Guillermo Vilas facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Guillermo Vilas

Guillermo Vilas during the Munich Open in May 1975
Country (sports)	Argentina
Residence	Buenos Aires
Born	(1952-08-17) 17 August 1952 (age 72) Mar del Plata, Argentina
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	1968
Retired	1992
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$4,923,882
Int. Tennis HoF	1991 (member page)
Singles
Career record	951–297 (76.2%)
Career titles	62 (10th in the Open Era)
Highest ranking	No. 2 (30 April 1975)
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. 13 (21 May 1979)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	2R (1977Jan)
French Open	SF (1975)
Wimbledon	3R (1976)
US Open	QF (1975)

Guillermo Vilas at the 1974 Dutch Open

Guillermo Vilas (born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the world No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977. He won four major titles and the year-end championships, totalling 62 singles titles alongside 16 doubles titles during his career on the ATP tour. World Tennis, Agence France-Presse and Livre d'or du tennis 1977 (Christian Collin-Bernard Ficot), among other rankings and publications, rated him as world No. 1 in 1977. In the computerized ATP rankings, he peaked at No. 2 in April 1975, a position he held for a total of 83 weeks, although some have argued that Vilas should have been ranked No. 1 for at least 10 weeks, particularly in 1977 when he won 2 majors. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991, two years after his first retirement.

Vilas is known for his prowess on clay courts. He won over 650 matches on clay, which is an all-time record. His peak was the 1977 season during which he won 16 ATP singles titles, including two majors (both on clay) and had a 53 winning streak on clay, which was the longest in the Open Era at his time. In 2016, The Daily Telegraph ranked him as the 3rd best male clay-court player of all time, behind Rafael Nadal and Björn Borg. In 2018, Steve Tignor for Tennis Magazine ranked him as the 16th greatest tennis player of the Open Era.

Historical and statistical studies presented in 2015 by Argentinian journalist Eduardo Puppo and Romanian mathematician Marian Ciulpan concluded that Vilas should have been No. 1 in the old ATP ranking system for seven weeks between 1975 and 1976. The ATP and its chief executive at that time, Chris Kermode, although not refuting the data, decided not to officially recognize Vilas as No. 1. In October 2020, Netflix released a documentary film about Vilas's case titled Guillermo Vilas: Settling the Score. In May 2024, ATP's vice-president confirmed that Vilas will never be number one.

Career

Raised in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata, Vilas was a left-hander and played his first tour event in 1968. He was in the year-ending top ten from 1974 through 1982. He was a clay-court specialist and played well on hard-court, 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 16 singles titles, including two of the four major Grand Slam singles tournaments and 16 of the 31 Association of Tennis Professionals tournaments he entered. His playing record for 1977 was 130 wins against 15 losses (89.65%). Not including the Masters year-end championship, he won 72 of his last 73 ATP matches in 1977. The highest point during this run was winning the last US Open played at Forest Hills against Jimmy Connors 2–6, 6–3, 7–6^(7–4), 6–0 in a match where Vilas surprised his American rival by attacking the net.

Winning streak

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. He also had a record 53-match winning streak on clay courts, which stood until surpassed by Rafael Nadal in 2006. Both his winning streaks were terminated in October 1977 by Ilie Năstase in the final of the Raquette d'Or 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 racquet. (The ITF had voted to ban the racquet, but the ban did not take effect until the day after the match). 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 semi-finals by Björn Borg.

Retirement

Vilas retired from the ATP Tour in 1989 but still played on the ATP Challenger Series until 1992. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991. 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 2009 US Open final.

Family

Vilas married Phiangphathu Khumueang from Thailand in 2005. They have three daughters and one son. They reside in Monaco. He is reportedly suffering from a form of dementia.

Distinctions

Vilas after winning the Buenos Aires Open and securing the first place in the 1977 Grand Prix Circuit.

• Won the Grand Prix circuit in 1974, 1975, and 1977.
• World Tennis Magazine, France Presse, Michel Sutter and Christian Quidet, among other unofficial sources, ranked him as No. 1 Tennis Player of the Year in 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 (15th male) on its list of the 40 Greatest Players of the Tennis Open Era, men and women included.

Career statistics

Singles performance timeline

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 8 (4 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Vilas celebrating his win at the 1977 French Open.

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1975	French Open	Clay	Björn Borg	2–6, 3–6, 4–6
Loss	1977	Australian Open (Jan.)	Grass	Roscoe Tanner	3–6, 3–6, 3–6
Win	1977	French Open	Clay	Brian Gottfried	6–0, 6–3, 6–0
Win	1977	US Open	Clay	Jimmy Connors	2–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–4), 6–0
Loss	1978	French Open (2)	Clay	Björn Borg	1–6, 1–6, 3–6
Win	1978	Australian Open	Grass	John Marks	6–4, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Win	1979	Australian Open (2)	Grass	John Sadri	7–6(7–4), 6–3, 6–2
Loss	1982	French Open (3)	Clay	Mats Wilander	6–1, 6–7(6–8), 0–6, 4–6

Records

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

See also

In Spanish: Guillermo Vilas para niños