Vitas Gerulaitis

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Vitas Gerulaitis bigraphy, stories - Tennis player

Vitas Gerulaitis : biography

July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994

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