Ion Țiriac (ˈjon t͡si'rjak; born 9 May 1939 in
BraşovBrașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
) is a
RomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n former
tennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player and businessman. He is also the current owner of the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open.
Sports career
Țiriac first appeared on the international sports scene as an
ice hockeyIce hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
player on the Romanian national team at the
1964 Winter OlympicsThe 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964...
. Shortly after that he switched to tennis as his main sport. With fellow Romanian
Ilie NăstaseIlie Nastase is a Romanian former professional tennis player, one of the world's top players of the 1970s. Năstase was the World No. 1 tennis player between 1973 and 1974 . He is one of the five players in history to win more than 100 ATP professional titles . He was inducted into the...
he won the men's doubles in the 1970 French Open and reached the
Davis CupThe Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
finals several times in the 1970s
http://www.daviscup.com/en/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=10002372.
After his retirement, he served as coach and manager for players such as;
Ilie NăstaseIlie Nastase is a Romanian former professional tennis player, one of the world's top players of the 1970s. Năstase was the World No. 1 tennis player between 1973 and 1974 . He is one of the five players in history to win more than 100 ATP professional titles . He was inducted into the...
,
Guillermo VilasGuillermo Apolinario Vilas is a retired and former World No. 2 professional tennis player from Argentina. He was the second Latin-American to win a Grand Slam tournament.-Career:...
,
Mary Joe FernándezMary Joe Fernández Godsick is an American former professional tennis player...
, and
Goran IvaniševićGoran Ivanišević is a retired Croatian professional tennis player. He is best remembered for being the only person to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001, having previously been runner-up at the championships in 1992, 1994 and 1998. Ivanišević is famous...
.
In 1984, he managed
Boris BeckerBoris Franz Becker is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Germany. He is a six-time Grand Slam singles champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17...
from 1984 to 1993. In 1998 he became president of the Romanian National Olympic Committee.
Țiriac ran major men's events in Germany, including the season-ending championships in Hanover. Although tennis is now a much smaller part of his portfolio and occupies only 5 percent of his time, he has taken particular pleasure and pride in making Madrid Tennis Open a combined men's and women's event with €7.2 million in total prize money.
Țiriac also has held the license for the BCR Open Romania tennis tournament since 1996. It is currently a €450,000 event, part of the
ATP World Tour 250 seriesThe ATP World Tour 250 series is a new series for tennis tournaments of the Association of Tennis Professionals from the 2009 ATP World Tour...
, held annually in
BucharestBucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
,
RomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. The 2010 winner was
Juan Ignacio Chela Juan Ignacio Chela is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like most Argentine players he is comfortable on Clay courts and owns all six of his career titles on the surface...
.
Wins (1)
| Year |
Championship |
Partnering |
Opponents in Final |
Score in Final |
| 1970 |
French Open |
 Ilie NăstaseIlie Nastase is a Romanian former professional tennis player, one of the world's top players of the 1970s. Năstase was the World No. 1 tennis player between 1973 and 1974 . He is one of the five players in history to win more than 100 ATP professional titles . He was inducted into the...
|
 Arthur AsheArthur Robert Ashe, Jr. was a professional tennis player, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. During his career, he won three Grand Slam titles, putting him among the best ever from the United States...
Charlie PasarellCharlie Pasarell, Jr. is a former Puerto Rican tennis player and commentator...
|
6–2, 6–4, 6–3 |
Business career
After his retirement as a professional tennis player, Țiriac became a businessman in Germany. In 1987, he appeared in a TV commercial for
Miller LiteMiller Lite is a 4.2% abv pale lager brand sold by MillerCoors of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Sibling beers include Miller Genuine Draft and Miller High Life.-History:...
beer with
Bob UeckerRobert George "Bob" Uecker is an American former Major League Baseball player, later a sportscaster, comedian, and actor. Uecker was given the title of "Mr. Baseball" by Johnny Carson...
, who extols Țiriac's supposed humorous qualities, laughing hysterically while Ţiriac sits stone-faced.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DGB9ENs0co&feature=related
Following the collapse of
communismCommunism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
in Romania, he started numerous businesses and investments back home. In 1990, he founded Banca Țiriac, the first private bank in post-Communist Romania. Between that and several other enterprises (retail, insurance, auto leasing, auto dealerships, airlines, etc.), his fortune was estimated at over $900 million .
Ion Țiriac became the first Romanian
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_Ion-Tiriac_TLQ2.html to enter
ForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
' List of billionaires in the 2007 Forbes rankings, placing number 840 in the world. His wealth was estimated at $1.1 billion , according to the magazine. In 2010 TOP 300 Capital declares Ion Tiriac the richest man in Romania with a wealth estimated at €1.5 - €1.6 billion ($2 – $2.2 billion).
http://english.hotnews.ro/stiri-business-7942996-top-300-capital-declares-ion-tiriac-the-richest-man-romania-followed-businessmen-dinu-patriciu-and-ioan-niculae.htm
Companies
- Ţiriac Holdings
Ţiriac Holdings Ltd. is a Romanian company primarily owned by Ion Ţiriac. Among its operations are auto , real estate, elevator manufacturing, executive jet transport and leasing , banking , and insurance...
- ȚiriacAIR
Țiriac Air was founded in 1997 as part of Țiriac Group. Over the years, TiriacAIR has grown into the Romania's most prestigious charter operator specialised in VIP and corporate travel...
- HVB Ţiriac Bank
- Allianz-Ţiriac Asigurări România
- ŢiriacAuto
- Ţiriac Leasing
- Tir Travel (formerly Ţiriac Travel)
External links