Ivan Lendl: What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

This is a standing question in The Guardian's decades-long The Q&A and also recurs independently in career and life interviews.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Ivan Lendl said elsewhere, not written here

I always wanted to play tennis. Otherwise, I always thought it would be fun to do something in mathematics or physics.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 July 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

Joanne Froggatt English actress

An actor – that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I went to stage school when I was 13.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2019 source ↗

Ralph Ineson English actor and narrator

A Yorkshire cricketer, but I wasn’t good enough.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 February 2018 source ↗

An actor. I watched a lot of TV because we lived in the countryside and the weather was so bad.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 June 2026 source ↗

Jo Nesbø Norwegian writer and musician

I wanted to play for Tottenham.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 April 2026 source ↗

As a guy who had fun.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 July 2017 source ↗

People who have done really well in their sports: in tennis, Steffi Graf; in ice hockey, Wayne Gretzky.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 July 2017 source ↗

I am not thinking about dying yet.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 July 2017 source ↗

Plenty of matches got away, but there’s nothing I can do about it, so why worry?

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 July 2017 source ↗

Search the directory for somebody in particular.