1977 Grand Prix (tennis)
The 1977 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix was a professional tennis circuit administered by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF, later the ITF) which served as a forerunner to the current Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour.[2] The circuit consisted of the four modern Grand Slam tournaments and open tournaments recognised by the ILTF. The Colgate-Palmolive Masters is included in this calendar but did not count towards the Grand Prix ranking. Colgate-Palmolive was the new tour sponsor, taking over from Commercial Union. Guillermo Vilas won the Grand Prix circuit, having accumulated the most points (2,047), and received the largest share from the bonus pool ($300,000). The top eight points ranked singles players as well as the top four doubles teams qualified for the season-ending Masters tournament[3]
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Duration | 26 December 1976 – 8 January 1978 |
Edition | 8th |
Tournaments | 76 |
Achievements (singles) | |
Most tournament titles | Guillermo Vilas (16) |
Most tournament finals | Guillermo Vilas (22) |
Prize money leader | Guillermo Vilas ($635,000) |
Points leader | Guillermo Vilas (2,047) |
Awards | |
Player of the year | Björn Borg [1] |
Newcomer of the year | Tim Gullikson |
← 1976 1978 → |
Schedule
- Key
Grand Slam events |
Grand Prix Masters |
Six-star events |
Five-star events |
Four-star events |
Three-star events |
Two-star events |
One-star events |
Team events |
December 1976
Week | Tournament | Champions | Runners-up | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
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26 Dec | Marlboro New South Wales Open Sydney, Australia Grass – $75,000 – 48S/24D Two star | Tony Roche 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 | Dick Stockton | Guillermo Vilas Roscoe Tanner | Ross Case Phil Dent Ken Rosewall Hank Pfister |
Syd Ball Kim Warwick 6–3, 6–4 | Mark Edmondson John Marks |
January
February
March
April
Week | Tournament | Champions | Runners-up | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
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11 Apr | Murcia Open Murcia, Spain Clay – $50,000 – 32S/16D One star | José Higueras 6–4, 6–0, 6–3 | Buster Mottram | Frank Gebert Javier Soler | François Jauffret Patrice Dominguez Jean-Louis Haillet Patrick Proisy |
Patrice Dominguez François Jauffret 7–5, 6–2 | Patricio Cornejo Hans Gildemeister | ||||
18 Apr | United Bank Classic Denver, United States Carpet – $100,000 – 32S/16D Three star | Björn Borg 7–5, 6–2 | Brian Gottfried | Bob Hewitt James Delaney | Peter Fleming Kim Warwick Colin Dibley Frew McMillan |
Colin Dibley Geoff Masters 6–2, 6–3 | Syd Ball Kim Warwick | ||||
25 Apr | Romika Cup Munich, West Germany Clay – 32S/16D Two star | Željko Franulović 6–1, 6–1, 6–7, 7–5 | Víctor Pecci | José Higueras Dick Crealy | Patrick Proisy Hans Gildemeister Iván Molina Nikola Pilić |
František Pála Balázs Taróczy 6–3, 6–4 |
Nikola Špear John Whitlinger |
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Week | Tournament | Champions | Runners-up | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
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5 Dec | Marlboro South Australia Men's Classic Adelaide, Australia Grass – $100,000 – 64S/32D Three star |
Tim Gullikson 3–6, 6–4, 3–6, 6–2, 6–4 |
Chris Lewis | Kim Warwick Tom Gorman |
Bill Scanlon Phil Dent John Alexander Allan Stone |
Kim Warwick Syd Ball 3–6, 7–6, 6–4 |
John Alexander Phil Dent | ||||
12 Dec | Marlboro New South Wales Championships Sydney, Australia Grass – $175,000 – 64S/32D Four star |
Roscoe Tanner 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–7, 6–4 |
Brian Teacher | Vitas Gerulaitis Cliff Letcher |
Phil Dent Bill Scanlon Colin Dibley Butch Walts |
John Alexander Phil Dent 7–6, 2–6, 6–3 |
Ray Ruffels Allan Stone | ||||
19 Dec | Australian Open (December) Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Grass – $200,000 – 64S/32D |
Vitas Gerulaitis 6–3, 7–6, 5–7, 3–6, 6–2 |
John Lloyd | John Alexander Bob Giltinan |
Ray Ruffels Ken Rosewall John Newcombe Robin Drysdale |
Ray Ruffels Allan Stone 7–6, 7–6 |
John Alexander Phil Dent |
January 1978
Week | Tournament | Champions | Runners-up | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
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4 Jan | Colgate-Palmolive Masters New York City, USA Masters Grand Prix Carpet – $400,000 – S8/D4 |
Jimmy Connors 6–4, 1–6, 6–4 |
Björn Borg | Guillermo Vilas Brian Gottfried |
Round robin Raúl Ramírez Roscoe Tanner Manuel Orantes Eddie Dibbs |
Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan 7–5, 7–6, 6–3 |
Bob Lutz Stan Smith |
Points system
The Grand Prix tournaments were divided into seven groups. Group TC consisted of the Grand Slam tournaments; the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon Championships and the US Open—while the other tournaments were given star ratings ranging from six stars to one star, based on prize money and draw size. Points were allocated based on these ratings and the finishing position of a player in a tournament. No points were awarded to first-round losers, and ties were settled by the number of tournaments played.[3] The points allocation, with doubles points listed in brackets, is as follows:
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Standings
The 1977 Grand Prix tournaments were divided in seven separate point categories, ranging from the Triple Crown tournaments (250 points for the winner) to the smallest One Star tournaments (50 points for the winner). At the end of the year the 35 top-ranked players received a bonus from the bonus pool. To qualify for a bonus a player must have played at least 15 tournaments. The top eight points ranked singles players and top four doubles teams were entitled to participate in the season-ending Masters tournament.[3]
Rk | Name | Points | Bonus |
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1 | Guillermo Vilas (ARG) | 2,047 | $300,000 |
2 | Brian Gottfried (USA) | 1,548 | $125,000 |
3 | Björn Borg (SWE) | 1,210 | $75,000 |
4 | Manuel Orantes (ESP) | 870 | $50,000 |
5 | Eddie Dibbs (USA) | 777 | $45,000 |
6 | Roscoe Tanner (USA) | 758 | $40,000 |
7 | Raúl Ramírez (MEX) | 754 | $35,000 |
8 | Jimmy Connors (USA) | 722 | – |
9 | Vitas Gerulaitis (USA) | 670 | – |
10 | Harold Solomon (USA) | 624 | $32,000 |
ATP rankings
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List of tournament winners
The list of winners and number of Grand Prix singles titles won, alphabetically by last number of titles:
- Guillermo Vilas (16) Springfield, Buenos Aires, Virginia Beach, French Open, Kitzbühel, Washington, D.C., Louisville, South Orange, Columbus, US Open, Paris, Tehran, Bogotá, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg
- Björn Borg (10) Boca Raton, Memphis, Nice, Denver, Madrid, Barcelona, Wimbledon, Basel, Cologne, Wembley
- Vitas Gerulaitis (5) Ocean City, Rome, Brisbane, Perth, Australian Open (December)
- Brian Gottfried (5) Baltimore, Palm Springs, Washington Indoor, La Costa, Vienna
- Jeff Borowiak (3) Dayton, Gstaad, Montreal
- Jimmy Connors (3) Las Vegas, Maui, Sydney Indoor
- Tim Gullikson (3) Newport, Taiwan, Adelaide
- Sandy Mayer (3) Little Rock, Hampton, Stockholm
- Manuel Orantes (3) Indianapolis, Boston, Tokyo Outdoor
- Vijay Amritraj (2) Auckland, Bombay
- Corrado Barazzutti (2) Båstad, Paris Bercy
- Paolo Bertolucci (2) Hamburg, Berlin
- Eddie Dibbs (2) Miami, Oviedo
- Raúl Ramírez (2) Queen's Club, Los Angeles
- Harold Solomon (2) Brussels, Cincinnati
- Roscoe Tanner (2) Australian Open (January), Sydney Outdoor
- John Alexander (1) North Conway
- Mark Cox (1) Helsinki
- Victor Amaya (1) Adelaide
- Wojciech Fibak (1) Düsseldorf
- Željko Franulović (1) Munich
- José Higueras (1) Murcia
- Jiří Hřebec (1) San Jose
- Karl Meiler (1) Manila
- Ilie Năstase (1) Aix-en-Provence
- Andrew Pattison (1) Laguna Niguel
- Patrick Proisy (1) Hilversum
- Ken Rosewall (1) Hong Kong
- Stan Smith (1) Los Angeles PSW
- Brian Teacher (1) Jackson
- Butch Walts (1) San Francisco
The following players won their first title in 1977:
- Victor Amaya Adelaide
- Tim Gullikson Newport
- Chris Kachel Manila
- Patrick Proisy Hilversum
- Brian Teacher Jackson
References
- "Tennis Pros Cite Borg, Gullikson". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Sep 13, 1977.
- "How it All Began". ATPWorldTour.com. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
- John Barrett, ed. (1978). World of Tennis 1978 : a BP yearbook. London: Macdonald and Janes. ISBN 9780354090391.
- "ATP Year-end top 20". ATP. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
External links
Further reading
- Collins, Bud (2010). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book (2nd ed.). New York: New Chapter Press. ISBN 978-0-942257-70-0.