Franjo Šefer ( sr, Фрањо Шефер ; german: Francis Schaeffer or ; born 1905 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) was a Yugoslav tennis player of Austrian-Jewish descent.

Early life and family

Franjo Šefer was born in 1905 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. They moved to Karlovac in 1910, where he made his first steps on the tennis court. Šefer was often trained with another prominent player from Karlovac, Alexander Podvineć. Šefer joined

HAŠK HAŠK ''(full name Hrvatski akademski športski klub, en, Croatian Academic Sports Club)'' was a Croatian football club established in Zagreb in 1903 which ceased operating in 1945. The club was one of the most successful sides in Zagreb and th ...

, where Krešimir Friedrich and Nikola Antolković played.

Tennis career

Franjo Šefer played for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Davis Cup team starting in 1928. In 1933 he also became the team captain. Three times in a row he was a champion of Yugoslavia (1929, 1930, 1931). He won seven titles altogether, counting the men's and mixed doubles, and he scored a victory over

Franjo Punčec Franjo Punčec (; 25 November 1913 – 5 January 1985) was a Yugoslav tennis player. He played for the Yugoslavian team at the International Lawn Tennis Challenge from 1933 to 1946. Early life and family Punčec started to play tennis at the ...

at the international tournament in

Bled Bled (; german: Veldes,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper C ...

with 6:4, 6:1. In addition to the many years he spent at the forefront of the rankings, Šefer supplied the Yugoslav national team its first individual victory in the Davis Cup. It was in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

, the second appearance of the Yugoslav National Team in the Davis Cup against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in 1928. Šefer's fourth Davis Cup appearance came in 1930 against Sweden in Belgrade, where he was the real hero of the match, in which he achieved the first Yugoslavian team victory in this competition. He parted ways with the national team in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

in the Davis Cup match against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, where he sealed the 3-2 team victory, partnering Punčec and winning the doubles. In coaching, he is credited with discovering

Dragutin Mitić Dragutin Mitić ( sh-Cyrl, Драгутин Митић, ; 16 September 1917 – 27 August 1986) was a tennis player from Yugoslavia. He defected to the West in 1952 and afterwards lived in the United States. Early life and family Dragutin Mitić ...

, helping him in the early stages and introducing him to the Davis Cup team. He set to tour

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1934 and 1935 along with Josip Pallada,

, and

Franjo Kukuljević Franjo Kukuljević (; 7 October 1909 – 8 November 2002) was a Yugoslav tennis player. He played for the Yugoslavian team at the International Lawn Tennis Challenge from 1930 to 1939. He was a 13-time national champion – one in singles ...

. In 1935 he won the All-India Lawn Tennis Doubles Championships with Kukuljević, after which he returned to his country to actively play until the beginning of World War II. He won one of his last titles in mixed national doubles in 1939. In the beginning of World War II he emigrated first to the United States and then to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, where he died. His last known whereabouts were in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in 1980.

Footnotes

Works cited

Primary

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Secondary

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sefer, Franjo 1905 births Yugoslav male tennis players Jewish tennis players Austrian Jews Serbian Jews Jewish Canadian sportspeople Yugoslav emigrants to Canada Tennis players from Vienna Year of death missing Date of birth missing