Beginning
The origins of tennis at this location date back to the early 1970s, when Tomislav Tolja Pavlović, an active recreational tennis player of the sports society Partizan, came up with the idea to form a tennis club more than 40 years ago.
However, the road to this seemingly simple goal was far from easy. In those times, tennis was not popular from a political standpoint, and as a result, there were many obstacles surrounding this initiative. At one point, it was even necessary to bring a picture of Josip Broz to the tennis court in order to ease this antagonism to some extent.
As one of the first steps, a solution was found to initially form a tennis section within the Partizan-Košutnjak Sports Society, which at that time was acceptable to the authorities.
Tomislav Tolja Pavlović, a graduate engineer, was elected president of the tennis section. He used various methods to obtain the necessary approvals from the authorities to build the first tennis court and begin playing.
Thanks to his exceptional enthusiasm and in collaboration with the municipality and business organizations, courts for minor sports were built. One of these courts was the first concrete tennis court. All the sections were very active and achieved excellent results at municipal and regional competitions.
The tennis section, within the Partizan-Košutnjak Sports Society, achieved outstanding results in increasing the number of active participants, expanding and enriching the forms and content of tennis, as well as solid results in creating the necessary staffing and material conditions.
Soon, an increasing number of children and players gathered around the tennis section, and within a few years, in 1978, the Košutnjak Tennis Club was founded. Along with the Partizan Tennis Club and the Red Star Tennis Club, it became the third tennis club in Belgrade. Tomislav Pavlović was elected the first president, and he is also the person who brought the first tennis racket and tennis balls to this area. At that time, players were still using wooden rackets, and the leading global players were Björn Borg, John Patrick McEnroe, and Jimmy Connors.
Tolja Pavlović has been active in the world of tennis for many years. He learned tennis from the famous Voja Ristić, one of the icons of the post-war Partizan Tennis Club. Tolja Pavlović is a licensed tennis coach, was a lecturer at the Higher School for Tennis Coaches, and by profession, he is a graduate electrical engineer.
Tolja Pavlović passed his love for tennis onto his sons, Vladimir and Miloš, who started playing tennis from a young age, right on the first concrete court in Stari Košutnjak, which was built thanks to his efforts. They also had their first tennis lessons with coaches Goran Bubnjić, Zaga, and Bane Vučetić at the Partizan Tennis Club, and later at the Košutnjak Tennis Club.
Over the years that followed, the Košutnjak Tennis Club developed a significant number of players who made their mark not only in tennis (as tennis coaches, etc.), but also in other areas of public life.
- Dragan Šerer Šera (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a renowned tennis coach)
- Branislav Bane Jevremović (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a renowned tennis coach)
- Draško Grbić (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a tennis coach)
- Dragan Arsić (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a renowned tennis coach)
- Vladimir Pavlović (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a successful businessman and owner of Topaco d.o.o.)
- Goran Zindović (one of the most talented and successful competitors from TK Košutnjak)
- Milica Raković (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, PhD from the University of Cambridge, Director of the Salford Foundation)
- Bojan Moličnik (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, later a tennis coach)
- Aleksandar Sarajlić (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a tennis coach)
- Slobodan Vrzić (now a tennis coach)
- Ljubiša Sofronijević (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a successful businessman)
- Veljko Živanović (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a successful businessman)
- Aleksandar Damjanović (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a successful businessman)
- Marko Stojanović (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a successful businessman)
- Zoran Lazović Zoća (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a successful businessman)
- Miloš Pavlović (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now a university professor and president of TK Topaco)
- Anđelka Jovanić (former competitor at TK Košutnjak)
- Jelena Tomašević (former competitor at TK Košutnjak, now living in Canada)
- Goran Zec (now a tennis coach)
- Ognjen Crnogorac (now a tennis coach)
The war years and the dissolution of social ownership led to the inability to maintain the conditions necessary for the functioning of the club.
Tomislav Tolja Pavlović, using the funds from his own company TOPACO d.o.o., a long-time leader in the lighting industry in Serbia and a manufacturer of light fixtures (TOPACO is an acronym for Tomislav Pavlović Company), built the modern tennis center we have today, completing the project by 2012.
The grand opening of the newly constructed tennis complex of the Topaco Tennis Club took place in June 2012, with the presence of numerous guests from the worlds of tennis, business, politics, diplomacy, and public life.