Guillermo Vilas turns 70: 1977, the year in which tennis had its Star Wars

In every respect, 1977 was a historic year for tennis. Wimbledon, the oldest of the tournaments, celebrated its Centenary. The US Open was last played in Forest Hills. And a technological innovation, the “double” or “spaghetti” racket, caused such a stir that it was banned from tournaments several months after gaining notoriety, leading for the first time in the definition of racquet in the official game rules.

Three men, Bjorn Borg, Guillermo Vilas and Jimmy Connors, starred in their version of the blockbuster movie of the year, the sci-fi classic Star Wars. They were in a super stratospheric class, one galaxy above all others.

Borg won Wimbledon and had the strongest record, including winning margins against both of his rivals. Vilas has won the French and US Open and formed the longest winning streak of the 10-year Open era. Connors won the WCT Finals in Dallas and the Grand Prix Masters, and finished second in Wimbledon and Forest Hills.

The debate on who was number 1 continued during the Masters, which, for American television considerations, was postponed by the new Grand Prix sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive, to the first week of January 1978.

There was no similar disagreement as to who the ruler of women’s tennis was. Chris Evert remained the undisputed number 1, despite Virginia Wade being crowned Queen of Wimbledon after 15 years as a bridesmaid. The tournament was also richly memorable.

Southpaw John McEnroe, 18, of Douglaston, New York, became the youngest man to reach the semi-final at Wimbledon’s 100 years, the first player to make it through qualifying rounds and go this far. He won eight games in total before Connors brought him back to reality, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

In the other semi-final, Borg defeated fast and flashy Vitas Gerulaitis, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 8-6, in an impressive match between the reigning Lithuanian lion and the defending Swede . The sustained quality of the shots and the drama made this, in the opinion of veteran observers, one of the all-time classics of the midfield.

The final also reached majestic heights. Borg and Connors, destined to be remembered as historical rivals of the 1970s, battled from the back line in fiery confrontations rarely seen on grass.

Connors looked offside at 0-4 in the fifth set, but recovered for one final challenge and returned to 4-4 before a crucial double foul in Game Nine cost him momentum, serve and the match, 3-6, 6 – 2, 6-1, 5-7 and 6-4.

Although Wimbledon was the highlight of the year, the most impressive result was the series of victories that Vilas amassed in the last six months of the year. Vilas started the year as runner-up to Roscoe Tanner, the big serve southpaw, at the Australian Open, 6-3 6-3 6-3.

Tanner defeated perpetual Ken Rosewall, 42, in the semifinals, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Rosewall had avenged her lost semifinal the year before by dethroning Mark Edmondson, 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. The victim of Vilas’ semifinal, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, was Alexander, who had defeated former champion Arthur Ashe, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 7 -6.

Winning the French Open in the absence of Borg and Connors, Vilas lost just one set in seven games and his 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 win over Gottfried in the final was the most decisive since the end of the season. season. tournament. Thus, Guillermo stripped himself of his image of “El Eterno Secondo” – “That’s what they call me in the Argentine press”– and a huge psychological burden has been alleviated.

Pushed by his coach, the hirsute and menacing Romanian Ion Tiriac, Vilas has become the fittest and most determined player on the professional circuit. During his last six months of 1977 he won 13 of 14 tournaments, 80 of 81 games, including the US Open.

His 50-game streak, from July to September, was the longest since the advent of the Open tennis, dwarfing Rod Laver’s 31 straight games in 1969. And he immediately launched another 30-game winning streak.

The record streak ended controversially the first week of October in the final of a tournament in Aix-en-Provence, France, when Vilas angrily disowned after losing the first two sets to Ilie Nastase, who was using the “spaghetti” racket. just prescribed, starting the following week.

The crowning glory of Vilas’ streak was the victory of the US Open, last played at the West Side Tennis Club in the Forest Hills section of the borough of Queens in New York after 68 years of hosting the event. Clumsy last-minute efforts by club officials to keep the Open could not make up for years of delay in making building improvements.

Jackson’s USTA President Slew Hester decided the neighborhood was too congested, club management too stubbornly outdated to host America’s major tournament, which received 28 hours of television coverage from CBS TV under a new rights contract. five years and $ 10 million.

Hester launched ambitious plans to build a new USTA National Tennis Center in nearby Flushing Meadows Park and Vilas helped make “the last Forest Hills” memorable.

He only lost 16 games in five games until the semifinal, in which he beat Harold Solomon, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. Connors eliminated his 1975 final nemesis, Manolo Orantes, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, and then the first Italian to go this far, Corrado Barazzutti, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5.

In the final, Vilas showed great physical and mental strength and a new technical weapon, a finely sliced ​​backhand approach shot, to beat Connors in a match of brutal grace, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7- 4) and 6-0.

The crowd, more than 16,000 spectators, cheered the popular Argentine left-handed against “the ugly American”. After the last point, many Latins in the crowd poured onto the pitch, lifted Vilas onto their shoulders and carried him around the old horseshoe-shaped stadium like a conquering hero.

Probably the only one who left Forest Hills feeling worse than Connors was a spectator named James Reilly, who sustained a gunshot wound during McEnroe’s 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win over Eddie. Dibbs, a third round night fight. It was a random shot from outside the stadium, never tracked down, and Reilly, who was taken to the hospital on a stretcher, only sustained a slight scratch on his left thigh.

Dibbs and BigMac left the field for a few minutes. The police have been cautious and nervous for a while because it was time for the “Son of Sam” murders that terrorized New York, especially Queens.

Vilas dominated the Grand Prix points standings, winning the $ 300,000 prize awarded as the top of the $ 1.5 million bonus pool presented by Colgate. In the year, Vilas won a record 17 tournaments and $ 800,642 in prize money, more than he had won in five previous professional seasons.

He played the most ambitious tournament schedule of all the top men and finished with a record of 145-14, including Davis Cup games. (With Vilas and Ricardo Cano playing singles, Argentina defeated the United States, 3-2, in the American zone final to reach the Cup semi-final for the first time.)

During his 50-game streak, which included a five-game tournament win at an event in Rye, NY, not officially recognized by the ATP, Vilas has won 109 out of 125 sets. Starting with the French Open, he has won 57 consecutive games on clay.

But although World Tennis magazine named him number 1 of the year, others disagreed and gave Borg that mythical honor. The 21-year-old Swede had the best win rate of the season: 92% with a record of 81-7.

He has won 13 of the 20 tournaments he has played. Including the Masters, played in 1978 but considered the culmination of the 1977 season, Borg beat Vilas 3-0 (two wins in the spring, the third in the Masters semifinal, 6-3, 6-3) and 2-1 over Connors, who beat him in the Masters final, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, in front of 17,150 spectators at Madison Square Garden.

Connors may have had the last laugh of the season, but he finished in third place after being the best player in the world in 1974 and 1976, and second behind Arthur Ashe in 1975.

Connors has won eight of the 21 tournaments, 70 of which. 81 games. He was in four main finals, winning the WCT finals over Stockton, 6-7, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 and Masters, losing to Borg at Wimbledon and Vilas in Forest Hills. But Connors tiptoed 1-2 against Borg and 0-2 against Vilas, including a thrilling match in the Masters’ Italian group, won by Vilas, 6-4 3-6 7-5.

This haunting kept a record crowd of 18,590 spectators glued to their seats at the Garden well past midnight, 42 minutes after a Friday morning.

Source: “Bud Collins’ History of Tennis”.