Tennis Legends - Guillermo Vilas: Master on clay with four Grand Slams to his name

Argentina's Guillermo Vilas is the most successful male player South America has ever produced. No man from this continent can match Vilas's haul of four Grand Slam singles titles and 62 wins in singles tournaments.

Born in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, Vilas was raised in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata. He turned professional in 1968 - the first year of Open Era tennis - and went on to establish himself as a leading player throughout much of the 1970s.

He made a main draw Grand Slam debut at the 1970 Wimbledon Championships. Vilas then waited until 1972 for his next appearance at a major.

Vilas reached his first career finals in 1972, losing to Jimmy Connors in Cincinnati and German Karl Meiler on home soil in Buenos Aires. The following year, playing Bjorn Borg, Vilas was crowned champion at the Buenos Aires tournament when the Swede retired hurt prior to a fourth set tiebreak. At that point, Vilas was trailing two sets to one.

Vilas's 1974 campaign witnessed further elevation in his standing. Titles won at Gstaad, Hilversum, Louisville, Toronto, Tehran, Buenos Aires and the prestigious Masters crown in Melbourne helped Vilas finish the year inside the top ten of the fledgling world rankings for the very first time. He'd now arrived as a major contender for the Grand Slams.

The 1975 season turned into another profitable one for Vilas. He picked up a quintet of titles. Among the titles captured was a third successive title in Buenos Aires.

1975 was also the year when Vilas progressed to a first Grand Slam final. A four set last four win over American Eddie Dibbs facilitated Vilas’s path into the French Open final. In the showpiece match, Vilas was brushed aside by defending champion Borg.

Vilas continued to be a serial title winner in 1976. He made it four in a row at Buenos Aires and claimed a first title at the prestigious Monte Carlo clay court event.

His best showing in the majors this year proved to be a semi-final run at the US Open. Vilas also reached a second consecutive Wimbledon quarter-final. These were his best runs at the British major.

In a year that ranks amongst the finest ever recorded in men's tennis, Vilas emerged triumphant on 16 occasions. He won 130 of his 145 singles matches.

1977 was the year when he transitioned from contender to a double major champion. He began the campaign by losing his second Grand Slam final to Roscoe Tanner on the grass courts of Melbourne at the Australian Open. Vilas wouldn't have to wait long for redemption.

At the 1977 French Open, with Borg absent, Vilas started as the favourite. In his last three matches, he lost just 16 games to secure glory in the French capital. The final was a clinic from the Argentine, winning 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 against Brian Gottfried.

Double Grand Slam glory materialised at the US Open, the final edition of the Stateside major to be played at Forest Hills. Going against type, Vilas produced a net rushing display that caught Connors by surprise. It was one of seven consecutive titles he accumulated after Wimbledon.

It was surprising after a season of perpetual success, Vilas failed to end as world number one. He produced a then record 53 match winning streak on clay. A record that stood until Rafael Nadal surpassed it in 2006. Number two had to suffice.

Vilas warmed up for his French Open defence with trophy lifts in Hamburg and Munich. Borg returned to play in Paris, making it more important for Vilas to triumph when the best player on clay and in general was present. The two clashed in the final but Vilas managed to win only five games.

The 1978 season yielded a further four titles culminating in a third Grand Slam triumph Down Under. Vilas survived a five set thriller with Aussie Tony Roche in the quarters. In the final, playing another Australian, John Mark's, Vilas triumphed in four sets. The only caveat was Borg, who only featured in one Australian Open, was again absent.

Title success drops a fraction but fourth Grand Slam triumph cements Vilas as a great Four titles were accrued by Argentina's finest in the 1979 term. This included a seventh triumph in the city of his birth.

He rounded off the season with a successful retention of his Australian Open crown. A straight sets win over unheralded American John Sadri gave Vilas a fourth Grand Slam title.

Vilas's strike rate of success was now beginning to diminish. He managed to win a trio of events in 1980. The pick of these was winning Rome, one of the biggest clay court tournaments outside the French Open. Vilas pocketed three titles in the early months of the 1981 season before losing the other six finals he contested that year. He finished inside the top ten for the eighth season running.

1982 proved to be the last year Vilas would finish inside the top ten. It was his best campaign for a few seasons. He managed to win five titles including an eight success in Buenos Aires and a second Monte Carlo success.

Vilas reached the last of his eight Grand Slam finals in 1982, losing to Mats Wilander in the French Open final.

Vilas won three titles in 1983. A fourth triumph in Kitzbuhel represented the last of his 62 singles titles (10th all-time in the Open Era). He appeared in 104 finals. Vilas received a ban, in June 1983, for his manager Ion Tiriac receiving appearance money for Vilas's appearing at events. These payments were outlawed.

Appearances from Vilas became sporadic for the remainder of the 1980s, with him officially retiring in 1992. His last significant major run came when he reached the 1986 French Open quarter-finals.

A long running sore for Vilas is his belief that he should have been ranked as world number one in his annus mirabilis of 1977.

It was evident with 16 titles, including two Grand Slams, Vilas was the clear standard bearer this season. However, at the time, rankings were based on the average of a player's results. This led to Connors, despite only winning eight titles that year, being ranked at the summit.

When inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, in 1991, the inscription read “it was generally considered Vilas was the real No. 1 for 1977.”

An investigation conducted by Argentine journalist Eduardo Puppo and Romanian mathematician Marian Ciulpan found that Vilas should have been ranked number one for five weeks in 1975 and the first two weeks of 1976. The data was handed over to the ATP in 2014 and not disputed by them. However, the ATP have never rectified the perceived injustice.

In October 2020, a documentary on Netflix, called Guillermo Vilas: Settling the Score documented the controversy. Four years later and the ATP vice-president remained steadfast Vilas will never be classified as world number one.

Vilas spearheaded Argentina's run to the 1981 Davis Cup final, where America proved too strong.

He finished with a 45-10 Davis Cup singles record. This remains an Argentine record for most singles wins. His tally of 57 rubbers won is another Davis Cup record for his country.

In doubles competition, Vilas garnered 15 titles from 26 finals. He rarely played doubles in Grand Slams. Vilas's highest doubles ranking was 13.

Vilas was known as a lothario figure away from the tennis court. He became famed for a playboy lifestyle more akin to.a rock star.

Eventually, at the age of 47, became married. He met Phiangphathu Khumueang when she was just 17. Despite the 30-year age gap, the pair married five years after their initial connection. Vilas's reputation is founded largely on his clay court exploits. 49 of his 62 singles titles were won on clay. He surpassed 650 match victories on the surface. His Grand Slam triumphs in Paris and New York were on clay. In 2016, the Daily Telegraph ranked him as the third greatest claycourter of all-time after Borg and Nadal.

However, winning two majors on grass at the Australian Open, gave his CV a more rounded flavour. Nine consecutive seasons finishing inside the top ten reflect his consistency in the upper echelons of men's tennis. In the Open Era, Vilas became the second man to win over 900 career matches.

Vilas was inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991. Along with Borg, Connors and John McEnroe, the hedonistic Vilas brought a sexier and edgier image to the sport. They helped the sport move away from its genteel image. Vilas also put Argentine tennis on the map. He was the first from his nation, male or female, to win a Grand Slam singles title.