Guillermo Vilas: World No. 1 At Last?

[Kirijax]

Saw this interesting article about Guillermo Vilas. The ATP is now going over records to determine if they screwed it up back in 1977 and denied Vilas' spot in the top spot. Evonne Goolagong Cawley was awarded the No. 1 ranking a couple years a go by the WTA and now the ATP could be doing the same thing for Vilas.

"The possibility that Guillermo Vilas will be declared number one in the world nearly 40 years after the fact could be a reality after years of denials by the ATP," the Buenos Aires newspaper La Nacion wrote last month. (Note: Google translated the article from its original Spanish.)

"It would be very important for tennis. This is a very serious matter," the paper quoted an ATP official as saying. The unnamed official hastened to add: "Nothing is decided -- it is important to emphasize that. But we are studying the documentation."

It seems they also officially upped Vilas' clay court titles to 49.

"There were different levels of tournaments, including the Grand Prix, the WCT-level events and ... other tournaments that weren't part of any circuit," he said. He notes that the ATP has only recently fixed Vilas' career record for clay-court triumphs, upping him from 45 to 49 tournaments. (It had mistakenly listed some events as hard-court tournaments that were actually played on clay.) That means Rafael Nadal, who just won his 46th career title on clay, still has a few more to go before he's the all-time leader on the dirt.

Jimmy Connors is officially the World No. 1 for 1977, even though he failed to win any of the four major tournaments that year. Argentina's Vilas won two of the majors -- including a thrilling victory over Connors in the U.S. Open final. Spectators poured onto the court after match point and hoisted Vilas onto their shoulders in celebration. Connors took a swing at a fan.

Even just a cursory look at the numbers makes clear that the Argentine deserves the belated official recognition. He won 130 matches in 1977, including 57 straight on clay. He finished the season with 16 tournament titles, including the French Open and the U.S. Open.

I would be very glad to see Vilas get the No. 1 ranking. The 1977 Year-End ranking may be out of reach but at least he could get some weeks as the No. 1.

Article

:clap

 

[El Dude]

Excellent news - he really deserves it.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Is not there a statue of limitations against correcting old errors that goes beyond 7 years? :devil