Ion Èširiac

Ion Èširiac
(; born 9 May 1939), also known as the "Brașov Bulldozer", is a Romanian businessman and former professional tennis and ice hockey player. He has been president of the Romanian Tennis Federation.

A former singles top 10 player on the ATP Tour, he was active from 1958 to 1979 and won 34 career singles titles. Tiriac was the winner of one grand slam title, the 1970 French Open in men's doubles. Èširiac was the first man to play against a woman and defeat her, in a sanctioned tennis tournament (against Abigail Maynard, in 1975). The highlight of his ice hockey career was participating as a defenseman in the Romanian national team at the 1964 Winter Olympics.

After retirement, Tiriac became active as a tennis coach, advisor and player agent in the 1980s, taking under his wing Ilie Năstase, Manuel Orantes, Adriano Panatta, Guillermo Vilas, Henri Leconte and the young Boris Becker. Later, Țiriac developed the Mutua Madrid Open ATP masters tennis tournament, which he has owned from 2009 to 2021. In 2013, he was elected as contributor into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He has been managing French tennis player Lucas Pouille since December 2016.

As a tennis player, Tiriac played dramatic five-setters against Rod Laver, Stan Smith, Jan Kodeš and Manuel Orantes. His singles record includes wins over Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Roscoe Tanner, Manuel Orantes, Andrés Gimeno, Adriano Panatta and Niki Pilić. He played three Davis Cup finals (in 1969, 1971 and 1972).

As of April 2022, '' Forbes'' ranked him as the third- richest person in Romania with a net worth of $1.6 billion.

Sports career

Èširiac was born in Transylvania, which is probably the reason why he has the nickname 'Count Dracula'. The first sport he practiced, as a child was table tennis.

Afterwards he played ice hockey as a defenceman, winning a Romanian Hockey League title with CCA București in 1961, he also played for Știința București. Țiriac represented Romania's ice hockey team at the 1961 Ice Hockey World Championships where he was used by player-coach Zoltan Czaka in five games in which he scored five goals as the team finished on the 15th place. He was called up by coach Mihai Flamaropol to be in Romania's squad at the 1964 Winter Olympics.

Shortly after that he switched to tennis as his main sport. With fellow Romanian Ilie Năstase he won the men's doubles in the 1970 French Open and reached the Davis Cup finals several times in the 1970s.

John McPhee wrote of him that his drooping mustache suggests "that this man has been to places most people do not imagine exist. He appears to be a panatela ad, a triple agent from Alexandria, a used-car salesman from central Marrakesh. Tiriac has the air of a man who is about to close a deal in a back room behind a back room."

Țiriac participated in the short period during the 1970s when women participated in established men's tennis tournaments. In his first match he defeated Abigail Maynard 6–0, 6–0 in their round one match at USTA pro circuit's Fairfiled County International Tennis Championship. It was the first time ever a female had entered a men's tournament.

Executive roles

After his retirement, he served as coach and manager for players such as Ilie Năstase, Guillermo Vilas, Mary Joe Fernández, Goran Ivanišević and Marat Safin. He became the sports agent of Boris Becker and managed his career from 1984 to 1993.

Èširiac was president of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee from 1998 to 2004.

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. The trophy awarded to the tournament winner bears his name.

Țiriac also held the license for the BRD Năstase Țiriac Trophy tennis tournament since 1996, until its last edition in 2016, before the tournament being relocated to Budapest.

In 2012, Èširiac was nominated for the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the contributor category.

On 13 July 2013, Èširiac joined the International Tennis Hall of Fame as a successful promoter and tournament director for numerous events including the two of the largest Masters 1000 events, the Italian Open and the Madrid Masters.

Business career

After his retirement as a professional tennis player, Èširiac became a businessman in (then West) Germany. In 1987, he appeared in a TV commercial for Miller Lite beer with Bob Uecker, who extols Èširiac's supposed humorous qualities, laughing hysterically while Èširiac sits stone-faced. (In reality, Èširiac was popular and outgoing, especially when he served as player/coach of the Boston Lobsters of World Team Tennis in the 1970s.)

In Germany, Èširiac met another Romanian businessman, Dan Petrescu. Èširiac and Petrescu became economic partners and collaborated in the development of several companies in the following years.

Following the collapse of communism in Romania, Èširiac started numerous businesses and investments back home. In 1990, he founded Ion Èširiac Bank, 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 US$900 million in 2005.

Èširiac is an avid car collector. The Tiriac Collection represents the exhibition of cars and motorcycles under his ownership. Reopened to the public in May 2015, the collection includes historical vehicles manufactured since 1899 and also modern exotics with about 350 cars and 165 cars at full time display on a rotation basis. Visitors will find the only collection in the world with 2 Rolls-Royce Phantoms IV, as well as exhibits that previously belonged to great names such as Sir Elton John, Sammy Davis Jr. or Bernie Ecclestone.

In 2006, Èširiac was selected as one of the 100 Greatest Romanians, ranking #77.

Ion Țiriac became the first Romanian to enter Forbes' List of billionaires in the 2007 Forbes rankings, ranking 840th in the world. His wealth was estimated at $1.0 billion as of 2010, according to the magazine. In 2010, TOP 300 Capital declared Ion Țiriac the richest man in Romania with a wealth estimated at €1.5–€1.6 billion ($2–$2.2 billion).

In 2018, Ion Èširiac ranked #1867 on the ''Forbes'' World's Billionaires list, with wealth listed at US$1.2 billion.

Personal life

Èširiac was married to Erika Braedt, a handball player, between 1963 and 1965.

He has a son, Ion Èširiac Jr., with Mikette von Issenberg, a fashion model; and further two children, Karim Mihai and Ioana Natalia, with Sophie Ayad, an Egyptian journalist.

According to Cinemagia, he dubbed the character Kron for the Romanian version of Dinosaur.

Career statistics

Grand Slam finals

Doubles 2 (1–1)

Grand Prix and WCT Tour finals

Singles (2–1)

Doubles (23–24)

;Key

Performance timeline

Stamps of Romania, 2015-085.jpg,
Ion Tiriac - 1972 Tiriac Smith in finala Cupei Davis01.jpg,

Companies

*Èširiac Holdings
* ÈširiacAIR
Allianz-Țiriac Asigurări RomâniaȚiriacAutoȚiriac LeasingTir Travel
(formerly Èširiac Travel)

See also

* Capital Top 300 wealthiest men in Romania

References

Selected publications

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External links

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Forbes World's Billionaires #840
'' The New York Times''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiriac, Ion
1939 births
Living people
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles
Ice hockey players at the 1964 Winter Olympics
International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees
Romanian ice hockey players
Steaua Rangers players
Olympic ice hockey players for Romania
Sportspeople from Brașov
Romanian billionaires
Romanian businesspeople
Romanian male tennis players
Summer World University Games medalists in tennis
People named in the Panama Papers
FISU World University Games gold medalists for Romania
FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Romania
French Open champions
Medalists at the 1961 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 1965 Summer Universiade
Presidents of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee
Presidents of the Romanian Tennis Federation