Franjo Šefer

Franjo Šefer was born in 1905 in Vienna to a Jewish family. They moved to Karlovac in 1910, where he made his first steps on the tennis court.{{sfn|Kramer|2012|p=38}} Šefer was often trained with another prominent player from Karlovac, Alexander Podvineć. Šefer joined HAŠK, where Krešimir Friedrich and Nikola Antolković played.{{sfn|Šoškić|2012|p=256}}

Franjo Šefer played for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Davis Cup team starting in 1928.{{sfn|Šoškić|2012|p=256}} In 1933 he also became the team captain.{{sfn|Šoškić|2012|p=256}} Three times in a row he was a champion of Yugoslavia (1929, 1930, 1931). He won seven titles altogether, counting the men's and mixed doubles, and he scored a victory over Franjo Punčec at the international tournament in Bled with 6:4, 6:1.{{sfn|Šoškić|2012|p=256}}

In addition to the many years he spent at the forefront of the rankings, Šefer supplied the Yugoslav national team its first individual victory in the Davis Cup. It was in Zagreb, the second appearance of the Yugoslav National Team in the Davis Cup against Finland in 1928. Šefer's fourth Davis Cup appearance came in 1930 against Sweden in Belgrade, where he was the real hero of the match, in which he achieved the first Yugoslavian team victory in this competition.{{sfn|Šoškić|2012|p=77}} He parted ways with the national team in Budapest in the Davis Cup match against Hungary, where he sealed the 3-2 team victory, partnering Punčec and winning the doubles. In coaching, he is credited with discovering Dragutin Mitić, helping him in the early stages and introducing him to the Davis Cup team.{{sfn|Kramer|2012|p=38}}

He set to tour India in 1934 and 1935 along with Josip Pallada, Franjo Punčec, and Franjo Kukuljević. In 1935 he won the All-India Lawn Tennis Doubles Championships with Kukuljević,{{sfn|Straits Times 1935; All India tennis final}} after which he returned to his country to actively play until the beginning of World War II.{{sfn|Šoškić|2012|p=256}} He won one of his last titles in mixed national doubles in 1939.{{sfn|Kramer|2012|p=38}} In the beginning of World War II he emigrated first to the United States and then to Canada, where he died.{{sfn|Kramer|2012|p=38}}{{sfn|Šoškić|2012|p=256}} His last known whereabouts were in Montreal in 1980.{{sfn|Kramer|2012|p=38}}

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• {{cite book|url=http://www.tennispress.rs/knjiga.pdf|script-title=sr:Тениски савез Србије Тенис без граници 1922–2012.|year=2012|last1=Šoškić|first1=Čedomir|website=tennispress.rs|access-date=25 December 2013|language=sr|trans-title=Tennis Association of Serbia, Tennis without borders 1922-2012|page=256|location=Belgrade, Serbia|publisher=Tennis Association of Serbia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230234517/http://www.tennispress.rs/knjiga.pdf|archive-date=30 December 2013|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite journal|first=Fredi|last=Kramer|url=http://www.zoz.hr/files/HaKol_br125_svibanj-lipanj_2012.pdf|issue=125|page=38|journal=Ha-kol|date=May–June 2012|title=Franjo Schäffer – preteča teniskih mušketira|trans-title=Francis Schaffer - a precursor of tennis Musketeers|publisher=Jewish Community Zagreb|location=Zagreb, Croatia|language=hr|access-date=26 December 2013|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304234617/http://www.zoz.hr/files/HaKol_br125_svibanj-lipanj_2012.pdf|url-status=dead}}

• {{cite journal|url=http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19350212-1.2.94.aspx|page=14|journal=The Straits Times|date=12 February 1935|title=All India tennis final|publisher=Straits Times Press|location=Singapore, Straits Settlements|access-date=26 December 2013|ref={{sfnRef|Straits Times 1935; All India tennis final}}}}

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• {{ITF profile}}
• {{DavisCup player}}

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Category:1905 births

Category:Yugoslav male tennis players

Category:Jewish tennis players

Category:Austrian Jews

Category:20th-century Serbian Jews

Category:Jewish Canadian sportspeople

Category:Yugoslav emigrants to Canada

Category:Tennis players from Vienna

Category:Year of death missing

Category:Date of birth missing