translated from Spanish: August 17: Guillermo Vilas birth

Born in the city of Buenos Aires on August 17, 1952, but raised in Mar del Plata, Guillermo Vilas at the age of 5 had his first contact with the world of tennis, when his father José Roque Vilas gave him a racket. His beginnings in tennis were hours and hours in front of a fronton, only at the age of eleven he began to gain experience with his coach Felipe Locicero.In 1963, Vilas obtained his first medal by losing the final of an internal tournament of the Nautical Club of Mar del Plata, where he trained. At his young age, Guillermo proved to be better than all his peers, so it was that between his 12 and 15 years he became:
Finalist of the Argentine Children’s Championship.
Argentine Minor Champion in doubles.
South American Junior Champion in doubles.

After his achievements, Vilas had to grow and leave behind his city, this was how he began to train in the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis.Su arrival in the capital was accompanied by great successes such as the American doubles championship Orange Bowl, of which he was consecrated champion with the American Jeff Austin, a tournament that he would win again in 1969.In November 1969 he debuted on the international circuit of seniors, contesting the Grand Prix of Buenos Aires (on brick dust), beating the South African Frew McMillan by 7-5, 6-1 and 6-2.By 1970, Guillermo Vilas at only 17 years old debuted in the Davis Cup and was considered the number 1 tennis player in the country. In 1972 Vilas played his first professional final, falling in Cincinnati (brick dust) to Jimmy Connors 6–3, 6–3.

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In 1973 he claimed the first title of his career, defeating Sweden’s Björn Borg 3–6, 6–7, 6–4, 6–6, who retired due to injury in the Buenos Aires definition (brick dust). In 1974, at 24 years old Guillermo knew how to create the great technique “Willy”, that today there are theories, who think that Vilas had been practicing this blow, and those who say that the ball stung him badly and he had no recourse to hit the ball between his legs.

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The first time it was seen was at an exhibition meeting at the Club Obras Sanitarias in 1974. Against Frenchman Wanaro N’Godrella. A year later, Vilas would repeat this blow, but in an official tournament, precisely in Indianapolis and against the Spaniard Manuel Orantes.That same year, after a season of open that gave to talk, Vilas played the Masters of Australia that today is considered his greatest achievement of his career for the quality of rivals that he had to face, however they placed him as the second best tennis player of that year. Back in 1975 and forging his name on the international stage, the Argentine reached his first Grand Slam final, the Roland Garros, where he fell to Sweden’s Björn Borg.De eight finals reached that year, Vilas won five and lost three, finishing no. 2 in the ATP rankings.
1977 was considered the record year for the Argentine, with a total of 136 wins and only 14 losses in the whole year, being unbeaten for 46 consecutive matches. To his crazy record, he is added the conquest of nothing more or nothing less than 16 titles in that year, managing to be to this day, the tennis player who won more tournaments in a year. Among the titles of that year are Roland Garros and the US Open, but despite its fantastic numbers it did not manage to be the N1 in the world.

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A year later Vilas stated:
“What I did last year is rudeness. Winning 57 games in a row in brick dust, and 85 games out of 87 played, with 16 tournaments won out of 31, is an outrage that I will not repeat in my career. I don’t think in a long time anyone can match it.”

It was 1981 and the Argentine duo reached the first Davis Cup final in the history of Argentine sport, Guillermo Vilas and José Luis Clerc faced the United States in Cincinnati.On the first day, Vilas fell to McEnroe and Clerc beat Roscoe leaving open the possibility of winning in doubles, but despite leaving everything, and a match that lasted almost 6 hours was not enough for Argentina and they lost, thus leaving them with only one chance, which was clerc’s victory that could not be given either. In 1982, at the age of 30, he managed to reach a new Roland Garros final, which he lost to Mats Wilanders, he also played in the semi-final of the US Open, where he lost to Jimmy Connors.That same year, Vilas won seven tournaments, finishing the year as No. 4 in the ATP rankings and No. 2 in the Grand Prix.In 1989 the Argentine announced his retirement, which would pass into oblivion in 1992 when he returned to play the Atlanta Open and some challenger tournaments in his 40s.
Guillermo Vilas is recognizeddo at world level for his 62 titles that place him 8th in the world and historically, behind Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras and Björn Borg.Among the achievements on a personal level are the following achievements in Davis Cup:
The Argentine player with the most total wins for the country (57).
Most singles wins (45).
Most series played (29).
Most years played (14).
 The youngest Argentine to play a match in this important competition (17 years and 215 days on the day of his debut in 1970).

In addition, in 1991 he was inducted with Ashley Cooper and Ilie Năstase into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. It is worth mentioning the artistic side of Vilas, who stood out as a writer of poems. In 1974 he published the book of poems “125”. In 1981 he published “Cosecha de Cuatro”. In 1976 he published “Who I Am and How I Play”, an autobiography where he mentions his tactics when playing tennis. In addition, thanks to his friendship with L.A. Spinetta, on the album “Only love can sustain” that was recorded in 1978, there is the song “Children of the bells”, which is a poem with lyrics by Vilas. Without straying from music, the famous Argentine tennis player also has his own album called “Milnuevenoventa”.Did you have any of these facts?

Original source in Spanish