Renata Šašak-Ružir (born 14 June 1964) is a former

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

n 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.

Biography

Born 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 ...

, Šašak debuted for the Yugoslavia Federation Cup team in 1979. One of her Federation Cup doubles teammates was

Mima Jaušovec Mima Jaušovec (; born 20 July 1956) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. Competing for Yugoslavia, she won the 1977 French Open singles championship. Early life Jaušovec was born in Maribor, in present-day Slovenia, when it was p ...

, who Šašak teamed up with to win a gold medal at the

1979 Mediterranean Games The 1979 Mediterranean Games, officially known as the VIII Mediterranean Games, and commonly known as Split 1979, were the 8th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Split, Croatia, Split, SFR Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, from 15 to 29 September ...

. She won a further gold medal four years in Casablanca at the

1983 Mediterranean Games The IX Mediterranean Games (), commonly known as the 1983 Mediterranean Games, were the 9th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Casablanca, Morocco, from 3 to 17 September 1983, where 2,192 athletes (1,845 men and 347 women) from 16 coun ...

, beating

Laura Golarsa Laura Golarsa (born 27 November 1967) is a former Italian 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 o ...

to win the women's singles. Šašak competed in the main draw of both 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 ...

and

US Open U.S. Open or US Open are open championship sporting tournaments that are hosted in the United States and in which anyone, especially amateur and professional, or American and non-American, may compete. The term may also be applied to non-sporting ev ...

during her career. Her best performance came at the

1983 French Open The 1983 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 23 May until 5 June. It was the 82nd staging of the French Open, and the first Grand Slam ...

, where she made it to the second round, then took fifth seed

Pam Shriver Pamela Howard Shriver (born July 4, 1962) is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis broadcaster, pundit, and coach. She was ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and List of W ...

to a third set before being eliminated. She was awarded the Croatian Sportswoman of the Year award from

Sportske novosti ''Sportske novosti'' () is a Croatian daily sports newspaper based in Zagreb. The newspaper was established on 9 August 1945 as ''Ilustrirane fiskulturne novine'' weekly newspaper. Several months later, on 10 December 1945, its name was change ...

in 1983. At the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

in Los Angeles, Šašak represented Yugoslavia in the women's singles event, for what was then a demonstration sport. She fell in the second round, after beating third seed

Laura Arraya Laura Arraya (born 12 January 1964) is a retired Peruvian tennis player. She was also known by her married name Laura Gildemeister. Career At a young age, Argentine-born Arraya emigrated to Peru with her family and acquired Peruvian nationalit ...

. Šašak played Federation Cup tennis until 1987, in a total of 15 ties. This included Yugoslavia's run to the 1984 semi-finals, which they lost to eventual champions Czechoslovakia.

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)

References

https://issuu.com/hrvatskiolimpijskiodbor/docs/hrvatska_i_sportasice_na_olimpijski/106

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sasak, Renata 1964 births Living people Yugoslav female tennis players Croatian female tennis players Olympic tennis players for Yugoslavia Tennis players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis Competitors at the 1979 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1983 Mediterranean Games Tennis players from Zagreb Summer World University Games medalists in tennis FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Yugoslavia Medalists at the 1987 Summer Universiade