Monte Carlo Masters’ Tournament Director Zeljko Franulovic Opts to Evade the Role After 18-Year Reign

Zeljko Franulovic, the former Croatian tennis ace, turned professional in the year 1969 and had a run till 1980. During his days as a tennis player, his career-best ranking was no.6, which would have been better if the ATP rankings existed. Further, the right-handed tennis veteran has 13 singles and 7 doubles career titles.

After executing a successful tennis career, Franulovic dedicated his time to tennis management. However, now at the age of almost 75, he seems to want to take a break from his duties.

Zeljko Franulovic Steps Down

Zeljko became the tournament director of Monte Carlo Masters in the year 2005. In his very first tournament as a director, he witnessed the legendary Rafael Nadal claim the trophy. However, after 18 years of hard work, Franulovic will step down from the position.

Speaking of Monte Carlo Open Zeljko himself won at the courts in the year 1970 while playing under the Yugoslavian flag. He outclassed the left-handed Spanish professional Manolo Orantes in the finals by 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. In addition, he is also remembered for his reaching the finals of the French Open in the year 1970 and a run to the semifinals in the following year. Further, he was the captain of the Croatian Davis Cup team between 1994 and 1997.

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Apart from Monte Carlo Masters, Zeljko was also the representative for the European tournaments on the ATP board of directors from 2007 to 2009.

The Probable Replacement

With Zeljko Franulovic leaving, the position of tournament director has two prominent candidates. The first one is the former English tennis professional Chris Kermode. Against whom the caliber of David Massey, the adjoint director of Monte Carlo country club will be tested.

On one hand, Kermode has six years of experience of being the chairman of ATP. Notably, under his wings, the ATP’s total prize money grew to 139.4 million dollars by the year-end of 2018. And on the other, Massey, might enjoy some favors as he is been living in Monaco for quite some time now and has great relations with the local regulatory bodies.

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