| Željko Franulović | |
| Residence: | Split, Croatia |
| Birth Date: | 13 June 1947 |
| Birth Place: | Korčula, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia |
| Turnedpro: | 1969 (ILTF World Circuit from 1963) |
| Retired: | 1980 |
| Plays: | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Singlesrecord: | [1] |
| Singlestitles: | 23 |
| Highestsinglesranking: | No. 8 (1 March 1971) |
| Frenchopenresult: | F (1970) |
| Wimbledonresult: | 3R (1970) |
| Usopenresult: | 3R (1975, 1976, 1977) |
| Othertournaments: | yes |
| Masterscupresult: | RR (1970, 1971) |
| Doublesrecord: | 190–203 |
| Doublestitles: | 7 |
| Highestdoublesranking: | No. 312 (3 January 1983) |
Željko Franulović (pronounced as /hr/;[2] [3] born 13 June 1947) is a Croatian former tennis player who competed for SFR Yugoslavia and has since had a long career in tennis management. He has been the Monte-Carlo Masters tournament director since 2005.[4]
Whilst his career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 30, the ATP rankings were installed after his 1969–1971 heyday – Franulović was ranked inside the top 20 in both 1970 and 1971, reaching as high as world No. 8 in March 1971. Finalist of the 1970 French Open and winner in Monte Carlo the same year. His singles career lasted 20 years from 1963 to 1983 in which he won 23 career titles.[1]
Franulović was born on the island of Korčula to father Ivo and mother Katica, but at the age of one month got brought to Split where he grew up.[5] His playing career lasted for 20 years between 1963 and 1983, during which he won a total of twenty three singles titles, as well as seven doubles titles. He played his first singles tournament at the 1963 Yugoslavian International Championships.[1] In 1967 he won his first title at the same event.[1]
He is remembered for reaching the French Open final in 1970, which he lost to Czech Jan Kodeš in straight sets.[6] He reached the semifinals the following year. He also won the Monte-Carlo Masters in 1970. He won his final singles title in 1982 at the San Benedetto Open in Italy.[1] He played his final tournament at the ATP Essen Challenger event in 1983.[1]
Since retiring from playing tennis, Franulović became involved in the ATP since the 1990s. He was the coach of the Croatian Davis Cup Team from 1994 to 1997.[7] He was the Tournament Representative for Europe on the Association of Tennis Professionals' Board of Directors, between 2007 and 2009.[8]
| Result | Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1970 | Clay | 6–4, 6–3, 6–3 | |||
| Win | 1970 | Clay | 6–4, 6–2, 6–0 | |||
| Win | 1971 | Buenos Aires (2) | Clay | 6–3, 7–6, 6–1 |
| Tournament | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1983 | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left bgcolor=#efefef | Australian Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | ||
| align=left bgcolor=#efefef | French Open | 1R | 1R | 4R | QF | bgcolor=thistle | F | bgcolor=yellow | SF | 1R | 2R | 3R | 3R | A | bgcolor=afeeee colspan=2 | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | 1R | 0 / 16 |
| align=left bgcolor=#efefef | Wimbledon | Q1 | 1R | A | 2R | 3R | 2R | A | A | A | A | 2R | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 5 | |||
| align=left bgcolor=#efefef | US Open | A | A | 1R | 1R | A | 2R | A | A | A | 3R | 3R | bgcolor=afeeee colspan=2 | 3R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 6 | ||
| style=text-align:left | Strike rate | 0 / 1 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | ||||