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1978 World Championship Tennis Finals – Singles
Jimmy Connors was the defending champion but did not compete that year. Vitas Gerulaitis won in the final 6–3, 6–2, 6–1 against Eddie Dibbs. Seeds A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated. # Björn Borg ''(semifinals, withdrew)'' # Brian Gottfried ''(quarterfinals)'' # Vitas Gerulaitis (champion) # Ilie Năstase ''(quarterfinals)'' # Eddie Dibbs ''(final)'' # Raúl Ramirez ''(quarterfinals)'' # Corrado Barazzutti ''(semifinals)'' # Dick Stockton ''(quarterfinals)'' Draw References1978 World Championship Tennis Finals Draw 2009-05-06) {{DEFAULTSORT:1978 World Championship Tennis Finals - Singles |
Vitas Gerulaitis
Vytautas "Vitas" Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994) was an American professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1978. Gerulaitis won the men's singles title at the December 1977 Australian Open, and the men's doubles title at the 1975 Wimbledon Championships, partnering with Sandy Mayer. Gerulaitis also won two Italian Opens in 1977 and 1979, and the 1978 WCT Finals. Early life Born to Lithuanian immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York, Gerulaitis grew up in Howard Beach, Queens, attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, and graduated in 1971. He attended Columbia College of Columbia University with the class of 1975 for one year, then dropped 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 Gerulai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 the record number of ATP Tour career match wins for a player who never reached a Grand Slam final. He did reach two semifinals, both at Roland Garros, losing to Guillermo Vilas in 1975 and to Adriano Panatta in 1976. His most significant victory was defeating Jimmy Connors, 1–6, 6–1, 7–5 in London on carpet. In 1976, only one other American player, Connors, had a better record than Dibbs. In 1977, Dibbs was the 2nd highest ranked American in the tour. In the 1978 season, he ended the year as the leading money winner on the professional tennis tour. Dibbs was consistently ranked in the top 10 tour rankings for five years from 1975 to 1979. He is also the American tennis player with most singles victories in clay ever in the Open ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Connors
James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 268 weeks (List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players#Weeks at No. 1, fifth-most of all time), and finished as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players#Year-end No. 1 players, year-end No. 1 five times. By virtue of his long and prolific career, Connors still holds three prominent Open Era tennis records – men's singles#All tournaments, Open Era men's singles records: 109 titles, 1,557 matches played, and 1,274 match wins. His titles include eight singles Grand Slam (tennis), majors (an Open Era joint-record five US Open (tennis), US Opens, two The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledons, one Australian Open) and three Open Era tennis records – men's singles#Year-end championships, year-end championships. In 1974, he became the seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Björn Borg
Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 109 weeks. Borg won 66 singles titles during his career, including eleven majors: six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimbledon. Borg was ATP Player of the Year from 1976 to 1980, the year-end No. 1 in the ATP rankings in 1979 and 1980, and the ITF World Champion from 1978 to 1980. A teenage sensation at the start of his career, Borg experienced unprecedented stardom and consistent success that helped propel the rising popularity of tennis during the 1970s. Between 1974 and 1981, Borg claimed 11 major singles titles, the most by any man in the Open Era up to that point. His rivalries with Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe became cultural touchstones beyond the world of tennis, with the latter rivalry peaking at the 1980 Wimbledon final, considered one of the greatest matches e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Gottfried
Brian Edward Gottfried (born January 27, 1952) is an American retired tennis player who won 25 singles titles and 54 doubles titles during his professional career. He was the runner-up in singles at the 1977 French Open – Men's singles, 1977 French Open, won the 1975 and 1977 French Open Doubles as well as the 1976 Wimbledon Doubles. He achieved a career-high singles ranking on the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP tour on June 19, 1977, when he became world No. 3, and a career-high doubles ranking on December 12, 1976, when he became world No. 2. Tennis career Junior and college Gottfried was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and is Jewish. He began playing tennis at the age of 5, after receiving a racquet as a gift. In all, Gottfried won 14 national junior titles. As a teen Gottfried attended Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Piper High School (Florida), Piper High School in Sunrise, Florida. In 1970, as a freshman at Trinity University (Texas), Trinity Universi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ilie Năstase
Ilie Theodoriu Năstase (; born 19 July 1946) is a Romanian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the inaugural world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 40 weeks. Năstase is one of ten players to have won over 100 total ATP-level titles, with 64 in singles and 45 in doubles, among which seven majors: two in singles, three in men's doubles and two in mixed doubles. He also won four Masters Grand Prix year-end championships. He was the first professional sports figure to sign an endorsement contract with Nike, doing so in 1972. Năstase also wrote several novels in French in the 1980s, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991. Career At the beginning of his career in 1966, Năstase traveled around the world competing with Ion Țiriac. They represented Romania in the Davis Cup competition, being runners up in 1969, 1971, and 1972. In singles, Năstase won his first tournament at Cannes on 16 Apr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raúl Ramirez
Raul, Raúl, Raül, and Raüll are forms of a common first name in Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan. The name is cognate of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph and the French Raoul, and is derived from Old English Rædwulf through Radulf.Entry 'Raul' in th inforpedia.pt website. Accessed on 2023-03-19. It is also a popular common boy name in . The name is usually spelled "Raul" in Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian; [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corrado Barazzutti
Corrado Barazzutti (; born 19 February 1953, in Udine) is a former tennis player from Italy. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 7, achieved in August 1978. After the end of his player career Barazzutti was a coach (sport), non-playing captain of the Italy Davis Cup team and the Italy Fed Cup team. He was the captain when the Italian team won the Fed Cup (now known as Billie Jean King Cup) four times: 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013. Career As player Barazzutti gained fame in 1971 by winning the Dunlop Orange Bowl, Orange Bowl and the French Open Boys' Singles, and he turned professional in the same year. He had been called to the Italy Davis Cup team the previous year, an event which he played a total of 44 matches. In 1976 Davis Cup, 1976, Barazzutti was a member of the Italian Davis Cup team who won the Davis Cup in Chile. In Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tournaments, his best results are the semifinals in 1977 at the U.S. Open (tennis), US Open and in 1978 at the Frenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Stockton (tennis)
Richard "Dick" LaClede Stockton (born February 18, 1951) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. In addition to his playing career, he was the head coach of the men's tennis team at the University of Virginia from 1998-2001. Stockton also served as the Head Men's Tennis Coach at Piedmont College in Demorest, GA from 2018-2021. Stockton's highest world ranking was world No. 8. He reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1974, the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in 1976 and 1977 and the semifinals in the 1978 French Open. Stockton played on the U.S. Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ... Team five times (1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979), including the U.S. Davis Cup Championship Team in 1979. Career finals Singles: 18 (8 titles – 10 runners ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
