Article by David Marinescu – Published Tuesday, 21 April 2026, 13:52 / Updated Tuesday, 21 April 2026 13:52
Ion Țiriac will turn 87 on May 9! Invited to “Friends of Ovidiu”, he makes a special incursion from the hunger of the 50s to the sleeve of his own Bombardier that travels the world in search of solutions for the future.
A billionaire who declares himself “stingy” because he knows the value of every hard earned penny, a former great athlete who sees today's tennis as “ping-pong on a big court” and a businessman who refuses any business with the state, but invests hundreds of millions in sports foundations.
Ion Țiriac's CV
- Date of birth: May 9, 1939, Brașov
- Debut in professional tennis tournaments: 1968
- Year of withdrawal: 1979
- Singles wins/losses: 151/159
- Best Grand Slam singles performance: Roland Garros “quarters” (1968)
- Double wins/losses: 293/140
- Number of double titles: 22
- Best Grand Slam doubles performance: Roland Garros winner (1970, with Ilie Năstase)
- Between 1958 and 1964 he was a member of the Romanian ice hockey team, with which he participated in the Innsbruck Winter Olympics and WC
- Played three Davis Cup finals, all lost to the USA, with Ilie Năstase as partner: 1969, 1970, 1972
- He was the manager and coach of some great tennis players: Ilie Năstase, Guillermo Vilas, Henri Leconte, Boris Becker, Marie Joe Fernandez, Steffi Graf, Marat Safin, Anke Huber, Goran Ivanisevic
- He became the first Romanian in history whose fortune exceeded the barrier of one billion euros in the Forbes Top
- It runs its businesses in the automotive, VIP airline, finance/banking, insurance, real estate, energy and sports fields
- He held or holds licenses for tennis tournaments in Stuttgart, Hanover, Madrid and Bucharest; the one in the capital of Romania operated in the period 1996-2016
- He was president of COSR in the period 1998-2004
