Jan Kodes ‘supplied information about Ivan Lendl to secret police’

• Country’s leadership feared Lendl would follow Martina Navratilova to the US

Former Wimbledon champion Jan Kodes has been spotted sitting at Centre Court in front of the most famous spy of all: James Bond, aka Daniel Craig.

But unbeknown to his fellow spectator in the Royal Box last year, it was the Czech men’s single winner from 1973 who was once sucked into a real-life spying drama.

Kodes supplied information to the Communist secret police about his compatriot and later world number one Ivan Lendl and other Czechoslovak tennis stars during the Cold War amid fears they would defect to the US or Britain, according to state archives seen by the Mail.

He signed a pledge agreeing to clandestine contact with the regime’s Interior Ministry which ran the brutal StB state security and promised to report any ‘undesirable happenings’, the files say.

At the same time, Kodes – then captain of the Czechoslovak Davies Cup team – was also being extensively spied on by the secret police.

And in an extraordinary twist, StB agents suspected he agreed to speak to them to try to ‘ruthlessly’ secure himself a leading role in Czech and international tennis at a time when rising star Lendl was starting to ‘overshadow’ him.

Revelations of the Cold War skulduggery as described in the Czech Security Service archives will shock the tennis world, where both men still enjoy a high profile.

Lendl, who became a US citizen in 1992, was one of the sport’s biggest names during the Eighties, winning eight Grand Slams and was twice a losing Wimbledon finalist.

He later became Andy Murray’s coach, helping his protégée to two Wimbledon titles, the US Open and two Olympic golds.

And Kodes, who also twice won the French Open, was proudly pictured back on Wimbledon’s Centre Court next to Murray and other former champions to mark the tournament’s centenary in 2022.

Other photos on his social media show him shaking hands with the Queen in 1996, sitting in the Royal Box with the Prince and Princess of Wales and Theresa May and meeting David Beckham and Cliff Richard.

The glamour is a different world from his life under a totalitarian regime during the Eighties.

With the Communist leadership terrified that Lendl would cause them more global embarrassment by defecting to the US, as Czechoslovak born Martina Navratilova had done in 1975, they tasked the StB to launch ‘Operation Winner’ to keep check on him.

A file from January 1982 outlining the plan said alleged ‘disagreements between Kodes and Lendl’ offered them an ‘opening’ to ‘use Kodes to gain certain information about Lendl.’

They proposed offering Kodes regular ‘confidential’ meetings to discuss ‘recent problems around Czechoslovak tennis’ in which they would try to glean information about the risk of Lendl emigrating.

But the agents also disparagingly noted Kodes’ previous criticism of communist policies and his wealth, which was said to include a ‘luxury villa’ with a swimming pool, tennis courts and sauna and a Jaguar, and decided to also put him under surveillance ‘using all available means’.

This included correspondence checks, telephone taps, monitoring his bank accounts and his family to find out about his ‘contacts, interests, routine and identifying persons close to him who we could possibly make use of,’ the files said.

During his first two meetings at the Ministry of Interior in Prague in October 1983, Kodes promised to provide a ‘comprehensive report’ on talks he and Czechoslovak tennis officials were having with Lendl over his potential emigration to the US.

He denied any rift with Lendl and instead urged the authorities to allow the young star to live and earn money in America while still representing Czechoslovakia in tournaments.

But he gave frank assessments of other Czechoslovak tennis officials including branding one referee ‘a waste of time’, describing Lendl’s father Jiří as ‘capable’ but ‘stuck up’ and claiming player Jan Kukal ‘moaned constantly about ‘bad conditions in Czechoslovakia’ and was most interested in ‘securing his long-term stay abroad,’ the files said.

Kodes said he was ‘happy’ to inform the officials ‘about any undesirable happenings in Czechoslovak tennis’ gave the agents his telephone numbers where he could be ‘contacted any time’ and without question agreed to sign a ‘declaration of no disclosure’ pledging not to reveal the meetings, even to relatives, because what they discussed was a ‘state secret’.

Kodes ‘assured us that he has not talked about his contact … with anyone nor does he intend to do so,’ the files said.

‘It was obvious from the interview that Kodes would love to become the head of Czechoslovak tennis and that he is determined to do away, ruthlessly, with everyone standing in his way’

It added that ‘his contact with the security authorities’ was probably motivated to use them to ‘achieve his objectives’ and to ‘find out what might be detrimental to his career.’

‘Kodes knows that if Ivan Lendl wins at least one Grand Slam, he will become the best Czechoslovak tennis player and completely overshadow Kodes’ past success…

‘He is building such a position in Czechoslovak tennis that in the future he should be able to reach the top spot in Czechoslovak tennis and also one of the top spots in the International Tennis Federation.’

It added it was vital to consider this when ‘accepting information’ from Kodes and only ‘implement measures’ after checking everything.

One measure that was taken was to ‘raise suspicion’ about Kukal, by allowing all tennis officials and their wives to pass border control unchecked when leaving Czechoslovakia, apart from for Kukal who would be stopped, while on the return everyone but Kukal was searched.

At a third meeting at Prague’s Intercontinental Hotel in November 1983, as well as updating them on Lendl, Kodes said Wimbledon finalist Hana Mandlíková had talked about her intention to settle in the UK. In fact Mandlíková later took Australian citizenship in 1988.

Kodes’ contact with the StB and updates on Lendl continued until at least September 1984, according to the files.

He told the Mail he recalled being ‘questioned by secret agents’ in his office in November 1983 and ahead of his military service in 1973, but said he had no memory of any other meetings or signing a declaration.

Information attributed to him in the files probably came from other StB agents in the Czechoslovak Tennis Federation, he said.

He added: ‘I never collaborated with STB. Our family was very anti-communist. My father would probably have killed me, if I’d done that.’