TENIS

04/08/2021

The inventor of tennis It may be that at some point some Argentine tennis player can surpass Vilas in achievements. However, the legacy of the left-hander from Mar del Plata will be unmatched, since his greatest success was popularizing a sport that was limited to an elite. From the Mar del Plata Yacht Club, Vilas contributed to an explosion in the sport that can be reflected in thousands of courts built and in the innumerable number of boys who grew up under his footprint, with the goal of becoming professional tennis players. As much as the world ranking did not show it and even today he still fights for that recognition, Vilas was the best player on the planet between 1977 and 1978, when he won three of his four Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros, the US Open in Forest Hills. and Australia. The following year he repeated in Australia. In total he raised 62 trophies, to be in the top ten of tennis players with the most titles in history. In addition, he owns the best consecutive winning streak, with 46 in 1997, a series cut by the Romanian Ilie Nastase with a double-strung racket, an element later prohibited by the regulations. In addition to a one-handed backhand from a book, Vilas left two other proprietary blows for posterity: the backhand smash, a blow that only the strength of his left arm and wrist could land, and "Big Willy," the impact. on his back and between his legs that became an icon of his game.