Guillermo Vilas facts for kids
Guillermo Vilas during the Munich Open in May 1975
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| Country (sports) |  Argentina |
|---|---|
| Residence | Buenos Aires |
| Born | 17 August 1952 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. 1 (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 (born August 17, 1952) is a famous Argentine former professional tennis player. He was one of the best players in the world during the 1970s and early 1980s. Many people considered him the world's top player in 1977.
Vilas won four major tennis tournaments called Grand Slams. He also won the year-end championship once. In total, he won 62 singles titles and 16 doubles titles during his career.
He was especially good on clay courts, which are tennis courts made of crushed brick or shale. He won over 650 matches on clay, which is a record! In 1977, he had an amazing winning streak of 53 matches on clay courts. This was the longest streak in the Open Era at that time.
Even though he was a top player, the official ATP rankings only showed him as No. 2. He held this spot for 83 weeks. Some people believe he should have been ranked No. 1 for at least 10 weeks, especially in 1977. In 2020, a movie called Guillermo Vilas: Settling the Score was released about this debate.
Guillermo Vilas was added to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991.
Tennis Career Highlights
Guillermo Vilas grew up in Mar del Plata, a city by the sea in Argentina. He was a left-handed player. He started playing professional tennis in 1968. From 1974 to 1982, he was always ranked among the top ten players in the world at the end of each year.
Vilas was known as a clay-court specialist. This means he was exceptionally good on clay courts. However, he also played very well on other surfaces like hard courts, grass, and carpet.
Grand Slam Wins
Vilas won four Grand Slam titles:
- The 1977 French Open (on clay).
- The 1977 US Open (also on clay).
- The 1978 Australian Open (on grass).
- The 1979 Australian Open (on grass).
He also reached the finals of the French Open three times (1975, 1978, and 1982). He was a finalist at the Australian Open once in January 1977.
In 1974, he won the Masters Grand Prix title. This is a big tournament at the end of the year for the best players. He also won seven Grand Prix Super Series titles between 1975 and 1980. These were important tournaments before today's Masters 1000 series.
His Best Year: 1977
Vilas had an incredible year in 1977. He won 16 singles titles! This included two of the four major Grand Slam tournaments. He won 16 out of the 31 tournaments he played in that year. His record for 1977 was 130 wins and only 15 losses.
One of the highlights was winning the US Open at Forest Hills. He beat Jimmy Connors in the final. Vilas surprised Connors by playing very aggressively and coming to the net often.
Amazing Winning Streaks
In 1977, Vilas won seven tournaments in a row after Wimbledon. This gave him a 46-match winning streak on all court types.
He also set a record with a 53-match winning streak on clay courts. This record stood for a long time until Rafael Nadal broke it in 2006.
His winning streaks ended in October 1977. Ilie Năstase beat him in a final. Vilas stopped playing in that match because Năstase was using a special "spaghetti racquet" that was about to be banned.
After that, Vilas won another 28 matches in a row. This streak ended when Björn Borg beat him in the semi-finals of the Masters tournament.
Retirement
Vilas officially stopped playing on the main ATP Tour in 1989. He continued to play in smaller tournaments until 1992. He was honored by being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991.
Family Life
Guillermo Vilas married Phiangphathu Khumueang from Thailand in 2005. They have three daughters and one son. They live in Monaco.
Special Achievements and Records
- He won the Grand Prix circuit three times: in 1974, 1975, and 1977.
- Many unofficial sources, like World Tennis Magazine, believed he was the No. 1 Tennis Player of the Year in 1977.
- He held the record for the longest winning streak on clay courts in the Open Era with 53 matches in 1977. Rafael Nadal later broke this record in 2006.
- He won 62 ATP singles titles. This is one of the highest numbers in the Open Era. He also reached the finals in 40 other singles tournaments.
- He led Argentina to its first-ever Davis Cup final in 1981.
- Vilas's success made tennis much more popular in Argentina and across Latin America. Some famous Argentine tennis players, like Guillermo Cañas and Guillermo Coria, were even named after him!
- In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked Vilas as the 24th greatest tennis player of the Open Era. This list included both men and women.
Images for kids
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Vilas celebrating his win at the 1977 French Open.
See also
In Spanish: Guillermo Vilas para niños
