Guillermo Vilas to read: books to learn about the idol and the work of the greatest Argentine tennis player

In 1976 Guillermo Vilas published what – until then – was his autobiography: Who am I and how do I play?edited by El Gráfico and in which the tennis player had the support of the journalist Luis Hernandezwhich accompanied him for most of his campaign.

The first volume of the monumental History of Argentine tennisthe work of journalists and researchers Roberto Andersen Y Edward Puppo and curated exactly a decade ago, it is largely devoted to Willy’s tennis career.

Two books have recently been published: Guillermo Vilas / Number 1 by the journalist Clarin, luigi vinkerwith the edition of Planeta e The Great Willy – Conversations with Guillermo Vilasfrom Alfredo Di Salvo.

“Before Maradona or Messi (or Federer and Nadal), long before the internet and social networks, when there were no delegations in which the athlete travels surrounded by an XXL entourage, a man alone with his soul, he traveled the planet and won matches and tournaments and has given this country an unexpected gift: a love for tennis that has not died out until today. From the hand of the memories of a journalist who accompanied Guillermo Vilas in his glory years and in his greatest battles, this is the chronicle of a film life, a personality full of edges and the talent and determination that made El Great Willy a perfect icon: the great national sports hero “is the presentation of Planeta, which has the prologues of Daniel Orsanic – captain of the Davis Cup national team – and Franco Davin.

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But Vilas, for his part, had also ventured into poetry. He did it for the first time with “Cientoveintinncinco”, his first cycle of poems published in 1975. And in 1981 Galerna published “Cosecha de cuatro”, an edition with cover by Pérez Celis and a prologue by Luis Spinetta.

“I’ve known Vilas since a mild night in 1976”, begins Spinetta’s prologue. “I would say that these poems have the enormous truth of a serious warrior of defeat and triumph, which I celebrate as best suited for the discussion of the authenticity of those who have met countless times their present poet, which neither has not really listened to, and from time to time they throw themselves, pen in hand, into the cremation of the body of the poem, emulating only the defeat of their wisdom.

“Cosecha de cuatro” had its French edition, edited by Atelier Letterario. And some verses were also published in France by “Vagabondage”, a poetry magazine, in an issue that included texts by Françoise Sagan and Paul Verlaine. “Cosecha de cuatro” was also released in Romania when Vilas arrived to participate in the Davis Cup series (Timisoara).

“I was born. They gave me a body anchored to the earth and a spirit anchored to something I do not know. I was born with both and I try to be the balance of this offering trying to maintain harmony towards perfection. With the passing of mine. days I have to be more cautious because the past has to be a deferred experience and sure of his morals, since my future depends on his consistency ”, says Vilas in Cosecha de cuatro. At that time he was 29 years old.

“Impotence”, by Guillermo Vilas:

time gone,

that gets bigger,

but that goes away.

time passes

of my reality,

and that never comes back.

time lived,

I want to get you!

And you slip away

no feeling,

from my wax fingers.

“Farewell to Eteros”, by Guillermo Vilas

understand your pain

I want to turn off your sun

Like the dead you already stink

I have to say goodbye

In a whirlwind of transparencies

I will turn heads to your color and your story

in the inverted cone of water

it will be a slide in the street

only the card that will follow your twilight

it will fill the memories and the valleys

of your last resting place

with the memories of your disappearance.