Nikola "Niki" Pilić (born 27 August 1939) is a Croatian former professional

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. He was one of the Handsome Eight. Pilić was ranked world No. 6 in January 1968 and world No. 7 for 1967 by Lance Tingay of ''The Daily Telegraph''.United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). ''Official Encyclopedia of Tennis'' (First edition), p. 428.

Early life

Pilić was born in Split, Banovina of Croatia,

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to Krsto Pilić and Danica Tomić-Ferić five days before the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

that began on 1 September 1939 with the German invasion of

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. The youngster took up tennis during the summer of 1952. Thirteen years of age at this point, he began practicing on the Firule tennis club clay courts in parallel to studying

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at the streamlined high school in Split. Upon graduating he attempted to enrol at a community college () in

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, but due to not meeting the entrance criteria ended up in

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where he studied government administration ().

Tennis career

In 1964 he won the Moscow International Championships against countryman Boro Jovanović in five sets. Pilic reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1967, beating Roy Emerson. Then open tennis arrived and Pilić was one of the Handsome Eight, a group of players signed by Lamar Hunt in 1968 for the newly formed professional World Championship Tennis (WCT) group. In 1970, Pilić won the Bristol Open or West of England Championships defeating

Tom Okker Thomas Samuel Okker (born 22 February 1944), nicknamed "the Flying Dutchman", is a Dutch former tennis player who was active from the mid-1960s until 1980. He won the 1973 French Open Doubles, the 1976 US Open Doubles, and two gold medals at the ...

in a long match, Graham Stilwell, Marty Riessen, John Newcombe in a close match, and

Rod Laver Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former professional tennis player. Laver was ranked as the World number 1 ranked male tennis players, world number 1 professional player indisputably for five years from 1965 to 1969, ...

in the final. Also that season, Pilić won the men's doubles title at the US Open with his French partner Pierre Barthès by defeating the Australians John Newcombe and

in four sets. His best singles performance at a Grand Slam tournament came in 1973 when he reached the final of the French Open, losing to Ilie Năstase in straight sets. Pilić was the catalyst to the 1973 Wimbledon boycott. In May 1973, the Yugoslav tennis federation alleged that Pilić had refused to represent them in a Davis Cup tie against New Zealand earlier that month. Pilić denied the charge, but was suspended by the federation, and the suspension was upheld by the ILTF, albeit decreased from nine months to one month, meaning that he could not enter the Wimbledon Championships. In protest at the suspension, 81 of Pilić's fellow professionals, organized into the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and including 13 of the 16 seeds, withdrew from the 1973 Wimbledon Championships.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

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

Post-playing

After retiring from playing tennis professionally, Pilić began coaching and became the first captain to win the Davis Cup trophy for three nations:

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1988, 1989 and 1993,

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

in 2005 and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

in 2010. He's been working with Serbia Davis Cup team in the adviser role since 2007, and won the Davis Cup title in 2010. He runs a tennis academy in Oberschleißheim near Munich where he resides. Players such as Michael Stich, Novak Djokovic, Ernests Gulbis and Anastasija Sevastova developed and came through the Pilic academy.

Personal

In 1970, Pilić married Serbian actress Mija Adamović. The couple has children together. In 2020 he was awarded the Golden Medal of Merits of Republic of Serbia.

References

External links

* * *
Tennis Academy Niki Pilic
– Official site
An interview in ''Jet Set'' magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilic, Nikola 1939 births Living people Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Croatian male tennis players Croatian tennis coaches Tennis players from Split, Croatia US Open (tennis) champions Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Yugoslav male tennis players Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Yugoslavia Competitors at the 1963 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis Summer World University Games medalists in tennis Novak Djokovic coaches FISU World University Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia FISU World University Games silver medalists for Yugoslavia Medalists at the 1961 Summer Universiade