Name Nikola Pilic Career end 1978 Role Tennis player Spouse Mija Adamovic (m. 1970) | Career record 211–168 (Open era) Height 1.91 m Retired 2015 Career titles 9 Weight 82 kg | |
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Turned pro 1968 (amateur tour from 1960) Plays Left-handed (1-handed backhand) Similar People Pierre Barthes, Jelena Gencic, Jelena Dokic, Damir Dokic | ||
SYND 14 6 73 TENNIS
Nikola "Niki" Pilić (born 27 August 1939) is a retired Croatian professional tennis player who competed for SFR Yugoslavia.
Contents
- SYND 14 6 73 TENNIS
- SYND 19 6 73 INTERVIEWS WITH PILIC KRAMER AND WIMBLEDON OFFICIAL OVER BOYCOTTING TENNIS TOURNAMENT
- Biography
- Post playing
- References
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.
SYND 19 6 73 INTERVIEWS WITH PILIC, KRAMER AND WIMBLEDON OFFICIAL OVER BOYCOTTING TENNIS TOURNAMENT
Biography
Pilić was born in Split, Croatian Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia to Krsto Pilić and Danica Tomić-Ferić year and a half before the outbreak of World War II.
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 shipbuilding at the streamlined high school in Split. Upon graduating he attempted to enroll at a community college (viša škola) in Zagreb, but due to not meeting the entrance criteria ended up in Novi Sad where he studied administration (viša upravna škola).
He 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 men's doubles title at the US Open together with his French partner Pierre Barthès by defeating the Australians John Newcombe and Rod Laver in four sets. His best singles performance at a Grand Slam tournament came in 1973 when he reached the final of the French Open but lost to Ilie Năstase in three straight sets.
Pilić was the catalyst to the 1973 Wimbledon Boycott. In May of that year 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 in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and including 13 of the 16 seeds, withdrew from the 1973 Wimbledon championship.
Post-playing
After retiring, Pilić began coaching and became the first captain to win the Davis Cup trophy for three different nations: Germany in 1988, 1989 and 1993, Croatia in 2005 and Serbia in 2010. He's been working with Serbia Davis Cup team in the adviser role since 2007, and have one Davis Cup title 2010.
He runs a tennis academy in Oberschleißheim near Munich where he resides, working with young professional players like Ernests Gulbis. In the past players such as Michael Stich and Novak Djokovic came through the Pilic academy.
In 1970, Pilić married Serbian actress Mija Adamović. The couple has children together.