Jan Kodeš defeated Alex Metreveli in the final, 6–1, 9–8(7–5), 6–3 to win the gentlemen's singles tennis title at the 1973 Wimbledon Championships. It was his first Wimbledon title and third and last major singles title overall. The final included a tie-break played at 8–8 in the second set; it was the first ever Wimbledon singles final to feature a tie-break.
81 of the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) players, including reigning champion Stan Smith, boycotted Wimbledon in 1973 in protest against the suspension of Nikola Pilić by the Yugoslav Tennis Association, supported by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF). This resulted in numerous qualifiers and lucky losers playing the tournament; of the 16 players originally seeded at the tournament, only four (Ilie Năstase, Metreveli, Kodeš, and Roger Taylor) participated.
The 1973 Wimbledon men's final was the first Grand Slam singles final reached by a Soviet player, and as of 2025, it remains the only Wimbledon men's final to feature a player from the USSR or any former Soviet country.
Seeds
Ilie Năstase (fourth round) Jan Kodeš (champion) Roger Taylor (semifinals) Alex Metreveli (final) Jimmy Connors (quarterfinals) Björn Borg (quarterfinals) Owen Davidson (fourth round) Jürgen Fassbender (quarterfinals)
The original seeding list before the boycott was:
Stan Smith Ilie Năstase John Newcombe Arthur Ashe Ken Rosewall Tom Okker Marty Riessen Roy Emerson Tom Gorman Cliff Richey Adriano Panatta Manuel Orantes Alex Metreveli Bob Lutz Jan Kodeš Roger Taylor
Qualifying
Draw
Finals
Top half
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Bottom half
Section 5
Section 6
Section 7
Section 8
References
External links
1973 Wimbledon Championships – Men's draws and results at the International Tennis Federation