match against the Netherlands in The Hague (1973) At the beginning of his career in 1966, Năstase traveled around the world competing with
Ion Țiriac. They represented Romania in the
Davis Cup competition, being runners up in
1969,
1971, and
1972. In singles, Năstase won his first tournament at Cannes on 16 April 1967. His first victories against top players happened in 1969 in
Stockholm, where he defeated
Tony Roche and
Stan Smith. Năstase became one of the best players in 1970, with many experts ranking him as the sixth-best player in the world at that time, behind the Australians
Rod Laver,
Ken Rosewall,
John Newcombe, and Tony Roche and the American
Arthur Ashe. Năstase's high ranking resulted from his success at the
Italian Open in Rome and at the U.S. Indoor Open in Salisbury, Maryland. With Tiriac, Năstase won the men's doubles title at the French Open. In 1971, Năstase was the runner-up at the French Open, where he lost the final in four sets to
Jan Kodeš. In December, Năstase won his first
Masters Grand Prix title, finishing in front of Stan Smith in a round robin competition. In 1972, at
Wimbledon, Năstase narrowly lost to Stan Smith in an epic five-set final, one of the more exciting championship matches. He won the
US Open in a five-set final over Ashe, despite trailing 2 sets to 1 and 4-2 in the fourth set. This tournament was the only event of the year in which all the best players participated. In the Davis Cup, Năstase was undefeated in singles until losing to Stan Smith in the final played on clay in his native Bucharest. In December at the
year-end tour finals, Năstase defeated Smith, winning his second consecutive Masters Grand Prix title. In 1973, Năstase won 17 tournaments, including the French Open where he beat 33-year-old
Nikola Pilić in the final in straight sets. "Throughout the match it was Nastase's backhand that won the points". He also won a doubles title at Wimbledon, and a third Masters title. He was the
world No. 1 in the ATP rankings that year. He also won the 'Martini and Rossi' Award, voted for by a panel of journalists and was ranked No. 1 by an international poll of 17 tennis writers,
Tennis Magazine (U.S.), Bud Collins, Rino Tommasi and Rex Bellamy. In the Davis Cup, he won seven of eight singles rubbers. In matches against the other top players, Năstase was 1–0 against Newcombe and 1–1 against Smith. The Romanian won the French Open without dropping a set (a feat repeated by
Björn Borg in 1978 and 1980 and by
Rafael Nadal in 2008, 2010, 2017 and 2020), and he won the French Open (clay), Rome (clay) and Queen's Club (grass) in succession. Năstase was seeded No. 2 for
Wimbledon, behind the defending champion Stan Smith. When the newly formed ATP withdrew its players from the tournament following the suspension by the ITF of Yugoslav
Nikola Pilić, only three ATP players (Năstase,
Roger Taylor and
Ray Keldie) defied the boycott and were fined by the ATP's disciplinary committee. Năstase was promoted to No. 1 seed for the players in the subsequently weakened field and publicly stated his support for the ATP action but insisted that as a serving captain, he was under orders from the Romanian army and government to compete and thus could not boycott the tournament. Some contemporary press speculation, and later biographies have suggested Năstase contrived to lose his fourth-round match to American
Sandy Mayer, but to have lost any earlier to a considerably less able player would have been too obvious. Năstase never has commented publicly on this speculation. In 1974, he was the only player to qualify for both the
WCT Finals and the
Masters Grand Prix finals. Năstase played well in the Masters, in particular against Newcombe in the semifinals. (Năstase finished his career with a 4–1 record versus Newcombe, losing only their first match in 1969.) The Romanian, however, lost the final to
Guillermo Vilas in five sets. For the fifth consecutive year, Năstase reached the
Masters Grand Prix final in 1975, where he defeated Björn Borg in three straight sets. During the first half of 1976, Năstase won four tournaments (Atlanta WCT, Avis Challenge Cup WCT, US Open Indoor, and La Costa), and head-to-head, he led Connors 2–1, Vilas 1–0, Ashe 1–0, and Borg 2–0. Năstase did not enter the Australian Open, which was again avoided by most of the top players. Năstase was prevented from entering the French Open because he participated in
World Team Tennis. In the second half of the year, third-seeded Năstase lost in straight sets to Borg in the men's singles final of
Wimbledon and in the semifinals of the US Open. Năstase won three other tournaments during the second half of the year, the Pepsi Grand Slam, South Orange, and the four-man tournament of Caracas, Venezuela, in October (not to be confused with the Caracas WCT tournament in March), making seven tournament championships for the year. Năstase was the world No. 3, behind Connors and Borg. In 1977, Năstase finished No. 9 in the ATP rankings. He was a quarterfinalist at the French Open and at
Wimbledon (losing to Borg), and participated in the WCT Finals. During his quarterfinal match at Wimbledon Năstase had a row with umpire Jeremy Shales. Shales called him "Năstase" when asking him to move to the
advantage court, "like a master speaks to a naughty schoolboy." (Năstase has also said Shales asked him to pick up a piece of paper that had blown onto the court, saying, "Năstase, pick up that paper.") Năstase angrily replied "You call me Mr. Năstase!".
Mr. Nastase later became the title of his autobiography. He was still one of the 20 best players in 1978; at
Wimbledon, he again reached the quarterfinals. Năstase retired from the tour in October 1985 at the age of 39 after playing in the
Grand Prix de Tennis de Toulouse, but he did play the challenger tournament at Dijon in June 1988. ==Controversies==