{"id":5023,"date":"2022-04-21T07:23:50","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T07:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/?p=5023"},"modified":"2022-04-21T07:23:50","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T07:23:50","slug":"the-tennis-128-no-95-vitas-gerulaitis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/2022\/04\/21\/the-tennis-128-no-95-vitas-gerulaitis\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tennis 128: No. 95, Vitas Gerulaitis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Vitas Gerulaitis in Amsterdam in 1979<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In 2022, I\u2019m counting down the 128 best players<\/a> of the last century. With luck, we\u2019ll get to #1 in December. Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\nVitas Gerulaitis [USA]<\/b>\n
Born: 26 July 1954\n
Died: 17 September 1994\n
Career: 1973-85\n
Played: Right-handed (one-handed backhand)\n
Peak rank: 3 (1978)\n
Peak Elo rating: 2,201 (3rd place, 1978)\n
Major singles titles: 1\n
Total singles titles: 26\n
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* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tennis was alive<\/em> in 1979. The men’s game had the big three of Bj\u00f6rn Borg, Jimmy Connors, and 20-year-old John McEnroe. All three had compelling personalities, they delivered one dramatic match after another, and they–at least the Americans–gave every impression of hating each other. The media–and not just the sports media–ate it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The women’s game had Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and its own wunderkind, 16-year-old Tracy Austin. The tour featured great rivalries, movie-star good looks, and just enough cattiness to keep the sport in the tabloids. Recreational tennis was booming, and the sport was drawing on talent from more and more corners of the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there was Vitas Gerulaitis. Sometimes ranked fourth behind the big three, he won the Australian Open in December of 1977 and reached a career-high #3 on the ATP computer before McEnroe arrived in 1978. His game was plenty good enough that his sex appeal, easygoing lifestyle, and undeniable charisma made him a global icon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of 1979, the 25-year-old New Yorker shared the cover of People<\/em> magazine with CHiPs<\/em> actor Erik Estrada and Bee Gees frontman Barry Gibb. Gerulaitis and his flowing blonde mane was one of the “10 sexiest bachelors in the world.” I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t quote at length:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lipstick has been spotted more than once on the collar of Vitas Gerulaitis\u2019 tennis whites. “Well, I\u2019m a pretty sociable guy and I don\u2019t get lonely too often,” shrugs the world\u2019s fifth-ranked tennis player and the game\u2019s No. 1 ladies\u2019 man. His tastes run to actresses and models. “It doesn\u2019t hurt for a girl to be pretty,” he says of his entourage. “But after a match I don\u2019t want someone to sit there and talk about my backhand. I want to discuss the Pope\u2019s visit or something.” … <\/p>

Known around the circuit as “the Lithuanian Lion,” Vitas denies his own sex appeal. “Rod Stewart,” he says admiringly, “is the only sexy guy in the world.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The list hasn’t aged well–Gerulaitis slots in between Prince Andrew and O.J. Simpson–but there’s no denying that Vitas’s celebrity far transcended the aficionados who appreciated his footwork and his forehand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is tempting to ignore Gerulaitis’s on-court career entirely and simply reel off his best lines. Perennial runner-ups tend to give the best press conferences, and the self-deprecating New Yorker was no exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You probably know his most famous quip: “And let that be a lesson to you all. Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.” The man who failed to improve on a 16-0 head-to-head was Jimmy Connors, and the occasion was the January 1980 Masters tournament in New York. Vitas won two of his three round-robin matches–one of them a three-set comeback over John McEnroe–and he knocked out Connors in the semi-final in straight sets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sequel is rarely told: Gerulaitis really did figure him out. He beat Connors in their next three meetings, including the Roland Garros semi-finals five months later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The irony in Vitas’s remark is that he did<\/em> lose 17 times in a row to one player–Bj\u00f6rn Borg. It wasn’t for lack of trying. “Every time I play Borg I come out with some thirty ideas that should get me victory,” he said. “And each time Bj\u00f6rn breaks each one of the thirty to pieces, like a clay-pigeon shooter.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerulaitis never gave up hope, even after Borg’s stunning early retirement. “If I have to invite him over to my house when I\u2019m 95 and get him out of a wheelchair, I\u2019m going to beat the guy,” Vitas said. “If someone asks me how long I\u2019m going to play tennis\u2026until I beat Borg.” It didn’t take that long–Gerulaitis beat his long-time tormentor in a handful of early-1980s exhibitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lithuanian Lion can be forgiven for his exasperation. Perhaps his greatest single-match performance was one that he lost, to Borg in the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 1977, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 8-6. Gerulaitis was up a break in the fifth set before it slipped away. He won 176 points to Borg’s 177.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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