[vaiva]

I wonder if somebody knows anything about him. Although he is listed as an American, his name sounds very Lithuanian.

I would love to know more about him as a person and about his career and would appreciate if somebody could provide any links to useful info

He must have been a rather charismatic player. Here's a quote I've found just today:

"In 1983, Vitas Gerulaitis bet his house that Martina Navratilova couldn't beat the 100th ranked male tennis player."

 

[Nimi]

Apperantly he was a funny guy.
I remember he had this record of like 28-0 with Borg, & then they played for the 29th time, before the match he said "Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 29 times in a row."

He won the match.

 

[vaiva]

LMAO!

 

[KCVH]

results he reached the US-Open final where he lost to Mcenroe. Reached the Master final too, where he lost to Lendl. Reached several semi-finals in the GS's too. Who knows he could have won the Aus Open but many players boycoted the AUS-Open because it was then organised in December. Players like Mcenroe, Connors didn't come.

 

[Professor14]

Vitas

I don't know a lot about Vitas Gerulaitis except that he was an American. He died tragically when a pool heater at his house malfunctioned which caused a carbon dioxide release into his room. He was a New Yorker and best friends with John McEnore. Vitas introduced Mac to the New York night life and the fast lane of society. I have Vitas listed between 26 and 30 on my all time great players of the Open Era. He won the '77 Australian (only 48 men have won a grand slam singles event in the open era) and he won the mens wimbledon doubles in 1975. He was one of those players that got to a few other grand slam finals ('79 US Open and '80 French) losing to Mac and Borg respectively. All the interviews I saw with him and watching him play (although I was only in junior high at his prime), and reading about him in John McEnroe's biography tells me he was a real nice guy.

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

Vaiva, his parents were from Lithuania

really shocked when he died, so sad :sad:

didnt see him play, even before my time

 

[Mrs. B]

"Vitas Gerulaitis was a firebrand. Fined £1,250 in 1978 for indulging in 'gross and obscene behavior,' he suggested that a line judge be 'put in a crematorium and burned.' He also responded to a heckle of 'Stop swearing, Goldilocks!' by inviting the guy down for a fight, and once squared up on court with a member of his opponent's family. 'I told him to come on out as I would love to have given him a racket sandwich,' he growled."

[Trivia: Gerulaitis once accepted a dare (from Ilie Nastase) to drink half a pint of vodka, liberally mixed with cigarette ash and stale bread.]

:lol:

 

[Mrs. B]

didn't he used to date Cheryl Tiegs back in his heydays?

 

[teeder]

The guy was grease lightning. He had a hopeless backhand for passing. If he had ever learned a topspin backhand he would have been much better remembered. He had women, friends etc... But he loved the pipe more for many years.

 

[Tennis Fool]

Re: Vitas

I don't know a lot about Vitas Gerulaitis except that he was an American. He died tragically when a pool heater at his house malfunctioned which caused a carbon dioxide release into his room.

Actually it was carbon monoxide.

I didn't know anything about him until the news reports about his death, and still didn't know that was *him* until recently.