František Pála (born 28 March 1944) is a 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 from the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

who competed for

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. His son

Petr Petr is a Czech form of the masculine given name Peter and a surname. For information on Petr as a first name, see Peter (given name). Given name * Petr Aven (born 1955), Russian billionaire banker, economist and politician * Petr Čech (born 198 ...

was also a tennis player.

Career

The Czechoslovak player took part in 15

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 ...

ties for his

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

, the first in 1966.Davis Cup Profile
/ref> At a tie in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in 1972, Pala had a win over

Manuel Orantes Manuel Orantes Corral (; born 6 February 1949) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He won 36 career singles titles, including the 1975 US Open, defeating defending champion Jimmy Connors in the final. Orantes reached a career-high ...

. Earlier that year, in a tie against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, Pala defeated

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 109 weeks. Borg won 66 singles titles during his caree ...

, although the Swede was only 15 at the time. In all he played 25 rubbers, of which he won 15, all but one of them in singles. He later served as Czechoslovak Davis Cup captain. Pala, who won the Czechoslovakian Championships in 1973, played in the singles draw of 18 Grand Slam tournaments and made the third round three times, at the 1970 French Open, 1972 French Open and 1972 Wimbledon Championships.Tennis Archives Profile
/ref> He had his best year on the tennis circuit in 1972, when he was a finalist at

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, losing both matches to

Ilie Năstase Ilie Theodoriu Năstase (; born 19 July 1946) is a Romanian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the inaugural world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 40 weeks. Năstase is one of ten play ...

.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> As a doubles player he was able to reach three finals and won one of them, the 1977 BMW Open.

Grand Prix/WCT career finals

Singles: 2 (0–2)

Doubles: 3 (1–2)

References

External links

* *
Tennis academy František Pála - Pavel Vízner - Petr Pála
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pala, Frantisek 1944 births Living people People from Prague-East District Czech male tennis players Czechoslovak male tennis players Tennis players from the Central Bohemian Region