam Cup (1–1) ATP Masters Series (2–1) ATP Championship Series (3–3) ATP World Series (10–6)

Titles by Surface Hard (5–4) Grass (4–1) Clay (3–5) Carpet (6–3)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	March 5, 1990	Memphis, USA	Hard	Wally Masur	6–7(5), 6–4, 7–6(1)
Runner-up	1.	January 7, 1991	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Nicklas Kulti	3–6, 6–1, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	January 14, 1991	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Guy Forget	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	3.	February 25, 1991	Memphis, USA	Hard (i)	Ivan Lendl	5–7, 3–6
Winner	2.	July 8, 1991	Wimbledon, London, UK	Grass	Boris Becker	6–4, 7–6(4), 6–4
Winner	3.	July 22, 1991	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Alberto Mancini	1–6, 7–6(9), 6–4, 6–2
Winner	4.	August 26, 1991	Schenectady, USA	Hard	Emilio Sánchez	6–2, 6–4
Winner	5.	October 21, 1991	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Jan Siemerink	6–4, 6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	4.	May 11, 1992	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Stefan Edberg	7–5, 4–6, 1–6
Winner	6.	June 15, 1992	Rosmalen, Netherlands	Grass	Jonathan Stark	6–4, 7–5
Winner	7.	December 14, 1992	Grand Slam Cup, Munich, Germany	Carpet	Michael Chang	6–2, 6–3, 6–2
Winner	8.	February 22, 1993	Stuttgart, Germany	Carpet	Richard Krajicek	4–6, 7–5, 7–6(4), 3–6, 7–5
Runner-up	5.	May 3, 1993	Munich, Germany	Clay	Ivan Lendl	6–7(2), 3–6
Winner	9.	May 10, 1993	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Andrei Chesnokov	6–3, 6–7(1), 7–6(7), 6–4
Winner	10.	June 14, 1993	London (Queen's Club), UK	Grass	Wayne Ferreira	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	July 26, 1993	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Magnus Gustafsson	3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4, 4–6
Winner	11.	August 12, 1993	Basel, Switzerland	Hard	Stefan Edberg	6–4, 6–7(5), 6–3, 6–2
Winner	12.	November 1, 1993	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard	Goran Ivanišević	4–6, 7–6(6), 7–6(3), 6–2
Winner	13.	November 22, 1993	Year-End Championships, Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet	Pete Sampras	7–6(3), 2–6, 7–6(7), 6–2
Runner-up	7.	December 13, 1993	Grand Slam Cup, Munich, Germany	Carpet	Petr Korda	6–2, 4–6, 6–7(5), 6–2, 9–11
Winner	14.	February 28, 1994	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet	Wayne Ferreira	4–6, 6–3, 6–0
Winner	15.	May 2, 1994	Munich, Germany	Clay	Petr Korda	6–2, 2–6, 6–3
Winner	16.	June 20, 1994	Halle, Germany	Grass	Magnus Larsson	6–4, 4–6, 6–3
Runner-up	8.	September 12, 1994	US Open, New York City, USA	Hard	Andre Agassi	1–6, 6–7(5), 5–7
Runner-up	9.	October 24, 1994	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Andre Agassi	6–7(4), 6–4, 2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	10.	February 27, 1995	Stuttgart, Germany	Carpet	Richard Krajicek	6–7(4), 3–6, 7–6(6), 6–1, 3–6
Runner-up	11.	May 8, 1995	Munich, Germany	Clay	Wayne Ferreira	5–7, 6–7(6)
Runner-up	12.	June 26, 1995	Halle, Germany	Grass	Marc Rosset	6–3, 6–7(11), 6–7(8)
Winner	17.	August 7, 1995	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Thomas Enqvist	6–7(7), 7–6(4), 6–2
Winner	18.	February 26, 1996	Antwerp, Belgium	Carpet	Goran Ivanišević	6–3, 6–2, 7–6(5)
Runner-up	13.	June 10, 1996	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	6–7(4), 5–7, 6–7(4)

Doubles: 16 (10–6)

Wins (10)

Legend Grand Slam (1–0) Tennis Masters Cup (0–0) Olympic Gold Medal (1–0) ATP Masters Series (1–2) ATP Championship Series (1–1) ATP World Series (6–3)

Titles by Surface Hard (3–2) Grass (3–1) Clay (3–2) Carpet (1–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	October 9, 1989	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Udo Riglewski	Omar Camporese Claudio Mezzadri	6–3, 4–6, 6–0
Runner-up	1.	February 26, 1990	Memphis, U.S.	Hard (i)	Udo Riglewski	Darren Cahill Mark Kratzmann	5–7, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	May 7, 1990	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Udo Riglewski	Sergi Bruguera Jim Courier	6–7, 2–6
Winner	2.	May 17, 1990	Munich, Germany	Clay	Udo Riglewski	Petr Korda Tomáš Šmíd	6–1, 6–4
Winner	3.	June 18, 1990	Rosmalen, Netherlands	Grass	Jakob Hlasek	Jim Grabb John McEnroe	7–6, 6–3
Runner-up	3.	August 20, 1990	Long Island, U.S.	Hard	Udo Riglewski	Guy Forget Jakob Hlasek	6–2, 3–6, 4–6
Winner	4.	October 22, 1990	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Udo Riglewski	Jorge Lozano Todd Witsken	6–4, 6–4
Winner	5.	January 9, 1991	Memphis, U.S.	Hard (i)	Udo Riglewski	John Fitzgerald Laurie Warder	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	4.	February 11, 1991	Philadelphia, U.S.	Carpet	Udo Riglewski	Rick Leach Jim Pugh	4–6, 4–6
Winner	6.	April 27, 1992	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Boris Becker	Petr Korda Karel Nováček	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	5.	May 4, 1992	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Carl-Uwe Steeb	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	7–5, 4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	6.	June 8, 1992	Rosmalen, Netherlands	Grass	John McEnroe	Jim Grabb Richey Reneberg	4–6, 7–6, 4–6
Winner	7.	July 6, 1992	Wimbledon, London	Grass	John McEnroe	Jim Grabb Richey Reneberg	5–7, 7–6, 3–6, 7–6, 19–17
Winner	8.	August 3, 1992	Barcelona Olympics, Spain	Clay	Boris Becker	Wayne Ferreira Piet Norval	7–6, 4–6, 7–6, 6–3
Winner	9.	August 9, 1993	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	Grant Connell Scott Davis	7–6, 7–6
Winner	10.	June 16, 1997	Halle, Germany	Grass	Karsten Braasch	David Adams Marius Barnard	7–6, 6–3

Singles performance timeline

Tournament	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	Career SR	Career Win-Loss
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	3R	3R	QF	SF	1R	3R	A	2R	0 / 7	16–7
French Open	A	A	2R	2R	SF	3R	4R	2R	4R	F	A	0 / 8	22–8
Wimbledon	A	A	1R	3R	W	QF	QF	1R	1R	4R	SF	1 / 9	25–8
US Open	A	A	1R	2R	QF	2R	1R	F	4R	2R	A	0 / 8	15–8
Grand Slam SR	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 3	0 / 4	1 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 2	1 / 32	N/A
Annual Win-Loss	0–0	0–0	1–3	6–4	17–3	11–4	12–4	7–4	8–4	10–3	6–2	N/A	78–31
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells	NME			A	SF	SF	2R	A	3R	A	A	0 / 4	8–4
Miami	NME			2R	4R	A	4R	A	2R	A	A	0 / 4	5–4
Monte Carlo	NME			1R	A	QF	2R	3R	2R	A	2R	0 / 6	5–6
Rome	NME			A	1R	1R	A	QF	A	2R	A	0 / 4	4–3
Hamburg	NME			1R	SF	F	W	SF	3R	A	2R	1 / 7	18–6
Canada	NME			2R	A	A	A	A	QF	A	A	0 / 2	3–2
Cincinnati	NME			A	A	A	QF	SF	SF	A	A	0 / 3	8–3
Stuttgart (Stockholm)	NME			A	2R	3R	W	QF	A	2R	A	1 / 5	9–4
Paris	NME			QF	A	3R	QF	2R	A	1R	A	0 / 5	6–5
Masters Series SR	N/A			0 / 5	0 / 5	0 / 6	2 / 7	0 / 6	0 / 6	0 / 3	0 / 2	2 / 40	N/A
Annual Win-Loss	N/A			5–5	10–5	11–6	16–5	13–5	7–6	2–3	2–2	N/A	66–37
Ranking	564	269	100	42	4	15	2	9	12	16	64	N/A

References

Tennis portal

1. ^ http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Head-To-Head.aspx?pId=S351&oId=S402
2. ^ Serena hits out at Stich comments

External links

• Michael Stich at the Association of Tennis Professionals

Awards
Preceded by Boris Becker	German Sportsman of the Year 1991	Succeeded by Dieter Baumann

Persondata
Name	Stich, Michael Detlef
Alternative names
Short description	Tennis player
Date of birth	October 18, 1968
Place of birth	Pinneberg, Germany
Date of death
Place of death