ATP Tour

Best Grand Slam Results: 1977 Australian Open Champion; 1975 Wimbledon doubles champion (w/S. Mayer).

Vitas Gerulaitis was one of the game's quickest players, and among the most entertaining. He had one Slam title to his credit, (1977 Austrailian Open), yet he acquired a reputation of not winning the big matches. He held a two-sets-to love lead and match points against Ivan Lendl in the '82 Masters final only to lose in five sets. He is perhaps best be remembered for his brilliant match against Bjorn Borg in the '77 Wimbledon semifinals, still counted among the greatest battles ever on Centre Court. Throughout his career, Vitas's off-court activities garnered as much attention as his feats on court. His reputation for fast cars and fast living haunted him, and in '82 he was erroneously linked to a drug ring. In '84, Vitas grabbed headlines with his unequivocal statement at the US Open that the No. 100-ranked male player would have little trouble beating Martina Navratilova. He even offered his house as a wager on such a match, much to the dismay of Derek Tarr, No. 100. Gerulaitis also revealed at the Open that a series of bad investments had left him not nearly as well off as one might expect for a man who had earned more than $4 million in tournament earnings alone. He won the 1974 ATP Most Improved Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year Awards. Gerulaitis died on 17 September 1994. An inquest found that he had died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty propane heater, which had seeped into the heating and air conditioning system. He was 40 years old.