1961 Universiade, Sofia: Tennis bronze in the men’s singles and mixed doubles. 1965 Universiade, Budapest: Gold in the men’s singles and mixed doubles, bronze in the men’s doubles

Ion Tiriac first came to public notice as a child table tennis champion, and thereafter as a member of the Romanian ice hockey team that finished 12th in the 1964 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck.

But his name would be made in tennis, first as a player, then as a coach and a promoter of tournaments, as he progressed in life to the point where, in 2010, he was declared by TOP 300 Capital to be the richest man in Romania.

In 2018, Tiriac ranked #1867 on the Forbes World's Billionaires list, with wealth listed at $1.2 billion.

After his Olympic appearance, Tiriac decided to concentrate his energies on tennis, and the following year he got onto the gold standard at the Summer Universiade in Budapest, where he won the singles and mixed doubles titles and took bronze in the men’s doubles.

That brought his collection of FISU medals to five, as he had earned bronze in the singles and mixed doubles four years earlier at the Universiade in Sofia.

As a tennis professional Tiriac won one Grand Prix event, at Munich in 1970, but was mainly known for his successful doubles pairing with fellow countryman Ilie Nastase, who won French and US Open singles titles, and was twice runner-up at Wimbledon.

Tiriac and Nastase were runners-up in the 1966 US Open final, and won the French Open title in 1970, defeating Arthur Ashe and Charlie Pasarell of the United States 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

After retiring, Tiriac coached players including Nastase, Guilermo Vilas, Goran Ivanišević and Marat Safin, and also managed Boris Becker’s career between 1984 and 1993.

On July 13, 2013 he joined the International Tennis Hall of Fame as a successful promoter and tournament director for numerous events including the two of the largest Masters 1000 events, the Italian Open and the Madrid Masters.