Michael Stich

Michael Stich is a German former tennis player who won the 1991 Wimbledon Championships, defeating compatriot Boris Becker in the final, and remains, as of the 2020s, the last German man to win the title.

Michael Stich won the 1991 Wimbledon title in one of the most efficient performances the Championships had produced, defeating world No. 1 Stefan Edberg in the semifinal without having his serve broken once, then dispatching fellow German Boris Becker in straight sets in the final. Inspired by watching Boris Becker win Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 1985, Stich turned professional in 1988 and steadily climbed the rankings, winning his first ATP title at Memphis in 1990 while still ranked outside the world's top 80. Stich's breakthrough came at the 1991 Wimbledon Championships, where he defeated defending champion and world No. 1 Stefan Edberg in a gruelling four-set semifinal without ever having his serve broken, then beat fellow German Boris Becker in straight sets in the final to win his only Grand Slam singles title. The following year he won the Wimbledon men's doubles title alongside John McEnroe in an epic 19-17 fifth-set final, before pairing with his rival Becker to win Olympic doubles gold at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Stich reached his career-high ranking of World No. 2 in 1993, a year in which he won the season-ending ATP Tour Finals undefeated, beating Pete Sampras in the final, and helped West Germany win the Davis Cup and Hopman Cup. He reached two further Grand Slam singles finals, at the 1994 US Open and 1996 French Open, but lost both. Stich retired in 1997 after a Wimbledon semifinal run, finishing with 18 singles titles and a career record over Sampras. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2018 and has since worked as a sports manager, tournament director, and BBC tennis commentator.

Powerful serve-and-volley player with crisp net skills and a strong one-handed backhand

As of the 2020s, the last German man to win Wimbledon, and part of Germany's golden generation of tennis alongside Becker and Steffi Graf

• Wimbledon champion (1991)
• Olympic gold medal, doubles (1992)
• ATP Tour Finals champion (1993)
• Career-high ranking of World No. 2
• International Tennis Hall of Fame (2018)