By Scoop Malinowski | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Hall of Famer Guillermo Vilas was a  force of nature on court and fascinating character off court.

Decades before Rafael Nadal grew into one of the game's greatest champions sporting his iconic bull logo, the left-handed Vilas tormented opponents with his heavy topspin forehand earning him the nickname the "Young Bull of the Pampas." 

More: Tennis Channel Roland Garros TV Schedule

Now, the legendary left-hander is the subject of my latest book: Facing Guillermo Vilas.

Devoted tennis fans know the four-time Grand Slam champion as a physical powerhouse, but did you know Vilas has lived an amazing live expressing himself both as athlete and artist?

The Argentinian icon dated a princess, published a book of poetry, jammed with Pink Floyd, and was so obsessed with perfection, he would sometimes practice for 12 hours a day or even play 19 sets in a day with his pal Bjorn Borg, while consuming 24 bottles of Coca Cola.

Born on August 17th, 1952 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Vilas turned pro in 1969. He later won the French Open, Australian Open and US Open titles during his career. He achieved an ATP ranking of No. 2 though some insist he should have been rightful world No. 1 in 1977.

In a spectacular '77 season, Vilas posted an astounding 145-14 record, won 17 of 33 ATP singles championships he played, was a finalist at the Australian Open, won the Roland Garros crown and defeated Jimmy Connors to capture the US Open championship on Forest Hills' clay.  

I interviewed over 40 people who share memories of their experiences Facing Guillermo Vilas in this book. I'm thrilled with how the book completed itself. Vilas is one of the coolest, most engaging, most intelligent and thoughtful great champions I ever met in 25 years in pro sports. There were no English books about him so I decided to change that. Guillermo Vilas should not be forgotten.

There were many highlights working on this book for two years, including interviewing John McEnroe at a senior exo in Tampa in 2019, interviewing Guillermo Salatino who played Vilas in doubles when he was ten and also covered most of his career as a TV radio journalist and interviewing Virginia Ruzici. So many of the colorful anecdotes are unforgettable."

Facing Guillermo Vilas is available now at amazon.com.

Virginia Ruzici, 1978 Roland Garros champion and Vilas friend:

"I knew Guillermo pretty well as Ion Tiriac was his manager and coach and he was my manager too … so we were good friends! Therefore we had many moments all together during tournaments like Kitzbuhel, Gstaad or the Grand Slams. And Guillermo liked to joke and laugh a lot, but on the court he was hungry like a wolf."

"His biggest ambition was to beat Borg! Guillermo was a very hard worker and I've seen him practice up to eight hours a day. In Australia, on grass, him and Ion were the first ones to arrive at the club … and the last ones to leave. Impressive!"

"We were all residents in Monte Carlo and spent time in Paris too, where Tiriac built a tennis club, called VITIS.(from Vilas, Tiriac, Sturdza). Guillermo had a little obsession about losing weight and one year at the club in Paris, he was on a pineapple diet. That meant eating only pineapple every day for one month. We were laughing hard as Guillermo was having the pineapple prepared in different ways …soup, juice, cut in pieces, etc. After a while his lips were soooo destroyed…but did not give up and lost some weight. What an endurance!"

"In those days in late seventies, there were only two weeks between Roland Garros and Wimbledon, so I had the chance to practice together with them on grass for two weeks. I remember that once we made the trip together by car, in Guillermo's Bentley, as he liked beautiful, classy cars. It was the year when he lost unexpectedly to Mats Wilander in the finals of Roland Garros. In those days, he was going out with Princess Caroline de Monaco. And a big party was already awaiting, prepared by Ion, as nobody imagined that he could lose that final. Well… Mats destroyed Guillermo in that match - and the much expected party too, as it got cancelled! Too hard to take the loss by Guillermo."

"Once in London, I had to get up early every day to get my practice too, with Ion first, and then Ion and I against Guillermo. He was serving for hours and i was happy to be able to return his serve. Thanks to Ion, I had also a chance to hit with Boris Becker a couple of times, on clay in Monaco… but I could not touch his first serve!"

"In conclusion, i must say that I was privileged to have a chance to learn from him and to befriend him. He is a huge example for me and an inspiration!"



Hall of Famer Mats Wilander, who defeated Vilas in the 1982 Roland Garros Final:

"The year (1982) I won the French Open I played Vilas in the final. I was seventeen, unseeded. At the time Borg was taking a break, he had won six French Opens. In the fourth round I beat Lendl, then I beat Vitas Gerulaitis and Jose Luis Clerc in the semi. The draw in terms of their ranking was extremely difficult. They were all sort of top five in the world. And I was just playing, I was running, I was just trying not to miss. So I didn't miss much. I had a good attitude. And I think they all choked because they thought this is their chance to win the French Open."

"So I go into the final against Vilas and I'm literally only thinking about winning games. Because five sets against him…he was a big, strong, kind of the Rafa Nadal of our time. And I obviously had no chance to win at all. So I won a game in the first set. I was actually happy. At least I won a game. I'm sitting there during the changeovers. I remember seeing him change his socks. And I'm like, Wow, he must be getting tired. And he started to talk to his coach Ion Tiriac. And they started to nearly scream at each other. And I'm like, Wow, something is really happening. My strength was to be aware of my surroundings, especially my opponent. And he just went down after that…"





Brian Gottfried, who lost to Vilas in the 1977 Roland Garros final 6-0, 6-3, 6-0:

"I'd like to remember when I lost to him at the French but it happened so quick [chuckles]."

Question: I'm doing a book on Facing Vilas. I didn't remember the final score was tough for you, sorry to bring it up.

Brian Gottfried: "No that's okay. If you were there I owe you a refund [smiles]."

Question: What was so tough about playing him?

Brian Gottfried: "He played the ball up high which for us one-handers is pretty difficult. But it wasn't just pushing the ball, he was working the points with high margins of error. Because playing with that much spin - the same way Borg played - he was still being offensive with a high margin of error. We were being offensive with a lower margin of error. The ball was traveling closer to the net, so on clay it was very difficult. It was difficult to attack when I lost to him in the finals of the French - I'd beaten him three times before that. But I lost four times that year. So if I was able to attack better than he could, if I could pass, I would have had a chance. But he was passing well, he was forcing some errors. He got the ball high and heavy on me. It was a tough afternoon for me."

Question: You had beaten him on clay before?

Brian Gottfried: "I didn't beat him on clay that year. I beat him once indoors, Baltimore, Palm Springs on hard. Maybe just twice. It was on a faster court. Those years indoors we played on a fuzzy carpet. So it was a lot faster, more to my liking than his."

Question: Lasting memory of Vilas, on or off court?

Brian Gottfried: "He was a great competitor. Fought really hard. You really had to work. He didn't give you anything. Because he was a lefty, he was difficult to play. Great fitness. One of the early ones to play with that style. When I say 'that style' I mean he and Borg played offensive tennis but they had margins of error. The game kind of went that way for a while. Then as the next generation came along, they started to play with that same amount of spin with lighter racquets and the bigger head - they were able to hit the ball with much, much more pace. Those guys kind of took it to a new level that was sort of the foundation for maybe today's game. I'd have to think about that. Yes, those are my memories."



Johan Kriek: "I played Vilas in the 1986 French Open. My first French Open. Vilas was the 'Nadal of our day.' We played in the quarterfinals after I had beaten Carlos Kirmayer, Milan Srejber, Luiz Mattar, Yannick Noah. I had never played “Willy” before in any match and he quickly began the grind and was up 6-3, 6-6 and 6-5 in the second tie breaker when he missed an easy overhead right on top of the net to make it 6-6 in the second set tie breaker. I ended up winning the second set 7-6 and the match became a true test of endurance for me. I won 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 after being up 5-3 serving in the fourth set!"

"I can honestly say that winning that match on a hot French center court with screaming Parisians was by far the most difficult both mentally and physically for me. So much so that I could not get out of bed the next day. I consider it the best win of my career."

"I was so stiff and so beat up I stayed in bed all day and just slept. I had to take three injections before the semifinals against Ivan Lendl and very few people know the true story about what had happened to me. It was a cold and misty day and the temperature on the court was so low they allowed us for the first time in French Open history to play with full tracksuits on!"

"Bill Norris, the ATP trainer, brought a boiling hot hydroculator out to the court long before our match so I could try and keep my arm warm to allow me to at least try to play. As you can see from the score I won three games against Lendl. I did not explain my true situation during the press interview afterwards as I didn’t want to make excuses for my loss. I took a lot of negative press due to that. I withdrew from Queens and Wimbledon and flew back to Naples, Florida. It took me six weeks to recover physically. To try to understand winning 13 French Opens like Nadal already did is simply out of this world and a record that will not be broken in my lifetime."