The day Guillermo Vilas graduated as a Master: his remembered victory against Nastase in the Masters

The first feat of Guillermo Villas in the tennis world occurred a little over 48 years. And December 15, 1974the tennis player from Mar del Plata – from then just 22 years old– faced Illie Nastasea Romanian with a lot of experience and huge achievements in his career, in the end of Masters.

Vilas He arrived as a rookie to that tournament destined exclusively for the 8 best in the worldy no one foreshadowed that he could win it. However, Willy displayed his best tennis on the grass of Melbourne and kept the title after a marathon final of 5 sets. Was the first major title he got in his brilliant career.

Undoubtedly, that year was the international takeoff for Vilas. He began to be recognized in the world of tennis and the blow he gave to close the season that ranked him, according to specialized critics, as one of the youngsters destined to dominate the courts in that golden decade.

Nastase had just won 3 consecutive Masters and ran into Willy

The Masters had little history, since it had begun to be played in 1970. Stan Smith won the first edition Tokio. The next three, played in Paris, Barcelona and Boston, They had Illie Nastase as the winner. Precisely the rival of Vilasthis time, what he was going for his fourth consecutive crown and was everyone’s favorite.

The tournament format was almost the same as it is played today: two groups of four players eachThey played all against all. The first two of each group met those of the other group in the semifinals and the winners played in the final. The difference was that in those years all the matches were five sets.

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Vilas joined the Blue group together with the Australian John Newcombe, the new zealand Onny Parun and the swedish Bjorn Borg. In the White group were birththe Mexican Raul Ramirezthe Spanish Manuel Orantes and the american Harold Solomon. In the semifinals, the man from Mar del Plata he beat Ramírez 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and 7-5. Meanwhile, the Romanian did the same with the Australian Newcombe in straight sets: 6-3, 7-6 and 6-2.

The definition for the title of Master remained for history. After sweeping in semis to Newcombe and arrive with three titles of Master under his arm, Nastase was chosen by all to lift the trophy. However, Vilas gave battle and won 7-6 (6), 6-2, 3-6, 3-6 and 6-4.

He had won the first two sets in an unquestionable way, especially the second. But the Romanian reacted and made the series 2-2. Willy could have been dejected and weighed down by the responsibility of finishing in a fifth set, but none of that happened and the left-hander was left with a 6-4 that made history.

After graduating from Maestro on the lawn, he said that “the grass is for the cows”

They faced each other two very different styles. Nastase was talented, very ductile and the owner of decisive blows if given enough space. Our Willy was characterized by tenacity, the base game, physical strength and a devastating counterattack. Years later he said that he knew that in that game the secret was not giving illie the space or time to hurt himthen I had to return with angled shots, taking risks.

The Argentinian He was one of the first tennis players to play with top spin, the spin shot used today by most clay-court specialists. That hit, added to the drops and passing shots they allowed him to prevail in that historic fifth set.

Vilas won 62 ATP tournaments, 4 of them Grand Slam (Twice Australia, Roland Garros and the United States; only Wimbledon was missing). Interestingly, he was received from Maestro on the lawn of Melbourne, the surface of the only Grand Slam that he lacked to win. Years later, after losing in the quarterfinals at WimbledonStill furious, Willy said a well-remembered phrase: “the grass is for the cows”.

Images of that mythical match against Nastase played 48 years ago today.

His best year was 1977but unusually he did not reach number 1 in the world in the ATP ranking. By the percentage system that was used at that time, Vilas finished as No. 2below Jimmy Connors. The specialized press saved the error and clarified the issue. Magazine World Tennis (whose annual ranking was the most respected since 1953) awarded him the No. 1 in the world, as well as the agency France Pressamong other specialized rankings of the time.

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Even more, a study published in 2011 in which all the match records of 1977 were analyzed allowed to reach the conclusion that Vilas was the best player of that year. “What I did this year was rude. I will never do it again, nor do I think another tennis player can match it. The ranking is nonsense, just look at the statistics ”, Willy said when he concluded that masterful year of his career.