Jan Kukal (born 13 September 1942) 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 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 ...

Career

Kukal won the Czechoslovakian National Championships in 1968, the same year that he played his first

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 ...

tie for his country. He went on to appear in a total of 16 Davis Cup ties and finished with a 13-11 career record, which included five singles wins. In 1969 he was a member of the Czechoslovak team that won Europe's King's Cup.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> He reached four Grand Prix/ WCT doubles finals during his career, for one win, at

Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

in 1973. At Grand Slam level his best performance was a semi-final appearance in the doubles event at the 1972 French Open, with

Jan Kodeš Jan Kodeš (born 1 March 1946) is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time major singles champion, Kodeš was one of the premier players in the early 1970s. Kodeš's greatest success was achieved on the clay courts of the French ...

.ITF Pro Circuit Profile
/ref>

Coaching

Kukal began his coaching career while he was still playing. In 1972 he was coach of the Romania Davis Cup team and he coached the Dutch team the following year. From 1981 to 1983, he coached Czechoslovakia in the Davis Cup. During that time he was also Czechoslovak

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

captain and led them to the 1983 Federation Cup title. He then coached the

Austria Davis Cup team The Austria Davis Cup team represents Austria in the Davis Cup and is governed by the Austrian Tennis Federation. In 2010, Austria was re-promoted to the World Group after being relegated to the Europa/Africa Zone Group I only one year earlier. I ...

, from 1984 to 1990, and captained the Czech Republic Davis Cup team from 1999 until 2003.

Grand Prix/WCT career finals

Doubles: 4 (1–3)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kukal, Jan 1942 births Living people Czech male tennis players Czechoslovak male tennis players Czech tennis coaches Tennis players from Prague