Jiří Javorský

Jiří Javorský (9 February 1932 – 16 September 2002) was a Czech tennis player. Javorský played in the Davis Cup for Czechoslovakia between 1955 and 1966. In 1957, he and his partner Věra Suková won the mixed doubles at the French Open. In 1968 Javorský moved to Germany where he became a tennis coach.

• French Championships: Last 32 in 1959 & 1963

In order to take up his coaching role in Germany, Jiří and his wife Vera moved to Heilbronn in 1968. One of their two sons was allowed by the Czech authorities to go with them but the other one, Jaroslav, was kept in Czechoslovakia as security for the family's eventual return. When he and his fiancée Anna tried to escape in 1978, they were arrested and imprisoned. The Javorskys tried through Amnesty International and others to obtain their son's release. This was achieved via a prisoner exchange in 1986, mainly through the efforts of the Campaign for the defence of the Unjustly Prosecuted (CDUP), led by Josef Josten, an exiled Czech journalist, and Lord Braine, a British politician.