Vitas Gerulaitis : biography
Vytautas Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994) was a Lithuanian-American professional tennis player. In 1975, Gerulaitis won men’s doubles title at Wimbledon, partnering Sandy Mayer. He won the men’s singles title at one of the two Australian Open tournaments held in 1977. Gerulaitis won the tournament that was held in December, while Roscoe Tanner won the earlier January tournament. Gerulaitis also won two Italian Open titles, in 1977 and 1979, and the WCT Finals in Dallas, in 1978.
Grand Slam finals
Singles: 3 (1–2)
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Winner | 1977 | Australian Open | Grass | GBR}} John Lloyd | 6–3, 7–6(7–1), 5–7, 3–6, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 1979 | US Open | Hard | USA}} John McEnroe | 5–7, 3–6, 3–6 |
Runner-up | 1980 | French Open | Clay | SWE}} Björn Borg | 4–6, 1–6, 2–6 |
Video
- Wimbledon Classic Match: Gerulaitis vs Borg Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: October 31, 2006, Run Time: 180 minutes, ASIN: B000ICLR8O.
Biography
Gerulaitis was born on July 26, 1954, in Brooklyn, NY, to Lithuanian immigrant parents, and grew up in Howard Beach, Queens., The New York Times, September 20, 1994. Accessed November 3, 2007. He attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, graduating in 1971. He attended Columbia College of Columbia University for one year before dropping out to pursue tennis full-time.
Gerulaitis died on September 17, 1994, at the age of 40. While visiting a friend’s home in Southampton, Long Island, a malfunction in an improperly installed pool heater caused carbon monoxide gas to seep into the guesthouse where Gerulaitis was sleeping, causing his death by carbon monoxide poisoning. Gerulaitis failed to show up for a dinner at 7pm that evening and his body was found the following day by a maid who went to the guesthouse., Philly.com, September 20, 1994. Gerulaitis’ remains are interred in Saint Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York.
Singles performance timeline
Tournament | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | SR | W–L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||
Australian Open (Jan) | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Not Held | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | ||||||||
French Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | SF | F | 1R | QF | 1R | 2R | 1R | A | 0 / 7 | 16–7 |
Wimbledon | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | QF | SF | SF | 1R | 4R | 4R | QF | 2R | 4R | 3R | A | 0 / 12 | 30–12 |
US Open | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 4R | 4R | SF | F | 2R | SF | 1R | 3R | 4R | 3R | A | 0 / 15 | 33–15 |
Australian Open (Dec) | Not Held | W | A | A | 1R | A | A | 2R | 2R | A | NH | 1 / 4 | 6–3 | |||||
Win–Loss | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 7–2 | 14–2 | 10–2 | 11–3 | 10–4 | 8–3 | 8–3 | 3–4 | 7–4 | 4–3 | 0–0 | 1/38 | 85–37 |
Year End Championships | ||||||||||||||||||
Masters Grand Prix | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | F | A | F | R16 | A | R16 | A | A | 0 / 4 | 6–6 |
WCT Finals | A | A | A | A | A | A | SF | W | SF | A | A | A | SF | QF | A | A | 1 / 5 | 7–4 |
Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 4–3 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1 / 9 | 13–10 |
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||
Tournaments Played | 9 | 20 | 15 | 19 | 20 | 18 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 15 | 2 | 244 | |||
Titles–Finals | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–7 | 0–3 | 5–9 | 3–5 | 3–6 | 3–6 | 1–4 | 5–7 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 25–54 | |||
Overall Win–Loss | 7–9 | 33–19 | 38–13 | 31–19 | 60–16 | 46–15 | 64–20 | 52–19 | 43–19 | 61–15 | 32–20 | 34–20 | 12–15 | 0–2 | 510–221 | |||
Win % | 44% | 63% | 75% | 62% | 79% | 75% | 76% | 73% | 69% | 80% | 62% | 63% | 44% | 0% | 70% | |||
Year End Ranking | 131 | 47 | 15 | 18 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 17 | 799 |