Wojciech Fibak
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox tennis biography
Wojciech Fibak ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; popularly Wojtek Fibak {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; born 30 August 1952) is a Polish former professional tennis player, entrepreneur, and art collector. Fibak is best known for his doubles success with Dutch pro Tom Okker and Australian Kim Warwick, although he also reached the Top 10 in singles.
Throughout his career, he won 15 ATP career singles titles as well as 52 ATP doubles titles including one Grand Slam title, the 1978 Australian Open. He was also the runner-up at the 1976 ATP Finals.
Biography and personal life
Born in Poznań, Poland, he won his first tournament in 1976, and between then and 1982 won 15 singles titles and 52 doubles titles. His best year was arguably 1980, when he reached the quarter-finals at the French Open, the US Open and Wimbledon Championships. Fibak's career singles win–loss record was 520–310, and he reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 10 on 25 July 1977. His highest doubles ranking was World No. 2, which he reached in February 1979. He was consistently ranked in the top 20 in singles, and earned $2,725,403 in career prize money.
The highlight of his career was winning the Australian Open men's doubles in 1978 with Kim Warwick. They beat Paul Kronk and Cliff Letcher 7–6, 7–5 to take the title.
In 1983 he was banned from his local Poznań tennis club and faced reduced involvement from the Polish Tennis Federation and Davis Cup national team for his opposition to the communist PZPR government.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1985, Fibak founded the Polish Tennis Club (Polish Tennis Association of Southern California); in the 1990s he was head of the Polish Tennis Federation and widely credited with popularising the sport in his native country. After the fall of communism in the early 1990s his company Fibak Press acquired the regional former PZPR mouthpiece Gazeta Poznańska, until it was acquired by rivals Głos Wielkopolski in 2006, and published several other newspapers and magazines as well as being involved in books related to tennis.
He is also a businessman and an avid art collector, and used his tennis fortune to open the art gallery Galeria Fibak in 2001.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Fibak divides his time between Warsaw and Monaco, where he was Poland's honorary consul.<ref>Kronika Wydarzeń. Część druga (kwiecień – czerwiec 1989), w: Kronika Miasta Poznania, nr 1-2/1991, s.229, ISSN 0137-3552</ref> He is a self-declared local patriot and was close to fellow local billionaire Jan Kulczyk.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
He has three daughters: Agnieszka, Paulina, and Nina.
Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1977 | French Open | Clay | Template:Flagicon Jan Kodeš | Template:Flagicon Brian Gottfried Template:Flagicon Raúl Ramírez |
6–7, 6–4, 3–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 1978 | Australian Open | Grass | Template:Flagicon Kim Warwick | Template:Flagicon Paul Kronk Template:Flagicon Cliff Letcher |
7–6, 7–5 |
Career finals
Singles: 34 (15 titles, 19 runners-up)
| Result | No. | Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1. | 1975 | Shreveport, US | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Juan Gisbert Sr. | 3–6, 7–5, 1–6 |
| Loss | 2. | 1976 | Monte Carlo WCT, Monaco | Clay | Template:Flagicon Guillermo Vilas | 1–6, 1–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 1. | 1976 | Stockholm WCT, Sweden | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Ilie Năstase | 6–4, 7–6 |
| Win | 2. | 1976 | Bournemouth, England | Clay | Template:Flagicon Manuel Orantes | 6–2, 7–9, 6–2, 6–2 |
| Loss | 3. | 1976 | Louisville, US | Clay | Template:Flagicon Harold Solomon | 2–6, 5–7 |
| Loss | 4. | 1976 | Indianapolis, US | Clay | Template:Flagicon Jimmy Connors | 2–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 5. | 1976 | Montreal, Canada | Hard | Template:Flagicon Guillermo Vilas | 4–6, 6–7, 2–6 |
| Win | 3. | 1976 | Vienna, Austria | Hard (i) | Template:Flagicon Raúl Ramírez | 6–7, 6–3, 6–4, 2–6, 6–1 |
| Loss | 6. | 1976 | Masters, Houston | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Manuel Orantes | 7–5, 2–6, 6–0, 6–7, 1–6 |
| Loss | 7. | 1977 | Mexico City WCT, Mexico | Hard | Template:Flagicon Ilie Năstase | 6–4, 2–6, 6–7 |
| Win | 4. | 1977 | Monterrey WCT, Mexico | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Vitas Gerulaitis | 6–4, 6–3 |
| Loss | 8. | 1977 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Clay | Template:Flagicon Guillermo Vilas | 4–6, 3–6, 0–6 |
| Win | 5. | 1977 | Düsseldorf, West Germany | Clay | Template:Flagicon Raymond Moore | 6–1, 5–7, 6–2 |
| Loss | 9. | 1977 | Vienna, Austria | Hard (i) | Template:Flagicon Brian Gottfried | 1–6, 1–6 |
| Loss | 10. | 1977 | Cologne, West Germany | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Björn Borg | 6–2, 5–7, 3–6 |
| Loss | 11. | 1978 | Hamburg, West Germany | Clay | Template:Flagicon Guillermo Vilas | 2–6, 4–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 6. | 1978 | Cologne, West Germany | Hard (i) | Template:Flagicon Vijay Amritraj | 6–2, 0–1, RET. |
| Win | 7. | 1979 | Denver, US | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Victor Amaya | 6–4, 6–1 |
| Win | 8. | 1979 | Stuttgart Indoor, West Germany | Hard (i) | Template:Flagicon Guillermo Vilas | 6–2, 6–2, 3–6, 6–2 |
| Loss | 12. | 1979 | Munich, West Germany | Clay | Template:Flagicon Manuel Orantes | 3–6, 2–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 13. | 1979 | Vienna, Austria | Hard (i) | Template:Flagicon Stan Smith | 4–6, 0–6, 2–6 |
| Loss | 14. | 1979 | Cologne, West Germany | Hard (i) | Template:Flagicon Gene Mayer | 3–6, 6–3, 1–6 |
| Win | 9. | 1980 | Dayton, US | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Bruce Manson | 7–6, 6–3 |
| Win | 10. | 1980 | New Orleans, US | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Eliot Teltscher | 6–4, 7–5 |
| Win | 11. | 1980 | São Paulo, Brazil | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Vincent Van Patten | 6–0, 7–6 |
| Loss | 15. | 1980 | Stuttgart, West Germany | Clay | Template:Flagicon Vitas Gerulaitis | 2–6, 5–7, 2–6 |
| Loss | 16. | 1981 | Philadelphia, US | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Roscoe Tanner | 2–6, 6–7, 5–7 |
| Win | 12. | 1981 | Gstaad, Switzerland | Clay | Template:Flagicon Yannick Noah | 6–1, 7–6 |
| Loss | 17. | 1982 | Naples Finals WCT, Italy | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Ivan Lendl | 4–6, 2–6, 1–6 |
| Win | 13. | 1982 | Amsterdam WCT, Netherlands | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Kevin Curren | 7–5, 3–6, 6–4, 6–3 |
| Win | 14. | 1982 | Paris Indoor, France | Hard (i) | Template:Flagicon Bill Scanlon | 6–2, 6–2, 6–2 |
| Loss | 18. | 1982 | Dortmund, West Germany | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Brian Teacher | 7–6, 4–6, 4–6, 6–2, 4–6 |
| Win | 15. | 1982 | Chicago-2 WCT, US | Carpet | Template:Flagicon Bill Scanlon | 6–2, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4 |
| Loss | 19. | 1983 | Basel, Switzerland | Hard (i) | Template:Flagicon Vitas Gerulaitis | 6–4, 1–6, 5–7, 5–5, RET. |
Doubles: 85 (51 titles, 34 runners-up)
Grand Slam doubles performance timeline
| Tournament | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | Career SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | W | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | NH | A | 1 / 1 |
| French Open | 1R | 3R | 3R | F | SF | 2R | SF | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 13 |
| Wimbledon | A | 2R | QF | QF | SF | 1R | 2R | A | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 0 / 11 |
| US Open | A | 2R | 2R | 2R | SF | 2R | 3R | 1R | 3R | A | 3R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 0 / 12 |
| Annual win–loss | 0–1 | 3–3 | 5–3 | 9–3 | 17–3 | 2–3 | 7–3 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 2–3 | N/A |
References
External links
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