Guillermo Vilas

Guillermo Vilas

Guillermo Vilas in 1975
Country	Argentina
Residence	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Born	(1952-08-17) 17 August 1952 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	1969[1]
Retired	1992
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$4,923,882
Int. Tennis HOF	1991 (member page)
Singles
Career record	929–286 (76.5%)
Career titles	62 (ATP)
Highest ranking	No. 2 (30 April 1975) by ATP
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1978, 1979)
French Open	W (1977)
Wimbledon	QF (1975, 1976)
US Open	W (1977)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	W (1974)
WCT Finals	F (1976)
Doubles
Career record	217–150
Career titles	16
Highest ranking	No. 175 (3 January 1983)

Guillermo Vilas (Spanish pronunciation: [ɣiˈʃeɾmo ˈbilas]; born 17 August 1952, in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a retired professional tennis player from Argentina who won four Grand Slam singles titles. Known for his prolific match play, especially on clay, he became the second man to win more than 900 matches in the Open Era, and his 660 wins on clay are by far the most of the era. His peak was the 1977 season during which he won two major titles (both on clay), had two long match win streaks of 46 all-surface and 53 on clay, and finished with an Open Era record 134 match wins. He's also the originator of the tweener shot.

Career

Raised in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata, Vilas was a southpaw and played his first tour event in 1969. He was in the year-ending top ten from 1974 through 1982. He was a clay-court specialist but also played well on hard, grass, and carpet surfaces.

He won four Grand Slam titles: the 1977 French Open and the 1977 US Open (both played on clay) and the 1978 and 1979 Australian Open (both played on grass). He was also the runner-up at the French Open three times (1975, 1978, and 1982) and at the Australian Open once (January 1977).

In 1974 he won the year end Masters Grand Prix title. In addition he won seven Grand Prix Super Series titles (1975–80) the precursors to the current Masters 1000.

Best year

A left-handed baseliner, Vilas's best year on tour was 1977 when he won two of the four Grand Slam singles tournaments and 16 of the 31 Association of Tennis Professionals tournaments he entered.^[2] His playing record for 1977 was 145 wins against 15 losses (ATP win-loss record was 130–15). Not including the Masters year-end championship, he won 72 of his last 73 ATP matches in 1977. The highest point during this phenomenal run was winning the last US Open played at Forest Hills against Jimmy Connors 2–6, 6–3, 7–6, 6–0 in a match where Vilas surprised his American rival by attacking the net.^[3]

Winning streak, most titles in a single year

In 1977 he won seven consecutive titles after Wimbledon – Kitzbühel (clay), Washington (clay), Louisville (clay), South Orange (clay), Columbus (clay), US Open (clay) and Paris (clay) – and set up a 46-match all-surface winning streak, third all-time behind Björn Borg's records of 49 and 48 consecutive matches won. He also had a record 57-match winning streak on clay courts (including both Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and unofficial tournaments), which stood until the record was broken by Rafael Nadal in 2006. Both his winning streaks were terminated in October 1977 by Ilie Năstase in the final of the Aix-en-Provence tournament. In that best of five-set final, Vilas dropped the first two sets by 6–1, 7–5 and then retired in protest of Năstase's use of a spaghetti strung racquet (which was banned shortly after by the ATP).^[4] After that he won a further 28 matches in a row with titles at Tehran, Bogotá, Santiago, Buenos Aires (all on clay) and Johannesburg (hard). That run was ended in the Masters semifinals by Björn Borg

Even though he won 16 ATP singles titles, including the French Open and the US Open and was the runner-up at the January edition of the Australian Open in 1977, he was never ranked by the ATP as World No. 1 during 1977. He was instead year-end World No. 2 in those rankings, below Jimmy Connors (who won the Masters and six other titles and was the runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open in 1977). There is some controversy regarding his status as No. 2 ranked player for that year, but no official statement has been given by ATP.

Retirement

Vilas retired from the ATP tour in 1989 but still played ATP Challenger Series until 1992.^[5] He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991.^[3] Vilas was in the stands at Flushing Meadows to cheer on his countryman, Juan Martín del Potro, who beat Roger Federer in an upset in the US Open finals in 2009.^[6]

Guillermo Vilas at the 1974 Dutch Open

Distinctions

• Won the Grand Prix in 1974, 1975, and 1977
• Held the open era male record for the longest winning streak on clay courts at 53 matches, set in 1977, until it was bettered by Rafael Nadal in 2006. Nadal later extended this to 81 matches.
• Won 62 ATP singles titles (eighth highest during the open era) and was the runner-up in 40 singles tournaments (plus two unfinished finals). Won 16 doubles titles with other 10 doubles finals.
• He took Argentina to its first-ever Davis Cup final in 1981 (lost to the United States), together with José Luis Clerc, who was also a top-ten player. The Argentine press often referred to the tensions between the two of them, which even reverberated to the 2004 French Open awards ceremony, in which Vilas presented Gastón Gaudio with his trophy over Clerc's objections.
• Vilas's success on the court led to a surge in popularity of tennis in Argentina and throughout Latin America. Guillermo Cañas and Guillermo Coria were named after him.
• In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put Vilas in 24th place in its list of the 40 Greatest Players of the Tennis Open Era (women included).
• The only player to win ATP Tour singles titles in five different continents in the same year, 1977 – Europe, South America, North America, Africa, and Asia.

Career statistics

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Finals: 8 (4-4)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1975	French Open	Clay	Björn Borg	2–6, 3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	1977	Australian Open	Grass	Roscoe Tanner	3–6, 3–6, 3–6
Winner	1977	French Open	Clay	Brian Gottfried	6–0, 6–3, 6–0
Winner	1977	US Open	Clay	Jimmy Connors	2–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–4), 6–0
Runner-up	1978	French Open (2)	Clay	Björn Borg	1–6, 1–6, 3–6
Winner	1978	Australian Open	Grass	John Marks	6–4, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	1979	Australian Open (2)	Grass	John Sadri	7–6(7–4), 6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	1982	French Open (3)	Clay	Mats Wilander	6–1, 6–7(6–8), 0–6, 4–6

Year-End Championship performance timeline

Finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1974	Melbourne	Grass	Ilie Năstase	7–6, 6–2, 3–6, 3–6, 6–4

Records

• These records were attained in Open Era of tennis.
• ^ Denotes consecutive streak.

Career finals

Singles

Singles Titles (62)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
1.	25 November 1973	Buenos Aires	Clay	Björn Borg	3–6, 6–7(5–7), 6–4, 6–6, retired
2.	14 July 1974	Gstaad	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–1, 6–2
3.	21 July 1974	Hilversum	Clay	Barry Phillips-Moore	6–4, 6–2, 1–6, 6–3
4.	4 August 1974	Louisville	Clay	Jaime Fillol	6–4, 7–5
5.	18 August 1974	Toronto	Clay[8]	Manuel Orantes	6–4, 6–2, 6–3
6.	27 October 1974	Tehran	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	6–0, 6–3, 6–1
7.	24 November 1974	Buenos Aires (2)	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–3, 0–6, 7–5, 6–2
8.	15 December 1974	Masters, Melbourne	Grass	Ilie Năstase	7–6(8–6), 6–2, 3–6, 3–6, 6–4
9.	11 May 1975	Munich	Clay	Karl Meiler	2–6, 6–0, 6–2, 6–3
10.	20 July 1975	Hilversum (2)	Clay	Željko Franulović	6–4, 6–7(3–7), 6–2, 6–3
11.	27 July 1975	Washington, D.C.	Clay	Harold Solomon	6–1, 6–3
12.	3 August 1975	Louisville (2)	Clay	Ilie Năstase	6–4, 6–3
13.	16 November 1975	Buenos Aires (3)	Clay	Adriano Panatta	6–1, 6–4, 6–4
14.	22 February 1976	St. Louis WCT	Carpet (i)	Vijay Amritraj	4–6, 6–0, 6–4
15.	29 February 1976	Fort Worth WCT	Hard	Phil Dent	6–7(4–7), 6–1, 6–1
16.	18 April 1976	Monte Carlo WCT	Clay	Wojciech Fibak	6–1, 6–1, 6–4
17.	22 August 1976	Toronto (2)	Clay [9]	Wojciech Fibak	6–4, 7–6(7–2), 6–2
18.	21 November 1976	São Paulo	Carpet	José Higueras	6–2, 6–0
19.	28 November 1976	Buenos Aires (4)	Clay	Jaime Fillol	6–2, 6–2, 6–3
20.	13 February 1977	Springfield	Carpet (i)	Stan Smith	3–6, 6–0, 6–3, 6–2
21.	14 April 1977	Buenos Aires (5)	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	6–4, 6–3, 6–0
22.	24 April 1977	Virginia Beach	Clay [10]	Ilie Năstase	6–2, 4–6, 6–2
23.	5 June 1977	French Open, Paris	Clay	Brian Gottfried	6–0, 6–3, 6–0
24.	17 July 1977	Kitzbühel	Clay	Jan Kodeš	5–7, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3, 6–2
25.	24 July 1977	Washington, D.C. (2)	Clay	Brian Gottfried	6–4, 7–5
26.	31 July 1977	Louisville (3)	Clay	Eddie Dibbs	1–6, 6–0, 6–1
27.	7 August 1977	South Orange	Clay	Roscoe Tanner	6–4, 6–2
28.	14 August 1977	Columbus	Clay	Brian Gottfried	6–2, 6–1
29.	11 September 1977	US Open, New York	Clay	Jimmy Connors	2–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–4), 6–0
30.	25 September 1977	Paris	Clay	Christophe Roger-Vasselin	6–2, 6–1, 7–6(7–1)
31.	9 October 1977	Tehran (2)	Clay	Eddie Dibbs	6–2, 6–4, 1–6, 6–1
32.	13 November 1977	Bogotá	Clay	José Higueras	6–1, 6–2, 6–3
33.	20 November 1977	Santiago	Clay	Jaime Fillol	6–0, 2–6, 6–4
34.	27 November 1977	Buenos Aires (6)	Clay	Jaime Fillol	6–2, 7–5, 3–6, 6–3
35.	4 December 1977	Johannesburg	Hard	Buster Mottram	7–6(7–4), 6–3, 6–4
36.	21 May 1978	Hamburg	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	6–2, 6–4, 6–2
37.	28 May 1978	Munich (2)	Clay	Buster Mottram	6–1, 6–3, 6–3
38.	16 July 1978	Gstaad (2)	Clay	José Luis Clerc	6–3, 7–6(10–8), 6–4
39.	6 August 1978	South Orange (2)	Clay	José Luis Clerc	6–1, 6–3
40.	1 October 1978	Aix-en-Provence	Clay	José Luis Clerc	6–3, 6–0, 6–3
41.	29 October 1978	Basel	Hard (i)	John McEnroe	6–3, 5–7, 7–5, 6–4
42.	31 December 1978	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	John Marks	6–4, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3
43.	14 January 1979	Hobart	Hard	Mark Edmondson	6–4, 6–4
44.	22 July 1979	Washington, D.C. (3)	Clay	Víctor Pecci	7–6(7–4), 6–6, retired
45.	25 November 1979	Buenos Aires (7)	Clay	José Luis Clerc	6–1, 6–2, 6–2
46.	30 December 1979	Australian Open, Melbourne (2)	Grass	John Sadri	7–6(7–4), 6–3, 6–2
47.	25 May 1980	Rome	Clay	Yannick Noah	6–0, 6–4, 6–4
48.	27 July 1980	Kitzbühel (2)	Clay	Ivan Lendl	6–3, 6–2, 6–2
49.	14 September 1980	Palermo	Clay	Paul McNamee	6–4, 6–0, 6–0
50.	8 February 1981	Mar del Plata	Clay	Víctor Pecci	2–6, 6–3, 2–1, retired
51.	15 March 1981	Cairo	Clay	Peter Elter	6–2, 6–3
52.	12 April 1981	Houston	Clay	Sammy Giammalva Jr.	6–2, 6–3
53.	7 February 1982	Buenos Aires (8)	Clay	Alejandro Ganzábal	6–2, 6–4
54.	21 March 1982	Rotterdam	Carpet (i)	Jimmy Connors	0–6, 6–2, 6–4
55.	28 March 1982	Milan	Carpet (i)	Jimmy Connors	6–3, 6–3
56.	11 April 1982	Monte Carlo (2)	Clay	Ivan Lendl	6–1, 7–6(12–10), 6–3
57.	2 May 1982	Madrid	Clay	Ivan Lendl	6–7(5–7), 4–6, 6–0, 6–3, 6–3
58.	18 July 1982	Boston	Clay	Mel Purcell	6–4, 6–0
59.	25 July 1982	Kitzbühel (3)	Clay	Marcos Hocevar	7–6(7–0), 6–1
60.	13 February 1983	Richmond WCT	Carpet (i)	Steve Denton	6–3, 7–5, 6–4
61.	27 February 1983	Delray Beach WCT	Clay	Pavel Složil	6–1, 6–4, 6–0
62.	24 July 1983	Kitzbühel (4)	Clay	Henri Leconte	7–6(8–6), 4–6, 6–4

Singles Runners-Up: (42)

• 1972 (2) – Buenos Aires, Cincinnati
• 1974 (1) – Washington D.C.
• 1975 (3) – San Francisco, Boston, French Open
• 1976 (3) – Rome, Dallas WCT, São Paulo WCT
• 1977 (6) – Johannesburg*, Aix en Provence, Nice, Palm Springs, Baltimore, Australian Open (Jan.)
• 1978 (1) – French Open
• 1979 (5) – Sydney Indoor, Indianapolis, Rome, Stuttgart Indoor, Richmond WCT
• 1980 (4) – Barcelona, Madrid, Hamburg, Monte Carlo
• 1981 (7) – Buenos Aires, Barcelona, North Conway, Washington D.C., Kitzbühel, Boca Raton, Monte Carlo*
• 1982 (5) – Johannesburg, Baltimore WCT, Barcelona, Gstaad, French Open
• 1983 (4) – Barcelona, Hilton Head WCT, Rotterdam, Detroit WCT
• 1986 (1) – Forest Hills
• *Unfinished due to weather Finalist Awarded

Other singles titles not listed by the ATP website (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
1.	10 March 1974	Buenos Aires, River Plate Championships, Argentina	Clay	Julián Ganzábal	7–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–3
2.	20 April 1975	Buenos Aires, River Plate Championships, Argentina	Clay	Clark Graebner	6–2, 6–1, 6–4
3.	28 August 1977	Rye, Westchester Country Club, US	Clay	Ilie Năstase	6–2, 6–0
4.	28–30 October 1977	Caracas, The Super Tennis 77 Tournament, Venezuela	Clay	Ilie Năstase	6–2, 6–2
5.	25–26 July 1979	Aix-en-Provence, Invitational Tournament, France	Hard	Ilie Năstase	6–4, 6–4

Doubles

Titles (16)

• 1973 (1) – Buenos Aires
• 1974 (4) – Buenos Aires, Tehran, Toronto, Hilversum
• 1975 (3) – Barcelona, Louisville, Hilversum
• 1977 (4) – Buenos Aires, Tehran, Nice, Baltimore
• 1978 (2) – Aix-En-Provence, Munich
• 1979 (2) – North Conway, San Jose (Costa Rica)

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Guillermo Vilas.

• Guillermo Vilas at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Guillermo Vilas at the International Tennis Federation
• Guillermo Vilas at the Davis Cup
• Guillermo Vilas at the International Tennis Hall of Fame

Guillermo Vilas (Achievement predecessor & successor) Awards Preceded by Vijay Amritraj ATP Most Improved Player 1974 Succeeded by Vitas Gerulaitis Preceded by Horacio Iglesias Olimpia de Oro 1974 – 1975 Succeeded by Juan Carlos Harriot Preceded by Juan Carlos Harriot Olimpia de Oro 1977 Succeeded by Daniel Martinazzo