Vytautas Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994) was an American 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 ...

player, known as Vitas Gerulaitis. In 1975, he won the men's doubles title at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, partnering with

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 Un ...

. He won the men's singles title at one of the two

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

tournaments held in 1977. (Gerulaitis won the tournament that was held in December, while

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 ...

won the earlier January tournament.) He won two Italian Open titles, in 1977 and 1979, and the

WCT Finals The WCT Finals was a men's tennis tournament that served as the season-ending championship for the World Championship Tennis circuit. From 1971–1989 the event was held annually in Texas on indoor carpet courts. The 1971 quarterfinals and semifin ...

in Dallas in 1978.

Early life

Gerulaitis was born on July 26, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York, to

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n immigrant parents, and grew up in

Howard Beach, Queens Howard Beach is a neighborhood in the southwestern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered to the north by the Belt Parkway and Conduit Avenue in Ozone Park, to the south by Jamaica Bay in Broad Channel, to the east by ...

. He attended

Archbishop Molloy High School Archbishop Molloy High School (also called Molloy, Archbishop Molloy, or AMHS) is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic school for grades 9-12, located on on 83-53 Manton Street, Briarwood, Queens, New York. It is part of the Roman C ...

in Queens, graduating in 1971. He attended

Columbia College of Columbia University Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college of Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded by the Church of England in 1754 as King' ...

with the class of 1975 for one year before dropping out to pursue tennis full-time. Gerulaitis was nicknamed "The Lithuanian Lion". His younger sister Ruta was also a professional tennis player. Both siblings' native language was Lithuanian.

Career highlights

Gerulaitis led the

Pittsburgh Triangles The Pittsburgh Triangles were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT). The Triangles won the 1975 WTT Championship. The team folded after the 1976 season. Team history The Triangles were founded in 1973 as a charter member of WTT by Centur ...

to the

World TeamTennis World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take a ...

championship title at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

's Civic Arena in 1975. Gerulaitis played for the Triangles from 1974 until 1976. He also played for the league's Indiana Loves franchise in 1977. Gerulaitis was coached by

Fred Stolle Frederick Sydney Stolle, AO (born 8 October 1938) is an Australian former amateur world No. 1 tennis player and commentator. He was born in Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia. He is the father of former Australian Davis Cup player Sandon S ...

from 1977 until 1983. He also won the men's doubles title at

in 1975. He was a singles semifinalist at Wimbledon in both 1977 and 1978. In 1977 he lost a Wimbledon semifinal to his close friend and practice partner, Björn Borg, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3, 3–6, 8–6, a match later considered one of the greatest of the decade. In 1977, Gerulaitis won the most significant title of his career at the

, when he defeated John Lloyd in the men's singles final in five sets. In 1978, Gerulaitis won the year-end championship

for the

World Championship Tennis World Championship Tennis (WCT) was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1968 (the first players signed a contract at the end of 1967) and lasted until the emergence of the ATP Tour in 1990. A number of tennis tournaments aro ...

tour, beating Eddie Dibbs 6–3, 6–2, 6–1. By 1978, he was the third-ranked men's singles player in the world. In 1979, Gerulaitis lost in the men's singles finals at the US Open to fellow New Yorker,

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 ...

, in straight sets. He was a member of the United States team which won the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

in 1979. He won two singles "rubbers" in the final, as the US beat

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

5–0. Gerulaitis reached his third

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

singles final in 1980, when he lost in the final of the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

to Björn Borg in straight sets. In February 1981, Gerulaitis won the star-laden Toronto Indoor invitational tournament, defeating

in the final after having defeated Jimmy Connors in the semifinal. During his career, Gerulaitis won 25 top-level singles titles and eight doubles titles. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 3 which he reached on February 27, 1978. Gerulaitis was known for his exceptionally quick hands at the net and his outstanding court coverage. In 1985, Gerulaitis teamed with

Bobby Riggs Robert Larimore Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was an American tennis champion who was the World No. 1 amateur in 1939 and World No. 1 professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December ...

to launch a challenge to female players after the famous ''Battle of the Sexes''. The stunt, however, was short-lived when Gerulaitis and Riggs lost a doubles match against Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver. He retired from the professional tour in 1986, and was a regular tennis commentator on the

USA network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

between 1988 and 1994. Gerulaitis coached

Pete Sampras Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...

during the 1994 Italian Open in Rome, when Sampras' coach,

Tim Gullikson Timothy Ernest Gullikson (September 8, 1951 – May 3, 1996) was a tennis player and coach who was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin and grew up in Onalaska, Wisconsin in the United States. Gullikson was Pete Sampras' coach from 1992 to 1995. Tennis ...

, was on a family vacation. Sampras won the title by defeating Boris Becker in the final in straight sets.

Death

On September 17, 1994, while visiting a friend's home in

Southampton, New York Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stret ...

, an improperly installed pool heater caused

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...

gas to seep into the guesthouse where Gerulaitis was sleeping, causing his death by

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as "flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large e ...

. Gerulaitis failed to show up for a dinner at 7 p.m. that evening and his body was found the following day by a maid who went to the guesthouse. Gerulaitis' remains were interred in

Saint Charles Cemetery St. Charles / Resurrection Cemeteries is a Roman Catholic cemetery of the Diocese of Brooklyn in East Farmingdale, New York. History It was formed from two separate but adjoining cemeteries: Resurrection Cemetery was originally created and opera ...

Farmingdale, New York Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The population was 8,189 as of the 2010 Census. The Lenox Hills neighborhood is adjacent to Bethpage State Park and the rest of the ...

. Criminal charges of negligent homicide were later brought against the pool mechanic and the company he worked for. Both he and the company were acquitted in October 1996. Jurors heard testimony that a technician from the heater manufacturer had made adjustments several days before Gerulaitis' death and that even if an exhaust pipe had been longer, carbon monoxide (colorless and odorless) would have still been drawn into the air-conditioning vent because it is denser than air at low temperatures. Arthur M. Luxenberg, a lawyer for the Gerulaitis family, stated that Gerulaitis' mother and sister believed the verdict to be fair, and he went on to state that the testimony at the trial "confirmed to us what we always knew: that there were a lot of other people involved in this matter." The Gerulaitis family reached a confidential settlement with some of the defendants in their civil case by 2002.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Singles performance timeline

Career finals

Singles: 56 (26 titles, 30 runner-ups)

Doubles: 21 (9–12)

Commemoration

The Vitas Gerulaitis Memorial Tennis Centre was opened in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, the capital of

. Also, a street in Vilnius is named after him. The song ''An Outbreak of Vitas Gerulaitis'' by Birkenhead band Half Man Half Biscuit, from their 1991 album ''

McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt ''McIntyre, Treadmore and Davitt'' was released in 1991 by British rock band Half Man Half Biscuit as their third original album (their preceding album having been a compilation). It was the first album released after the band had reformed in ...

'' also references the player, albeit obliquely.

Quote

"And let that be a lesson to you all. Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row." : – ''after defeating Jimmy Connors at the January 1980 Masters.''

References

Video

* ''Wimbledon Classic Match: Gerulaitis vs Borg'' Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: October 31, 2006, Run Time: 180 minutes, .

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerulaitis, Vitas 1954 births 1994 deaths Accidental deaths in New York (state) American male tennis players American people of Lithuanian descent Archbishop Molloy High School alumni Australian Open (tennis) champions Burials at Saint Charles Cemetery Columbia Lions men's tennis players Deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Lithuanian male tennis players Sportspeople from Brooklyn Sportspeople from Queens, New York Tennis people from New York (state) Wimbledon champions People from Howard Beach, Queens Columbia College (New York) alumni