Nikola Pilić

Nikola Pilić
Pilić at the 1975 Dutch Open
Country (sports) Yugoslavia
Born(1939-08-27)27 August 1939
Split, Banovina of Croatia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Died23 September 2025(2025-09-23) (aged 86)
Rijeka, Croatia
Height1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Turned pro1968 (amateur tour from 1960)
Retired1978
PlaysLeft-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record270–201
Career titles9
Highest rankingNo. 6 (1968, Lance Tingay)[1]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open3R (1970)
French OpenF (1973)
WimbledonSF (1967)
US OpenQF (1973)
Professional majors
US ProQF (1968)
Wembley ProQF (1968)
French ProQF (1968)
Doubles
Career record143–134 (Open era)
Career titles6
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenQF (1970)
French Open4R (1969, 1976–77)
WimbledonF (1962)
US OpenW (1970)
Medal record
Representing  Yugoslavia
Tennis
Mediterranean Games
1963 Naples Doubles
1963 Naples Singles
Universiade
1961 Sofia Doubles
1961 Sofia Singles

Nikola Pilić (27 August 1939 – 23 September 2025) was a Croatian professional tennis player who competed for SFR Yugoslavia. He was the coach of the Croatian, West German and Serbian national tennis teams, with whom he won several Davis Cup titles.[2] He participated in the founding of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the professionalization of tennis.[2]

Pilić was one of the Handsome Eight.[3] Pilić was ranked world No. 6 in January 1968 and world No. 7 for 1967 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph.[1][4]

Early life

Pilić was born in Split, then in the Banovina of Croatia of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, on 27 August 1939, to Krsto Pilić and Danica Tomić-Ferić.

The youngster took up tennis during the summer of 1952.[5] 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 enrol at a community college (viša škola) in Zagreb, but due to not meeting the entrance criteria ended up in Novi Sad where he studied government administration (viša upravna škola).

Tennis career

In 1964 he won the Moscow International Championships against countryman Boro Jovanović in five sets.[6] Pilic reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1967, beating Roy Emerson.[7] 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.[8]

In 1970, Pilić won the Bristol Open or West of England Championships defeating Tom Okker in a long match, Graham Stilwell, Marty Riessen, John Newcombe in a close match, and Rod Laver 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 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, losing to Ilie Năstase in straight sets.[9]

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.[10][11][12]

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 in 1988, 1989 and 1993, Croatia in 2005 and Serbia in 2010.[2][13] He's been working with Serbia Davis Cup team in the adviser role since 2007, and won the Davis Cup title in 2010.

He ran a tennis academy in Oberschleißheim near Munich where he resided. Players such as Michael Stich, Novak Djokovic, Ernests Gulbis and Anastasija Sevastova developed and came through the Pilić's academy.[14]

Personal life and death

In 1970, Pilić married Serbian actress Milica "Mija" Adamović.[15] The couple had a child in 1971, daughter Danijela.[15] Their second child, son Niko, was born in 1975.[16][15]

In 2020, he was awarded the Golden Medal of Merits of Republic of Serbia.[17]

Pilić died in Rijeka, Croatia, on 23 September 2025, at the age of 86.[2][18][19]

A month after his death, in mid-November 2025, a ceremony was held in Pilić's honor in Bologna, attended by Ivan Ljubičić, Novak Đoković, and Boris Becker, the players with whom Pilić won the Davis Cup.[13]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1973 French Open Clay Ilie Năstase 3–6, 3–6, 0–6

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

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1962 Wimbledon Grass Boro Jovanović Bob Hewitt
Fred Stolle		 2–6, 7–5, 2–6, 4–6
Win 1970 US Open Grass Pierre Barthès Roy Emerson
Rod Laver		 6–3, 7–6, 4–6, 7–6

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
Tournament 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 SR
Australian Open A A 2R A A A A A A A 3R 2R A A A A A A A A 0 / 3
French Open A 4R 2R 3R 4R 3R A A A 2R A 1R A F A 3R A 1R 2R 0 / 11
Wimbledon 2R 3R 2R 1R 2R A 1R SF 1R 1R 2R 3R A A 3R 1R 4R 3R A 0 / 15
US Open A A 1R A A 1R A 3R 4R 3R 4R 4R 4R QF A A A A A 0 / 9
Strike rate 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 4 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 38

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

References

  1. ^ a b "Top Players Go For Cup", St. Petersburg Times, 31 January 1968.
  2. ^ a b c d "Preminuo Nikola Pilić, legenda hrvatskog i svjetskog tenisa" [Nikola Pilić, legend of Croatian and world tennis, passes away]. sport.hrt.hr (in Croatian). Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT). 23 September 2025.
  3. ^ Deutsche Welle Croatian language service 19 July 2010 Nikola Pilić – 'Prus sa Balkana'
  4. ^ United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First edition), p. 428.
  5. ^ Nikola Pilić: Krao sam novac od majke da kupim reket;Blic, 29 May 2011
  6. ^ "Yugoslavian Captures Moscow Title". Hartford Courant. Hartford, CT: The Wikipedia Library - Newspaper Archive.Com. 17 August 1964. p. 19. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Wimbledon 1967". www.tennis.co.nf.
  8. ^ Wind, Herbert Warren (1979). Game, Set, and Match : The Tennis Boom of the 1960s and 70s (1. ed.). New York: Dutton. pp. 65–70. ISBN 0525111409.
  9. ^ Collins, Bud (2010). The Bud Collins History of Tennis (2nd ed.). [New York]: New Chapter Press. pp. 389, 478. ISBN 978-0942257700.
  10. ^ John Barrett, ed. (1974). World of Tennis '74. London: Queen Anne. pp. 15–17, 45–47. ISBN 978-0362001686.
  11. ^ "The History of the Championships". AELTC. Archived from the original on 27 June 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  12. ^ "Dark Fortnight For Wimbledon..." SI. 2 July 1973. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  13. ^ a b "Teniske zvijezde u Bologni odale počast Nikoli Piliću" [Tennis stars in Bologna pay tribute to Nikola Pilić]. sport.hrt.hr (in Croatian). Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT). 19 November 2025.
  14. ^ Grasso, John (2011). Historical Dictionary of Tennis. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. p. 225. ISBN 978-0810872370.
  15. ^ a b c Radonić, Aleksandar (23 September 2025). "Ljubav Nikole Pilića sa Srpkinjom bila je jača od rata i svih podela: Zavoleli su se u Novom Sadu i čak tri puta venčavali!" (in Serbian). Kurir. Retrieved 23 September 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  16. ^ Četiri decenije sa Nikolom; Blic, 25 September 2010
  17. ^ "Svečana ceremonija dodele ordenja povodom Sretenja VIDEO". B92.net (in Serbian). 15 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  18. ^ "Novak Djokovic's tennis father Nikola Pilic passes away at 87". tennisupdate. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  19. ^ "Niki Pilic, dashing tennis player who went on to coach five Davis Cup-winning teams". The Telegraph. 30 September 2025. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
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