Franjo Kukuljević (;
7 October 1909 – 11 August 2002)
was a
Yugoslav 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. 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, six in doubles and six in the mixed doubles, usually with
Vlasta Gostiša. He was a Dutch, Indian and Danish champion as well.
Tennis career
Franjo Kukuljević first came to attention when he won the National Tennis Championships in 1929. This led to him receiving an invitation to join the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia Davis Cup team the following year in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
. He made his debut with doubles partner
Ivan Radović, losing to the Spanish team. He was also defeated in his singles match by
Enrique Maier due to his lack of match play. This was followed by appearances at international tournaments in places such as
Kaposvár
Kaposvár (; also known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in southwestern Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kaposvár District and th ...
,
Piešťany
Piešťany (; , , , ) is a town in Slovakia. It is located in the western part of the country within the Trnava Region and is the seat of its Piešťany District, own district. It is the biggest and best known spa town in Slovakia and has around ...
and
Semmering. In 1930 he was selected to represent Yugoslavia in the inaugural
Balkan Games in
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, joined by
Franjo Šefer
Franjo Šefer ( ; or ; born 1905 in Vienna) was a Yugoslav tennis player of Austrian-Jewish descent.
Early life and family
Franjo Šefer was born in 1905 in Vienna to a Jewish family. They moved to Karlovac in 1910, where he made his first st ...
and
Vlasta Gostiša. Playing singles, doubles and mixed doubles matches, they earned a silver medal, the final scores of the top five teams being Romania with 25 points, Yugoslavia with 24, Greece with 18, Bulgaria with 4, and Turkey with 3.
In 1931 Zagreb welcomed the
Japan Davis Cup team consisting of the Sato brothers and
Minoru Kawashima who were scheduled to face Yugoslavia in the first round of the Davis Cup in front of 1,500 spectators, which at the time was a record at the tennis courts in Yugoslavia. Kukuljević nearly defeated
Hyotaro Sato whom he pushed to five sets. He competed again at the second
Balkan Games.
In 1932 a rivalry arose between Kukuljević and the up-and-coming talent
Franjo Punčec. They met in two notable finals, first in the Yugoslavian International Championships, and then in the national championships. In both meetings Kukuljević dominated the field and left victorious. Kukuljević then returned to Semmering where he booked his first world top ten trophy over a Wimbledon champion, the Australian
Jack Crawford.
The 1933–1934 season saw Kukuljević's decline as Franjo Punčec stripped him of his national singles title. After travelling to Egypt he injured himself, which caused him to waste the rest of his season. In 1935 he won the All-India Lawn Tennis Doubles Championships with
Franjo Šefer
Franjo Šefer ( ; or ; born 1905 in Vienna) was a Yugoslav tennis player of Austrian-Jewish descent.
Early life and family
Franjo Šefer was born in 1905 in Vienna to a Jewish family. They moved to Karlovac in 1910, where he made his first st ...
. He performed well in the mixed doubles as well and took the Netherlands Championships mixed trophy.
By chance, in 1937 at the
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
he met
Madansinhji, the Maharaja of
Kutch, with whom he played doubles. They became lifelong friends. Kukuljević went on to claim the singles title in the Dutch Championships after eliminating
Giorgio de Stefani in the final. He then travelled to
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
, clinching the tournament there by beating Czechoslovakian
Josef Siba for the title. He became the Danish champion as well in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
after facing his compatriot
Josip Palada in the final match. In the doubles he won the South of Sweden Championships. He then toured India and Nepal again, then sailed to the Philippines and Japan to take part in exhibition matches.
In 1938 Kukuljević reached the Davis Cup Europe final with Punčec and Palada, and only lost to Germany in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. In
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
he beat world number one
Don Budge
John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female — to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in one year and complete the Grand Slam. Budge was ...
in two straight sets, which was a major upset.
In the
1939 Wimbledon Championships he beat reigning French champion
Don McNeill in the second round, a huge feat that received a massive media coverage in England. He marched into the quarterfinals where only
Henner Henkel of Germany was able to stop him. Together with
Simonne Mathieu
Simonne Mathieu ( Passemard;) (31 January 1908 – 7 January 1980) was a tennis player from France, born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, who was active in the 1930s. She won the French Championships singles title in 1938 and 1939.
During ...
of France, he was
runner-up at the French Open mixed doubles event in
1939
This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history.
Events
Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1
** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...
.
In 1943 he was still active within the seceded
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...
. He played in
Gödöllő
Gödöllő, officially the City of Gödöllő, is a city in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary, about northeast from the outskirts of Budapest. Its population is 34,396 according to the 2010 census and is growing rapidly. It can b ...
where he lost in the doubles, partnering
Josip Sarić.
In 1948 he added the North of England Championships to his accolades, which he won in
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
from
Gerald Oakley of Britain.
Later life
Kukuljević had a brother named Tomislav. After World War II, they emigrated to South Africa, where Kukuljević worked as a merchant and married Ljuba Kukuljević. He died in 2002 in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
, South Africa.
[
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Grand Slam tournaments finals
Mixed doubles: 1 (0 titles, 1 runner-up)
Footnotes
Works cited
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kukuljevic, Franjo
1909 births
2002 deaths
Croatian emigrants to South Africa
Croatian male tennis players
Tennis players from Zagreb
Yugoslav male tennis players