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Wilander, who has owned a home in Greenwich, turns 50 on Friday. The former World No. 1 tennis player was born Aug. 22, 1964, in Växjö, Sweden.
Wilander first came to the tennis world's attention when he won the French Open junior title, the European under-16 and under-18 championships, and the Orange Bowl under-16 event in Miami.
He made his debut on the professional tour at the clay court tournament in Båstad, Sweden, in 1980.
He won three additional tournaments in 1982 and finished the year ranked No. 7. During that year, he was also the winner of the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal.
In 1988, he won three of the four Grand Slam singles events and finished that year ranked World No. 1. He twice won the Australian Open when that tournament was still played on grass courts. This makes him one of only five men to have won Grand Slam singles titles on grass courts, hard courts, and clay courts.
He and Rafael Nadal are the only men in tennis history to have won at least two Grand Slam singles titles on each of the three surfaces.
He won his fourth Grand Slam singles title at the age of 20, the youngest man in history to have achieved that feat. In addition he also won eight Championship Series titles (1983-88) the precursors to the current Masters 1,000.
He won 33 singles titles and seven doubles titles during his career. He was also a driving force behind Sweden's run of seven consecutive Davis Cup finals in the 1980s.
In 2002, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
He began coaching Tatiana Golovin in July 2007. After working with Golovin in the later part of 2007, he began coaching Paul-Henri Mathieu.
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