Vitas Gerulaitis

Vytautas Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 18, 1994) was a professional tennis player from the United States. He is best remembered for winning the men's singles title at the Australian Open in 1977.

Career

Gerulaitis was born in 1954 in Brooklyn, NY to Lithuanian immigrant parents, and grew up in Howard Beach, Queens.^[1] He attended academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, graduating in 1971. He attended Columbia College of Columbia University for one year before dropping out to pursue tennis full time. In 1975, Gerulaitis led the Pittsburgh Triangles to the World Team Tennis championship at Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena. He won the most significant title of his career in 1977 at the Australian Open, when he defeated John Lloyd in the men's singles final in five sets 6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2. In 1979, Gerulaitis lost in men's singles finals at the US Open to fellow New Yorker John McEnroe in straight sets 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. Gerulaitis reached his third Grand Slam singles final in 1980, when he lost in the final of the French Open to Björn Borg in straight sets 6-4, 6-1, 6-2. Gerulaitis also won the men's doubles title at Wimbledon in 1975. He was a singles semi-finalist at Wimbledon in both 1977 and 1978. In 1977, he lost an epic five-set Wimbledon semi-final to Borg 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 [1]. Gerulaitis was a member of the United States team which won the Davis Cup in 1979. In the final, he won two singles rubbers as the US beat Italy 5-0. He had a career head-to-head record .against Björn Borg of 0-16 Gerulaitis was known for his exceptionally fast hands at the net and his ability to cover the court with mercurial speed. With his dash of long blond hair he was a precursor, in style at least, to Andre Agassi. Gerulaitis is considered one of the great "might-have beens" of tennis. Some believe that by indulging in a close and perhaps servile friendship with Björn Borg, Gerulaitis may have stifled the aggressive instincts needed to bring a player to the top rank. He is remembered as one of the most pleasing players to watch on court, and a gentleman off court. In 1985, Gerulaitis teamed-up with Bobby Riggs to launch a challenge to female players after the famous Battle of the Sexes. However, the stunt was short-lived when Gerulaitis and Riggs lost a doubles match against Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver. During his career, Gerulaitis won 24 top-level singles titles and 8 doubles titles. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 3 in 1978. He retired from the professional tour in 1986. Gerulaitis died in a tragic accident on September 18 1994, at age 40. While visiting a friend's home in Southampton, Long Island, a malfunction in the heating system caused odorless, poisonous carbon monoxide gas to seep into the guesthouse where Gerulaitis was sleeping, causing his death. Gerulaitis is interred in Saint Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. In 1991 the English rock band Half Man Half Biscuit released a song entitled Outbreak of Vitas Gerulaitis.

Grand Slam singles finals

Win (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1977	Australian Open (Dec)	John Lloyd	6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2

Runner-ups (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1979	U.S. Open	John McEnroe	7-5, 6-3, 6-3
1980	French Open	Björn Borg	6-4, 6-1, 6-2

Singles finals

Wins (24)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1974	Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Andrew Pattison	6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
2.	1975	New York, USA	Indoor	Jimmy Connors	DEF
3.	1975	St. Louis, USA	Clay	Roscoe Tanner	2-6, 6-2, 6-3
4.	1977	Ocean City, USA	Hard	Robert Lutz	3-6, 6-1, 6-2
5.	1977	Rome, Italy	Clay	Antonio Zugarelli	6-2, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6
6.	1977	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Tony Roche	6-7, 6-1, 6-1, 7-5
7.	1977	Perth, Australia	Hard	Geoff Masters	6-3, 6-4, 6-2
8.	1977	Australian Open-2, Melbourne	Grass	John Lloyd	6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2
9.	1978	Richmond WCT, USA	Carpet	John Newcombe	6-3, 6-4
10.	1978	Dallas, USA - WCT Finals	Carpet	Eddie Dibbs	6-3, 6-2, 6-1
11.	1978	Forest Hills, USA - WCT Invitational	Clay	Ilie Năstase	6-2, 6-0
12.	1979	Rome, Italy	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	6-7, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2
13.	1979	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Pavel Slozil	6-2, 6-2, 6-4
14.	1979	Sydney Indoor, Australia	Hard (i)	Guillermo Vilas	4-6, 6-3, 6-1, 7-6
15.	1980	Forest Hills, USA - WCT Tournament of Champions	Clay	John McEnroe	2-6, 6-2, 6-0
16.	1980	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	6-2, 7-5, 6-2
17.	1980	Melbourne Indoor, Australia	Carpet	Peter McNamara	7-5, 6-3
18.	1981	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Jeff Borowiak	6-4, 7-6, 6-1
19.	1982	Brussels, Belgium - Belgian Indoor	Hard (i)	Mats Wilander	4-6, 7-6, 6-2
20.	1982	Florence, Italy	Clay	Stefan Simonsson	4-6, 6-3, 6-1
21.	1982	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Ivan Lendl	4-6, 6-1, 6-3
22.	1982	Melbourne Indoor, Australia	Carpet	Eliot Teltscher	2-6, 6-2, 6-2
23.	1982	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Guillermo Vilas	7-6, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6
24.	1983	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Wojtek Fibak	4-6, 6-1, 7-5, 5-5, ret.
25.	1984	Treviso, Italy	Clay	Tarik Benhabiles	6-1, 6-1

Runner-ups (29)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1974	Salt Lake City, USA	Indoors	Jimmy Connors	4-6, 7-6, 6-3
2.	1975	Philadelphia WCT, USA	Carpet	Marty Riessen	7-6, 5-7, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3
3.	1975	Roanoke, USA	Indoors	Roger Taylor	7-6, 7-6
4.	1975	Salisbury, USA	Carpet	Jimmy Connors	5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0
5.	1975	Orlando WCT, USA	Hard	Rod Laver	6-3, 6-4
6.	1975	Bermuda	Clay	Jimmy Connors	6-1, 6-4
7.	1976	Indianapolis WCT, USA	Carpet	Arthur Ashe	6-2, 6-7, 6-4
8.	1976	Toronto Indoor WCT, Canada	Carpet	Björn Borg	2-6, 6-3, 6-1
9.	1976	Charlotte WCT, USA	Carpet	Tony Roche	6-3, 3-6, 6-1
10.	1977	Richmond WCT, USA	Carpet	Tom Okker	3-6, 6-3, 6-4
11.	1977	Monterrey WCT, Mexico	Carpet	Wojtek Fibak	6-4, 6-3
12.	1977	London WCT, England	Hard (i)	Eddie Dibbs	7-6, 6-7, 6-4
13.	1977	Houston WCT, USA	Hard	Adriano Panatta	6-2, 6-3
14.	1978	Las Vegas, USA	Hard	Björn Borg	6-5, 5-6, 6-4, 6-5
15.	1978	Milan WCT, Italy	Carpet	Björn Borg	6-3, 6-3
16.	1979	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Björn Borg	6-2, 6-1, 6-3
17.	1979	U.S. Open, New York	Hard	John McEnroe	7-5, 6-3, 6-3
18.	1979	Masters, New York	Carpet	Björn Borg	6-2, 6-2
19.	1980	Pepsi Grand Slam, Boca Raton	Hard	Björn Borg	6-1, 5-7, 6-1
20.	1980	French Open, Paris	Clay	Björn Borg	6-4, 6-1, 6-2
21.	1980	Sydney Indoor, Australia	Hard (i)	John McEnroe	6-3, 6-4
22.	1981	Monterrey WCT, Mexico	Carpet	Johan Kriek	7-6, 3-6, 7-6
23.	1981	Melbourne Indoor, Australia	Carpet	Peter McNamara	4-6, 6-1, 5-5 DEF
24.	1981	Masters, New York	Carpet	Ivan Lendl	6-7, 2-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4
25.	1982	Genova WCT, Italy	Carpet	Ivan Lendl	6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
26.	1982	Zürich WCT, Switzerland	Carpet	Bill Scanlon	7-5, 7-6, 1-6, 0-6, 6-4
27.	1983	Forest Hills WCT, USA	Clay	John McEnroe	6-3, 7-5
28.	1984	Toronto, Canada	Hard	John McEnroe	6-0, 6-3
29.	1984	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Eliot Teltscher	6-3, 6-1, 7-6

Men's doubles finals

Wins (8)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1974	Roanoke, USA	Indoors	Sandy Mayer	Ian Crookenden Jeff Simpson	7-6, 6-1
2.	1974	Salt Lake City, USA	Indoors	Jimmy Connors	Iván Molina Jairo Velasco	2-6, 7-6, 7-5
3.	1975	Roanoke, USA	Indoors	Sandy Mayer	Juan Gisbert Ion Ţiriac	7-6, 1-6, 6-3
4.	1975	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Sandy Mayer	Colin Dowdeswell Allan Stone	7-5, 8-6, 6-4
5.	1976	Boca Raton, USA	Hard	Clark Graebner	Bruce Manson Butch Walts	6-2, 6-4
6.	1976	Fort Worth WCT, USA	Hard	Sandy Mayer	Eddie Dibbs Harold Solomon	6-4, 7-5
7.	1977	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Bill Scanlon	Mal Anderson Ken Rosewall	7-6, 6-4
8.	1978	Birmingham WCT, USA	Carpet	Sandy Mayer	Frew McMillan Dick Stockton	3-6, 6-1, 7-6

Runner-ups (12)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1974	Little Rock, USA	Carpet	Bob Hewitt	Jürgen Fassbender Karl Meiler	6-0, 6-2
2.	1974	Oslo, Norway	Indoor	Jeff Borowiak	Karl Meiler Haroon Rahim	6-3, 6-2
3.	1976	Indianapolis WCT, USA	Carpet	Tom Gorman	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	6-2, 6-4
4.	1976	Charlotte WCT, USA	Carpet	Gene Mayer	John Newcombe Tony Roche	6-3, 7-5
5.	1976	South Orange, USA	Clay	Ilie Năstase	Fred McNair Marty Riessen	7-5, 4-6, 6-2
6.	1977	Masters Doubles WCT, New York	Carpet	Adriano Panatta	Vijay Amritraj Dick Stockton	7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3
7.	1978	Philadelphia WCT, USA	Carpet	Sandy Mayer	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	6-4, 6-4
8.	1978	Richmond WCT, USA	Carpet	Sandy Mayer	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	6-3, 7-5
9.	1980	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	John McEnroe	Paolo Bertolucci Adriano Panatta	6-2, 5-7, 6-3
10.	1980	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	Brian Gottfried	Peter McNamara Paul McNamee	6-2, 6-4
11.	1981	Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet	John McEnroe	Brian Teacher Butch Walts	7-5, 6-7, 7-5
12.	1985	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet	Paul McNamee	Pavel Slozil Tomáš Šmíd	6-4, 6-4

Quote

"Nobody beats me 17 straight"

– after finally beating Jimmy Connors at the 1979 Masters following sixteen straight losses.

References

External links

• ATP Tour profile for Vitas Gerulaitis
• Davis Cup record