František Pála (born 28 March 1944) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

player from the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

who competed for

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. His son Petr was also a tennis player.

Career

The Czechoslovak player took part in 15

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...

ties for his

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

, the first in 1966.Davis Cup Profile
/ref> At a tie in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

in 1972, Pala had a win over

Manuel Orantes Manuel Orantes Corral (; born 6 February 1949) is a former tennis player from Spain who was active in the 1970s and 1980s. He won the US Open men's singles title in 1975, beating defending champion Jimmy Connors in the final. Orantes reached a ...

. Earlier that year, in a tie against Sweden, Pala defeated

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at W ...

, although the Swede was only 15 at the time. In all he played 25 rubbers, of which he won 15, all but one of them in singles. He later served as Czechoslovak Davis Cup captain. Pala, who won the Czechoslovakian Championships in 1973, played in the singles draw of 18

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

tournaments and made the third round three times, at the

1970 French Open The 1970 French Open was a tennis tournament that was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris in France from 25 May through 7 June 1970. It was the 74th edition of the French Open, the 40th to be open to foreign competitors, and the second Grand ...

1972 French Open The 1972 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 22 May until 4 June. It was the 76th staging of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam ...

and

1972 Wimbledon Championships The 1972 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was scheduled to be held from Monday 26 June ...

.Tennis Archives Profile
/ref> He had his best year on the tennis circuit in 1972, when he was a finalist at

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino i ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

, losing both matches to

Ilie Năstase Ilie Theodoriu Năstase (, born 19 July 1946) is a former World No. 1 Romanian tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles from 23 August 1973 to 2 June 1974, and was the first man to hold the top position on the computerized ATP ranking ...

.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> As a doubles player he was able to reach three finals and won one of them, the 1977 BMW Open.

Grand Prix/WCT career finals

Singles: 2 (0–2)

Doubles: 3 (1–2)

References

External links

* *
Tennis academy František Pála - Pavel Vízner - Petr Pála
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pala, Frantisek 1944 births Living people People from Prague-East District Czech male tennis players Czechoslovak male tennis players Sportspeople from the Central Bohemian Region