What is Ilie Năstase's Net Worth?
Ilie Năstase is a retired Romanian professional tennis player who has a net worth of $10 million. Ilie Năstase was born in Bucharest, Romania in July 1946. He started his amateur career in 1966 and turned professional in 1969. During his career Nastase won over $2 million in prize money. He won 58 career singles titles which ranks 10th all time. His singles record was 779-305 and he was a world #1 ranked tennis player in August 1973. Ilie won the US Open in 1972 and the French Open in 1973. He made the finals at Wimbledon in 1972 and 1976. Nastase is one of only five players to have won over 100 ATP professional tittles. As a doubles player he won 45 titles and had a career record of 479-208. He reached the finals of the Davis Cup in 1969, 1971, and 1972. He won three Grand Slam titles in men's doubles and two in mixed doubles. Ilie won four Masters Grand Prix year-end championship titles as well as seven Championship Series titles. In 2005 he was ranked by Tennis Magazine as the 28th best player of the preceding 40 years. Nastase was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991. He wrote several French novels and ran for mayor of Bucharest in 1996. He has been married four times and was listed by Maxim magazine as #6 on its Living Sex Legends list. It has been said that Nastase has slept with more than 2,500 women.
Early Life and Career
Ilie Theodoriu Năstase was born 19 July 1946. He started his career in 1966 traveling around the world together with Ion Țiriac, competing in various tournaments. They won the men's doubles title at the French Open. Năstase won his first-ever singles tournament in Cannes in 1967. He became one of the best players in 1970, with many experts ranking him as the sixth-best player in the world at that time due to his success at the Italian Open and the U.S. Indoor Open. He won his won his first Masters Grand Prix title in 1971.
In 1972 he became the world number two after beating Ashe in the US Open. The following year he topped the ATP rankings after winning 17 tournaments including the French Open, a doubles title at Wimbledon and a third Masters title. In 1974 he was the only player to make it to both the WCT Finals and the Masters Grand Prix finals. Năstase reached the Masters Grand Prix final in for the fifth consecutive year in 1975.
During the first half of 1976 Năstase won four tournaments (Atlanta WCT, Avis Challenge Cup WCT, US Open Indoor, and La Costa) and added another three during the second half of the year, capping off yet another successful season as the world number three. His form started declining the next year and he slipped to number nine in the ATP rankings. He competed in plenty other tournaments from 1978 before finally calling time on his career in 1985 at the age of 39. He came out of retirement briefly in 1988 to play the challenger tournament at Dijon.
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Athletic Distinctions and Awards
Năstase was the first athlete to ink an endorsement deal with Nike.
This champion leads the year-end showstopper (now the ATP World Tour Finals) with a mind-blowing winning percentage of 88%. That's not all, he is part of an elite club of just five tennis players in the world to smash through the 100 career titles mark.
He was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991 and even got a knighthood from France in 2009 for his dominant displays on the court over the years. On his 70th birthday in 2016 Năstase was honored with the Star of Romania—the nation's top civilian award.
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Books
Năstase is an accomplished author who has two novels and an autobiography published under his name. His novels are titled: "Tie-Break" also published as Break Point, released in 1985 and
The Net (Le filet) released in 1986. His autobiography is titled "Mr Nastase: The Autobiography" and was released in 2004.
Political Career
Năstase holds the rank of major general in the Romanian military. He entered Romanian politics in the 1990s, initially running for mayor of Bucharest in 1996. Unfortunately he wasn't successful. He was elected to the Romanian Senate for a Bucharest seat in 2012.
Personal Life
Năstase has been through a string of marriages: first with Dominique Grazia, a Belgian fashion model, when he was 26. They were together for a decade and have a daughter named Nathalie. His second marriage was to American actress Alexandra King in 1984 with whom he adopted two children, Nicholas and Charlotte. Then, in 2004 he married Romanian fashion model Amalia Teodosescu and they have two children together, Alessia and Emma Alexandra. After their separation in 2010 he tied the knot with Romanian fashion model Brigitte Sfăt in 2013 but their marriage ended in 2018. His most recent marriage was in 2019 to Ioana Simion.
