Vladimir Petrović (born 11 May 1929) 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 represented Yugoslavia and later emigrated to the United States.
Biography
Petrović, a three-time national champion, played
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
tennis for
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 ...
. He also competed several times at both the
French Championships
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 events eve ...
and
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
. Although he held a law degree from the
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...
, he chose not to practise law as he would have been required to join the
Communist Party.
His most noted performance in a
Grand Slam tournament was reaching the third round of the
1951 Wimbledon Championships. He won five set matches in both of the opening two rounds, then had his run ended by American
.
In 1952 he made his Davis Cup debut in a tie against
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
and also featured in a tie with
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
, in which he had a win over
Roger Becker
Roger Becker (6 February 1934 – 6 November 2017) was a British tennis player. Becker also played in cricket, football, and golf before pursuing tennis competitively in 1949. In 1952, Becker played in the Davis Cup when he was 18, the youngest ...
.
The following year he took part in a tie against
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
in his native Croatia, where he lost a marathon five setter to
Robert Haillet
Robert Haillet (26 September 1931 – 26 September 2011) was a French international tennis player. He competed in the Davis Cup a number of times, from 1952 to 1960.
The iconic tennis shoe adidas Stan Smith was initially named "adidas Robert H ...
, but was able to defeat
Robert Abdesselam in the reverse singles. He finished his Davis Cup career with an 8/10 overall record from seven ties, the last in 1955, just months before he defected.
With Yugoslavia under
Communist rule, Petrović made the decision to defect in 1955. His wife Georgia, a renowned table tennis player, had temporarily left the country on a student exchange program, which gave him an opportunity to seek asylum when he travelled to England for the
1955 Wimbledon Championships. He ended up in Germany, where he remained based for the next four years.
In 1958 he won the
Dutch Championships and made his last appearance at Wimbledon, beaten by eventual runner-up
Neale Fraser.
In 1959 he moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
with his family. At the LA Tennis Club(LATC) he defeated many Top US and Australian tennis players in the Pacific South West(PSW) tournament in Septembers after the US Championships in New York. His son
Glenn competed on the professional tennis circuit.
See also
*
List of Yugoslavia Davis Cup team representatives
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrovic, Vladimir
1929 births
Living people
Yugoslav male tennis players
Croatian male tennis players
Yugoslav emigrants to Germany
Yugoslav emigrants to the United States
Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb alumni
Tennis players from Los Angeles