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Nikola Špear

Nikola Špear
Country (sports)Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia
Born(1944-02-22)22 February 1944
Subotica, Kingdom of Hungary
Died2 December 2017(2017-12-02) (aged 73)
Subotica, Serbia
PlaysRight-handed
Singles
Career record295–312
Career titles8
Highest rankingNo. 78 (2 July 1977)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open1R (1975)
French Open4R (1966, 1967)
Wimbledon2R (1970)
US Open2R (1975)
Doubles
Career record50–95
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 672 (2 January 1984)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R (1975)
French Open3R (1970, 1971)
Wimbledon3R (1968)
US Open1R (1969, 1971, 1976)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open2R (1968)
Wimbledon3R (1970)
Team competitions
Davis CupFEu (1970)

Nikola "Nikki" Špear (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Шпеар; 22 February 1944 – 2 December 2017) was a Yugoslavian international tennis player.[1][2] Špear won the senior championship of Yugoslavia 1968, 1972, 1973 and 1975.[3] He also organised tennis events in his hometown of Subotica.[4]

He competed in the Davis Cup a number of times, from 1969 to 1975.[5]

He was the coach of Denmark Davis Cup team, the German Fed Cup team and the Davis Cup team of FR Yugoslavia.[6]

Grand Prix/WCT career finals

Doubles: 2 (0–2)

Result W–L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 1975 Barcelona, Spain Clay Australia Paul Kronk Spain Juan Gisbert
Spain Manuel Orantes
7–6, 2–6, 4–6
Loss 0–2 1977 Munich, West Germany Clay United States John Whitlinger Czechoslovakia František Pála
Hungary Balázs Taróczy
3–6, 4–6

Singles performance timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS NTI P NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
Tournament 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A A A A A 1R A A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
French Open 1R 4R 4R 2R 1R 3R 2R P2 1R Q1 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R A A 0 / 13 10–11 48%
Wimbledon A A 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R A A 1R 1R A A A A A 0 / 8 1–8 11%
US Open A A A A A A 1R A A 1R 2R 1R 1R A A A A 0 / 5 1–5 17%
Win–loss 0–0 3–1 2–2 1–2 0–1 3–2 1–3 0–1 0–1 0–1 2–4 0–3 0–2 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 0 / 28 12–25 32%
National representation
Davis Cup A A A A QFEu FEu A 1REu A A QFEu A A A A A A 0 / 4 5–9 36%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–2 4–4 0–0 0–2 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 4 5–9 36%
Career statistics
1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 Career
Tournaments 1 1 2 3 5 13 15 11 13 13 25 16 19 4 3 2 0 146
Titles / Finals 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0
Overall win–loss 0–0 3–1 2–2 1–3 2–3 14–13 4–15 3–10 5–12 2–12 16–25 5–16 15–19 1–4 1–3 0–2 0–0 70–144
Win % 75% 50% 25% 40% 52% 21% 23% 29% 14% 39% 24% 44% 20% 25% 0% 35%
Year-end ranking N/A 124 153 92 151 122 357 312 383 N/A No. 78

Records

Time span Other selected records Players matched
1968 Triple bagel win (6–0, 6–0, 6–0) Karel Nováček
Stefan Edberg
Ivan Lendl
Sergi Bruguera

References

  1. ^ SPEAR, Nikki at itftennis.com
  2. ^ Nicola Spear at atpworldtour.com
  3. ^ "Istorijat". tenis.rs. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  4. ^ Subotica.info "Među prisutnim gostima bili su proslavljeni teniser Nikola Špear i Katarina Vojnić Hajduk koja je godinama u Republičkom zavodu za međunarodnu, naučnu, prosvetnu, kulturnu i tehničku saradnju bila zadužena za kontakte sa Amerikom."
  5. ^ Nikki Spear: Player Profile at daviscup.com
  6. ^ Najbolji subotički teniser svih vremena