The 1978 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix was a professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

circuit held that year. It consisted of four Grand Slam tournaments, the

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

tournaments and the Nations Cup, a team event. In addition eight World Championship Tennis (WCT) tournaments, a separate professional tennis circuit held from 1971 through 1977, were incorporated into the Grand Prix circuit. The 28 tournaments with prize money of $175,000 or more formed the Super Series category.

Jimmy Connors James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 ...

won 10 of the 84 tournaments which secured him the first place in the Grand Prix points ranking. However he did not play enough tournaments (13) to qualify for largest share ($300,000) of the bonus pool, which instead went to third–ranked

Eddie Dibbs Eddie Dibbs (born February 23, 1951) is a retired American tennis player also nicknamed "Fast Eddie". He attained a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 in July 1978, winning 22 titles and being a runner-up another 20 times. Dibbs holds t ...

Schedule

The table below shows the 1978 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix schedule (a forerunner to the ATP Tour).

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

January 1979

Points system

The tournaments of the 1978 Grand Prix circuit were divided into nine point categories. The highest points were allocated to the Grand Slam tournaments; French Open, the Wimbledon Championships, the US Open and the Australian Open. The eight WCT events were part of the $175,000-plus "Super Grand Prix" category. Points were allocated based on these categories and the finishing position of a player in a tournament. The points table is based on a 32 player draw. No points were awarded to first-round losers and advancements by default were equal to winning a round. The points allocation, with doubles points listed in brackets, is as follows:

ATP rankings

''*The official ATP year-end rankings were listed from January 1st, 1979.''

List of tournament winners

The list of winners and number of singles titles won, alphabetically by last name: * Vijay Amritraj (1) Mexico City *

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the Unite ...

(3) San Jose, Columbus, Los Angeles *

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimb ...

(9) Birmingham WCT, Boca Raton, Las Vegas, Milan WCT, Rome, French Open, Wimbledon, Båstad, Tokyo Indoor *

José Luis Clerc José Luis Clerc (born 16 August 1958) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 3 August 1981, following a run of 25 consecutive matc ...

(3) Florence, Buenos Aires, Santiago *

(10) Philadelphia, Denver, Memphis, Rotterdam WCT, Birmingham, Washington, D.C., Indianapolis, Stowe, US Open, Sydney Indoor *

(4) Tulsa, Cincinnati, North Conway, Toronto *

Cliff Drysdale Eric Clifford Drysdale (born 26 May 1941) is a South African former tennis player. After a career as a highly ranked professional player in the 1960s and early 1970s, he became a well-known tennis announcer. Drysdale won the singles title at t ...

(1) Baltimore *

Mark Edmondson Mark Edmondson (born 28 June 1954 in Gosford, New South Wales) is a retired Australian professional tennis player. Edmondson won the 1976 Australian Open while ranked 212th in the world, and remains the lowest-ranked winner of a Grand Slam t ...

(1) Brisbane *

Peter Feigl Peter Feigl (born 30 November 1951) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. He was a quarterfinalist in the 1978 Australian Open, defeating Ken Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world ...

(1) Cleveland *

Wojciech Fibak Wojciech Fibak (; popularly Wojtek Fibak ; born 30 August 1952) is a former professional tennis player and Polish entrepreneur and art collector. Fibak is best known for his doubles success with Dutch pro Tom Okker and Australian Kim Warwick, a ...

(1) Cologne * Peter Fleming (1) Bologna * Vitas Gerulaitis (3) Richmond WCT, Dallas WCT, Forest Hills WCT * Brian Gottfried (3) Washington Indoor, Dayton, Houston * Tim Gullikson (1) Johannesburg *

Heinz Günthardt Heinz Peter Günthardt (born 8 February 1959) is a retired tennis player from Switzerland. Tennis player career Günthardt won five singles titles during his professional career, including the Rotterdam WCT in 1980. The right-hander reached hi ...

(1) Springfield *

José Higueras José Higueras (; born 1 March 1953) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Spain. Between 1976 and 1984, Higueras won 16 top-level singles titles. A semi-finalist at the French Open in 1982 and 1983, he reached a career ...

(4) Cairo, Nice, Bournemouth, Madrid * Kjell Johansson (1) Nigeria * Chris Lewis (1) Kitzbühel * Robert Lutz (1) Bercy * Gene Mayer (1) Guadalajara *

Sandy Mayer Alexander "Sandy" Mayer (born April 5, 1952) is a former tennis player from the United States. He won twelve titles in singles and twenty-four titles in doubles in his professional career, and was part of the winning tennis squad at Stanford Uni ...

(1) St. Louis WCT *

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...

(4) Hartford, San Francisco, Stockholm, Wembley * Bernard Mitton (1) Newport * Ilie Năstase (2) Miami, WCT Challenge Cup *

Yannick Noah Yannick Noah (; born 18 May 1960) is a French former professional tennis player and singer. Noah won the French Open in 1983, and is currently the captain of both France's Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams. During his nearly two-decade c ...

(2) Manila, Calcutta *

Manuel Orantes Manuel Orantes Corral (; born 6 February 1949) is a former tennis player from Spain who was active in the 1970s and 1980s. He won the US Open men's singles title in 1975, beating defending champion Jimmy Connors in the final. Orantes reached a ...

(1) Boston * Adriano Panatta (1) Tokyo Outdoor *

Víctor Pecci Víctor Pecci Sr. (born October 15, 1955) is a former professional tennis player from Paraguay. He was ranked as high as world No. 9 in singles in 1980 and world No. 31 in doubles in 1984. Pecci is famous for reaching the 1979 French Open final. ...

(1) Bogotá *

Ulrich Pinner Ulrich Pinner (born 7 February 1954) is a former professional tennis player from Germany. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 19 in August 1979 and was the German No. 1 from 1978-1980. Pinner participated in ten Davis Cup tie ...

(1) Stuttgart Outdoor *

Raúl Ramírez Raúl Ramírez (born 20 June 1953) is a Mexican retired professional tennis player. He was active during the 1970s and 1980s. Ramírez was the first player to finish first in both singles and doubles Grand Prix point standings, accomplishing th ...

(2) Mexico City WCT, Monte Carlo WCT * Cliff Richey (1) Johannesburg *

Tony Roche Anthony Dalton Roche Order of Australia, AO Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player. A native of Tarcutta, Roche played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagg ...

(1) Queen's Club *

Bill Scanlon William Neil Scanlon (November 13, 1956 – June 2, 2021) was a tennis player from the United States, who won seven singles and two doubles titles during his 13-year professional career. The right-hander reached his career-high ATP singles ...

(1) Maui * Tomáš Šmíd (1) Sarasota *

Stan Smith Stanley Roger Smith (born December 14, 1946) is an American former professional tennis player. Smith is best known to non-tennis players as the namesake of a popular brand of tennis shoes. A world No. 1 player and two-time major singles cham ...

(2) Atlanta, Vienna *

Harold Solomon Harold Solomon (born September 17, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). ...

(2) Las Vegas, Louisville *

Dick Stockton Richard Edward Stokvis (born November 22, 1942), known professionally as Dick Stockton, is an American retired sportscaster. Stockton began his career in Philadelphia, then moved to Pittsburgh, where he worked as the sports director for KDKA-TV ...

(1) Little Rock *

Roscoe Tanner Leonard Roscoe Tanner (born October 15, 1951) is a retired American tennis player, who turned professional in 1972 and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 on July 30, 1979. Tanner was famous for his big left-handed serve, which ...

(2) Palm Springs, New Orleans *

Balázs Taróczy Balázs Taróczy ( hu, Taróczy Balázs; born 9 May 1954) is a retired tennis player from Hungary. The right-hander won 13 singles titles in his career, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in April 1982. Tennis career Ta ...

(2) Hilversum, Barcelona * Brian Teacher (1) Taiwan *

Eliot Teltscher Eliot Teltscher (born March 15, 1959) is a retired professional American tennis player. He won the 1983 French Open Mixed Doubles. His highest ranking in singles was #6 in the world and in doubles was #38 in the world. Tennis career Early year ...

(1) Hong Kong *

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977, and won four Grand Slam tournaments, one year-end Masters, nine Grand Prix Super Se ...

(7) Hamburg, Munich, Gstaad, South Orange, Aix-en-Provence, Basel, Australian Open * Tim Wilkison (1) Sydney Outdoor *

Vladimír Zedník Vladimír Zedník (born 1 February 1947) is a former professional tennis player who represented Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , ...

(1) Berlin *

Werner Zirngibl Werner Zirngibl (born 4 September 1956) is a former professional tennis player from Germany. Biography A right-handed player, Zirngibl won his first Grand Slam match at the January edition of the 1977 Australian Open, then had to retire during ...

(1) Brussels The following players won their first title in 1978: *

Florence *

Cleveland * Peter Fleming Bologna *

Springfield * Kjell Johansson Nigeria * Gene Mayer Guadalajara *

Hartford * Bernard Mitton Newport *

Manila *

Stuttgart Outdoor * Tomáš Šmíd Sarasota *

Hong Kong * Tim Wilkison Sydney Outdoor

References

External links

1978 ATP tournament archive

ATP – History men's professional tours