Karel Kozeluh was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia and developed into a tremendous athlete. A former soccer player, Kozeluh turned to the pro leagues of tennis and became a standout European Pro Champion.

He reigned as the French Pro Singles Champion from 1925 to 1930 and again in 1932, was the European Pro Tour Champion in 1932, and won the U.S. Pro Singles Championships three times (1929, 1932, 1937). In 1925 he captured the World Professional Tennis title.

Having never played amateur tennis due to his "professional status," Kozeluh is considered one of the greatest players of the early pro tennis years and was described as "the Fred Astaire of the courts, with faultless ground strokes and a safecracker's touch at net."