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 | .svg.png) Željko Franulović | 7–9, 3–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 0–2 | Mar 1971 | Pensacola, United States | Hard (i) |  Milan Holecek | 6–4, 3–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 0–3 | Feb 1975 | Algiers, Algeria | Clay |  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) | |
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 | | | 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
References
External links
John Whitlinger 
Balázs Taróczy