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WORLD TEAM TENNIS MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 12, 2006

Guillermo Vilas

GREG SHARKO: Good morning to everyone. Thank you for joining in for today's conference call with one of the game's greatest clay court players in history, and Hall of Famer Guillermo Vilas, who is on the line with us from Thailand.
Guillermo compiled a 53-match clay court winning streak in 1977, the longest in the Open era. That streak began at Roland Garros and ended in the final of Aix-en-Provence in France. Guillermo closed out of the rest of the 1977 season by winning his last 21 matches on clay. As everyone knows, Rafael Nadal is three wins away from tying Guillermo's impressive record.
At this time I will ask for questions.
Q. Can you talk about what was the toughest part of keeping a streak like that going?
GUILLERMO VILAS: As you know, I started in the French Open, then was Wimbledon, Queen's, and after that I played in Kitzbuhel. From that, I (indiscernible). I had a very good routine I kept all the way through. Unfortunately, I lost to lost to Nastase. (Indiscernible) that was the only reason I couldn't do it.
That was our era when we were breaking ground in many things. That's what I said before, you need a lot of discipline. It was all the way through week after week, after Wimbledon until the end of the year. So there was no break. It was very tough.
Q. How did you feel when it ended?
GUILLERMO VILAS: Well, the streak ended because they outlawed a racquet, it was impossible to play (indiscernible). It was banned. There was nothing I could do. Really I didn't lose to any player, I lost to a racquet. It was forbidden for the game.
It was a very strange situation. I was hoping that somebody will take it away so we would have a better feeling. It was just a bad decision I thought because if the racquet is outlaw, you couldn't keep playing with it. I played one match before. I beat another player with that racquet. The match lasted four hours and (indiscernible), and the match finished two hours before the next match because it was broken by daylight, it was too dark. I had to play four and a half hours. I play it was two and a half hours for two sets and I couldn't play any more. It was not (indiscernible) for me because it was illegal.
Q. Your record has been just about 30 years. Looked like it was going to be very difficult to break given how many quality players are on clay. What does it say about Nadal that he's threatening this record now?
GUILLERMO VILAS: This is the clay record. The record I didn't know I had. It only came out with Nadal. The real record that I had that I broke in that time that made me -- I was very proud, I broke the record of Arthur Ashe without losing matches. This is only on clay.
He's a very smart player (indiscernible) friend of mine. All these records, the only thing he does the players thinks are possible (indiscernible) that's a little bit history of the world. It's like this. Nadal is a great player. I think his record goes over two years or three years. Since I'm so far away, I don't know how many matches in how many years he did all these matches, the wins they have now. The thing is, it carries from last year or maybe the year before also.
GREG SHARKO: He started in April in Monte-Carlo in 2005.
GUILLERMO VILAS: So it's two years. Unfortunately, it was broken by the outlawed racquet. It's two years it takes him to do it. That means it's an (indiscernible). It's a pleasure to see that somebody had to work so hard to break it.
GREG SHARKO: He hasn't done it yet.
GUILLERMO VILAS: I think once -- I remember when I was in -- it kept me going stronger than if I didn't have that record behind me. I know how he feels. He's going to hang on to it. I think he's been playing very, very well. I never doubted that he will break it. I will be very surprised if he doesn't.
Q. Compare him to the clay court players of your time and tell us what you think of his style of play, what his strengths are.
GUILLERMO VILAS: Well, he's a very strong player. He has a strong will. He has a good gift of hands. He's a good fighter. He seems to lift his level in the crucial moments. You can see that he has everything to keep going an amazing record like the way he's been doing so far.
He's strong physically, which is something you need on clay. I think last year he played too much. This year it look like he was pacing himself a little bit more. I don't know how many more matches he's going to play because important thing is the French Open that is coming up.
But he's a great player, has a good family. I know his family, the father, the sister, the mother, the uncle. Has a good backup to continue for many years.
Q. At the time you set your record, were you ever worried that people would look at you as a one-dimensional player?
GUILLERMO VILAS: Well, anybody who knows a little bit of tennis knows that I won two Australian Opens on grass and the Masters also on grass. I won in all surfaces. I was one of very few that could play all over the place.
The thing is, on clay, I was (indiscernible) on clay. I seem to have more (indiscernible) on clay. I don't think I'm a one-dimensional player in that respect, no.
Q. Jim Courier has said several times in the last few weeks it's very difficult to excel on clay unless you're exposed to it very young. Do you agree with that or do you think a player who has reached his 20s can change his game sufficiently to win on clay?
GUILLERMO VILAS: It depends who you work with. I always work with and I always talk and have a lot of conversations with very good players who told me a lot of the secrets. Once you know the secrets, every surface has a secret. You just have to talk to the guys who know that surface and they will open doors that will cut the time in your practice. It will be easier to get better.
I worked a lot with Australians for the grass, I worked with Santana, many good champions told me a lot of things and helped me to come to (indiscernible). For that you have to be always connected to someone who knows the surface you want to learn.
Q. I love the way you put that, that every surface has its secrets. Many players I think believe that clay is more secretive than the other surfaces. Do you think that's just a mental block or do you think it does have more secrets than the other surfaces?
GUILLERMO VILAS: Well, the clay, what it does, you need to have a very good physical condition because what happens is maybe you can learn everything, but if you can't get to where the ball is you cannot do anything. If you are in a clay court tournament or a clay court match, your body change and shifts (indiscernible). You have to adapt to what you have to do. You have to pace yourself, you have to know when to relax a little bit, give away a set, come back stronger the next one.
It's all part of the secret of every surface. But you need to know that you are not the same player throughout the match. You have to adapt to all the changes in your body, the state of mind that you have, and all the changes that your opponent brings with new tactics and stuff.
It's a very complicated surface. Once you get (indiscernible) somebody can take you out of it by a good tactic or waiting or slowing the pace or whatever. There are many things that on other surfaces you cannot do.
Q. How many French Open titles do you think Nadal is capable of winning? Do you think he's also capable of dominating on some of the other surfaces?
GUILLERMO VILAS: Well, yeah, you know, the problem always when you see players and you see them playing well on clay, you think that they cannot play on the other surfaces. You have to learn in one of the surfaces and master the other ones. Nadal has reached the final in Key Biscayne, was very close -- I don't think on grass he has played well because he's too young and you have to wait. I think he can play any surfaces.
Last year we saw something in him that he got tired. He got tired US Open. He got tired the end of the year. He couldn't play the Masters. This is maybe one of the things you have to look at. I don't know how many he can win. Depends how well he prepares. Last year he won, so let's see what he does this year.
Once you get the rhythm, like Borg had it or Connors had it at the US Open, you get the rhythm of Grand Slams, then it's difficult to beat the guys once they understand (indiscernible) the tournament and the way they have to prepare. That's the question mark that you have to ask of Nadal because he's young. He has to repeat himself and win it two, three times, and then you can provide some idea.
So far we have to know if he got a (indiscernible). If he does, he's going to win many.
Q. It looks like it's going to be a Nadal/Federer final in Rome.
GREG SHARKO: Not necessarily. Federer is going to a third-set tiebreaker.
Q. Can Federer raise his game on clay, do you believe?
GUILLERMO VILAS: What they told me, they're (indiscernible) to play on clay, that was his first surface. The thing is, you know, last year he didn't play well when the French came.
(Indiscernible) any major. The thing is, you have to do it (indiscernible). I think Federer has everything. It just depends how tough mentally he is. Depends on him. You know, if he's strong mentally, he can win it. But that's also the main part what Nadal has behind him.
Q. Do you think Nadal has the advantage then against Federer on clay?
GUILLERMO VILAS: Well, he's beat him now in Monte-Carlo and he hasn't lost a match on clay for a long time. It would be foolish to say that is not so.
But I think Federer also likes challenges. He likes to work at it on clay. He can do it. He searches for it. He's been very concentrated (indiscernible) last year at The Masters where he was injured. He can do that. Last year he was in the semis at the French. This year he was in the finals in Monte-Carlo, so he's playing better. He's prepared for the big one.
Q. What do you like in particular about Federer's game? Mental, creativity within the match?
GUILLERMO VILAS: He paces himself very well. He doesn't go like into mechanical things. He's always feeling the player and checking whatever the other one is doing. Some players, they tend to look at themselves and do what they have to do. He plays with the players, he stays with them. He feels the match. That's the main thing. That's a key to play well on clay. He has every ingredient to play well.
Q. Is there a big difference between the way the game is being played on clay today than it was in your era do you feel?
GUILLERMO VILAS: No. I think it's the same. The racquets made the game different, but it's just that. I think still the match is played in the long-term. The better player wins because he -- it's not just luck. That doesn't happen. It's still the same as it was in my time. He has to be tough mentally. He has to, you know, have the killer instinct in the moment to finish. It's the same.
I haven't seen it change. I saw it change about four, five years ago. But now it went back to what it was. I feel is (indiscernible).
Q. Will you be sad if the record is broken?
GUILLERMO VILAS: Well, not really. I was sad (indiscernible) banned the racquet right away so I could play against normal players. Nastase picked up the racquet only to play the final to beat me. That was the time that I was feeling the laws were made, were starting to be making the ATP, computer still on the make. Everything was changing. It was too fast.
It just happened in that moment, the only way I could lose that year. Don't forget that after that match, two sets to love, I just went. I was so upset, I couldn't beat that racquet. After that, I didn't lose one match until the Masters. I was not sad. I was sad if I played a bad match and I lost and didn't do the right thing. It was impossible to play. Don't forget I played 4 hours, 45 minutes and finished two hours before the final, then I played three hours with Nastase. (Indiscernible) racquet altogether that same day.
Q. Are you in touch with Bjorn Borg at all and what did you make of his decision to auction off his Wimbledon trophies, even though he changed his mind?
GUILLERMO VILAS: First the Wimbledon trophies, they are in the All England Club. I don't understand. I think the press took it the wrong way. The Wimbledon trophies, you know that they stay in England. He has maybe a copy of that, like I have of the French Open, the US Open. He was -- he's not, how you say, sentimental guy in that way. He just wanted somebody to get this thing, somebody who really wanted it.
When you went to his house, he didn't have all the trophies right in your face. I don't know what he did with that. First I need to talk to him to know what happened. I think the press (indiscernible) replica to his fans, somebody who wanted to keep it. For sure he doesn't need the money. Just went the wrong way.
I think they took it (indiscernible). I think it was a thing from the press. They took it the wrong way, like some other guy say they auctioned their things like Elton John or whoever. I don't know why they took it so wrong with him.
Q. Do you consider Borg to be the greatest clay court player of all time?
GUILLERMO VILAS: Depends how you put it. Yeah, I think he was physically the strongest and on a good day he was unbeatable. But you cannot compare times. But I believe so. I believe he was unbeatable on clay. Don't forget he lost only one time.
Q. Could you give me your general thoughts on Andre Agassi, what he's meant to the game.
GUILLERMO VILAS: I think Agassi gave joy to people. He still do that. His attitude toward the game, he loves to play the game, which is the attitude of any player that wants to hold the racquet. He's a role model in that. He proves that he can play tennis at any age if you work hard enough. I mean, the final last year at the US Open was inspirational.
There should be more Agassis in this world. This world would be a completely different place. He really enjoy the game. He proved it. He made tennis a better game.
GREG SHARKO: Thanks, again, for joining us.

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