[4] Thirteen years of age at this point, he began practicing on the Firule tennis club clay courts in parallel to studying shipbuilding at the streamlined high school in Split.

[7] In 1970, Pilić won the men's doubles title at the US Open with his French partner Pierre Barthès by defeating the Australians John Newcombe and Rod Laver in four sets.

His best singles performance at a Grand Slam tournament came in 1973 when he reached the final of the French Open, losing to Ilie Năstase in straight sets.

In May 1973, the Yugoslav tennis federation alleged that Pilić had refused to represent them in a Davis Cup tie against New Zealand earlier that month.

After retiring from playing tennis professionally, Pilić began coaching and became the first captain to win the Davis Cup trophy for three nations: Germany in 1988, 1989 and 1993, Croatia in 2005 and Serbia in 2010.