Nikola "Nikki" Špear (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Шпеар; 22 February 1944 – 2 December 2017), often spelled Nicola Spear in English-language media, was a Serbian tennis player and coach who represented Yugoslavia in his playing career.[1][2]

Professional career

Špear won the senior championship of Yugoslavia 1968, 1972, 1973 and 1975.[3]

Between 1969 and 1975, he represented Yugoslavia in the Davis Cup, compiling a 5–9 record in singles and 3–4 in doubles, for an overall 8–13 record across seven ties.[4]

Following his playing career, Špear worked as a tennis coach, leading the Denmark Davis Cup team, the German Fed Cup team, and the FR Yugoslavia Davis Cup team.[5]

In addition to his coaching career, he also organised tennis events in his hometown of Subotica.[6]

Career finals

Singles: 3 (3 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Tour (0–3)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–1)
Clay (0–2)
Grass (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoor (0–2)
Indoor (0–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Mar 1970 Barranquilla, Colombia Clay Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Željko Franulović 7–9, 3–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 Mar 1971 Pensacola, United States Hard (i) Czechoslovakia Milan Holecek 6–4, 3–6, 3–6
Loss 0–3 Feb 1975 Algiers, Algeria Clay Sweden Birger Andersson 7–5, 6–2, 0–6, 1–6, 2–6

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Tour (0–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoor (0–1)
Indoor (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Apr 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

Year Record Players matched
1968 Triple bagel win (6–0, 6–0, 6–0) At least 17 players

References

  1. ^ SPEAR, Nikki at itftennis.com
  2. ^ Nicola Spear at atpworldtour.com
  3. ^ "Istorijat". tenis.rs. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  4. ^ Nikki Spear: Player Profile at daviscup.com
  5. ^ Najbolji subotički teniser svih vremena
  6. ^ 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."
Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Spear
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