Dragutin Mitić
| Country (sports) |
 Yugoslavia
|
|---|---|
| Born |
16 September 1917 Zagreb, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 27 June 1986 (aged 68) Houston, United States |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 5 ("The Star" Magazine) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| French Open | QF (1938, 1946, 1949) |
| Wimbledon | 4R (1938, 1946) |
| US Open | 3R (1939) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | SF (1946) |
| Mixed doubles | |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| French Open | W (1938) |
| Wimbledon | 3R (1939, 1950) |
| Team competitions | |
| Davis Cup | F (1939) |
Dragutin Mitić (Serbian: Драгутин Митић, Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [drâːɡǔtin mǐːtitɕ]) (16 September 1917 – 27 August 1986) was a Croatian tennis player. He played for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Davis Cup team, first at the International Lawn Tennis Challenge, and later the Davis Cup, from 1936 to 1951. Mitić defected to the West together with Milan Branović while competing at the 1952 Italian International Championships.
Dragutin Mitić was born in Zagreb on 16 September 1917. His first tennis performance was an instant success. In 1932 he played at the national junior championships and won. At eighteen, he competed in Bled and upset Czechoslovakian Jošef Caska with a 13:11, 6:1 score, and brought home the mixed doubles with Hella Kovač. He made his Davis Cup debut in 1936. That same year he traveled to South Africa and, although he didn't return with any major result, gained international experience.
Mitić's breakthrough year was in 1938 with back-to-back victories over well-established names such as Czechoslovakian Roderich Menzel, French Christian Boussus, and Ignacy Tłoczyński in matches in Alexandria, Cairo, and Beaulieu, respectively. In Nice, he lost to Kho Sin-Kie. He also did well in two big tournaments. At the 1938 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles he dropped out the Australian Mervyn Weston in four sets, then Argentine Alejo Russell in five, and Brazilian Alcides Procopio in three, losing in the fourth round to Max Ellmer. In the Roland Garros he advanced one more round into the quarterfinals, but there won only one game against Menzel. He booked his first and only Grand Slam title (as it was called in the Open era) in the mixed doubles, where he and Simonne Mathieu rebounded from a one-set disadvantage against Nancye Wynne Bolton and Boussus to achieve their biggest feat.
...
Wikipedia