Željko Franulović (; born 13 June 1947) is a Croatian former

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player who competed for

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

and has since had a long career in tennis management. He has been the

Monte-Carlo Masters The Monte-Carlo Masters (also known as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters for sponsorship reasons) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, which borders on Monaco. It is played on clay cour ...

tournament director since 2005. Whilst his career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 30, the ATP rankings were installed after his 1969–1971 heyday – Franulović was ranked inside the top 20 in both 1970 and 1971, reaching as high as world No. 8 in March 1971. Finalist of the 1970 French Open and winner in Monte Carlo the same year. His singles career lasted 20 years from 1963 to 1983 in which he won 23 career titles.

Biography

Franulović was born on the island of

Korčula Korčula () is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea. It has an area of , is long and on average wide, and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 15,522 inhabitants (2011) make it the second most populous Adriatic island after Krk. The populat ...

to father Ivo and mother Katica, but at the age of one month got brought to

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

where he grew up. His playing career lasted for 20 years between 1963 and 1983, during which he won a total of twenty three singles titles, as well as seven doubles titles. He played his first singles tournament at the 1963 Yugoslavian International Championships. In 1967 he won his first title at the same event. He is remembered for reaching the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

final in 1970, which he lost to Czech Jan Kodeš in straight sets. He reached the semifinals the following year. He also won the

in 1970. He won his final singles title in 1982 at the San Benedetto Open in Italy. He played his final tournament at the ATP Essen Challenger event in 1983. Since retiring from playing tennis, Franulović became involved in the ATP since the 1990s. He was the coach of the Croatian Davis Cup Team from 1994 to 1997. He was the Tournament Representative for Europe on the

Association of Tennis Professionals The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour and the ATP Challenger Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to p ...

' Board of Directors, between 2007 and 2009.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Grand Prix Super Series finals

Singles: 3 (3 titles)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

Orders

Order of Saint-Charles The Order of Saint Charles (; Monégasque: ''U̍rdine de San Carlu'') is a dynastic order of knighthood established in Monaco on 15 March 1858. Award This order rewards service to the State or Prince. In particular cases, it may be grante ...

KnightRemise de décorations dans les ordres de Saint-Charles et des Grimaldi par S.A.S le Prince Albert II
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References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Franulovic, Zeljko 1947 births Living people Croatian male tennis players Croatian tennis coaches Tennis players from Split, Croatia Yugoslav male tennis players