How the ATP explains its unfair refusal to give Guillermo Vilas the number 1 that he won on the field

10/28/2020 6:01 AM

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 10/28/2020 8:59 AM

Guillermo Vilas, a living legend of Argentine tennis, made his talent shine on the courts around the world and earned a place among the best players in the history of that sport.

In the 70s, the most successful of his career, he officially reached second place in the world rankings, which began to be made in 1973. However, an investigation by journalist

showed that the man from Mar del Plata made enough merits to be number one of the world.

Why did he never appear in that position?

Because at that time, the rankings were not published weekly and just in the weeks in which the

had accumulated the necessary points to reach the top, the ranking was not released.

So his name never figured in the first place.

And despite various claims, the ATP continues to refuse to retroactively correct that mistake.

"We cannot rewrite history. Although the ranking system evolved over the years, the ATP does not plan to recalculate its rankings retrospectively," explained

, president of the

in mid-2015.

the Association of Professional Tennis Players between 2013 and 2019.

The English leader thus justified the rejection of one of the requests made by Puppo and Vilas, based on those "gaps" in which the rankings were not published.

Guillermo Vilas garnered 62 titles in his career and officially reached number two in the ranking.

Photo OLIVA ARCH VILAS

American Jimmy Connors first reached the top of the rankings in July 1974 and, according to official ATP records, he remained there for more than three consecutive years, until August 1977. However In that period, only 128 ranking updates were made and 152 weeks were "empty", but for statistics, at that time, the North American was the leader.

Why were those weeks left without information?

Because unlike what happens today, in which tennis fans live expectantly of the changes at the top of the ladder and for players to reach "1" is a dream, in those early years the ranking was used more Nothing to create a more fair and fair tournament entry list. 

After 13 years of research and meticulous work, in which he consulted more than a hundred sources, recovered the results of matches lost in time and received the collaboration of the Romanian mathematician

 Puppo made the calculations of the rankings of those forgotten weeks.

He used the system used at that time, which took into account average points based on games played, and

Vilas and Jimmy Connors, the player who ranked number one for more than three consecutive years.

Photo OLIVA ARCH VILAS

The Mar del Plata would have held that position for five weeks between September 22 and October 27, 1975 and again for two weeks between January 5 and 18, 1976.

This first period coincides with a period of 43 days in which the ATP did not publish the update of the classification, which was modified only 13 times throughout 1975. Meanwhile, the first ranking of 1976 was registered in the week of February 2 and there were no official data for January. 

In December 2007, the WTA corrected its statistics and acknowledged, 31 years later, that Australian

had been number one for two weeks in 1976. That news gave Puppo the clean and jerk he needed to begin his investigation.

In 1977, his best season, Vilas won two Grand Slams, Roland Garros and the US Open (photo).

AP Photo / File

Logic suggested that Vilas should have been number one at some point in 1977, his best year.

That season, the Argentine won 16 titles, including Roland Garros and the US Open, and won 136 games.

But the calculations showed that his own competitive spirit had worked against him.

It is that the Mar del Plata played 32 tournaments that year, despite the fact that not all of them delivered units.

And when making the average of points - according to the system used in those years - he ended up with a coefficient of 57.50.

Connors, who played 23 competitions and added eight titles, half of those won by the Argentine, averaged 59.80 units and was therefore the leader of the ranking.

Discarded that possibility of number one in 1977, Puppo then decided to claim for the "empty" weeks in the 1975 statistics, a season in which Vilas won five trophies and played another three finals, including the Parisian Grand Slam. 

Vilas lost the 1975 Roland Garros final to Borg.

That year he made merits to reach the top of the ranking, AP Photo

The journalist - who has already altered the historical records by getting Vilas recognized three new titles on brick dust - presented a document of about 1,100 pages to the ATP, with analysis, tables and other statistics of some 22,545 games played by more than a thousand players in 542 tournaments, from August 23, 1973, the day the first official ranking was released, until December 31, 1978.

And although the numbers gave him the reason and were not refuted by the association that governs men's tennis,

"If we go to 1975, for example, which was the year in which Vilas had the best average, there were only thirteen published rankings and the year has 52 weeks. There are 39 weeks left and there is no coherent explanation to understand why they were given to a player if they are not published, "Puppo said in an interview with the newspaper

The poster of the Vilas documentary that Netflix premieres this Thursday.

The ATP justified its decision.

"We cannot accept this version of the ranking that they give us as a new official story. If we did, we would have many claiming the same thing. And where would we end up?" Kermode commented in that note with

five years ago.

He added: "Number one is something very important for a player, that's why we have not taken this issue lightly. But at a certain point this is the decision we have to make. I wanted to soak up the process and be sure that the bases of the investigation are covered. I am 100% sure or very close to 100% that it is impossible to rewrite history. "

Kermode is no longer at the helm of the ATP.

In January 2020, he was replaced by the Italian

.

However, the organization has not yet changed its idea about the Mar del Plata.

However, the

and Puppo - whose struggle is portrayed in the documentary

- do not lower their arms or lose hope.

FK