Former world number two Guillermo Vilas was present at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club to unveil the newly named Court Central.
He was joined on court by current and past Argentinean stars, Juan Monaco, Alberto Mancini, Guillermo Coria, Gaston Gaudio, Jose Luis Clerc and Martin Jaite as well as former WTA Tour players Paola Suarez, Gabriela Sabatini and Norma Baylon.
Vilas said "I have spent many years of my life in this club and I have played a lot of matches on this court. I would like to thank a lot of people who were very important to me throughout my career. Firstly, the person who made me into a tennis player my first coach, Felipe Locicero, I would also like to thank my physio Carlos Belfonte, whose training allowed me to win at the Grand Slam level. I feel very happy and it is an honor to have this court named after me, and I'm very grateful".
Career highlights
Guillermo VIlas nicknamed "The young bull of the Pampas" is one of the biggest names to come out of South America. Some people say he is responsible single handedly for the rise of tennis. He was also the first person from South America to win a Grand Slam, crushing Brian Gottfried 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 at Roland Garros. All in all, the Argentinean finished with four Grand Slam titles to his name, The US Open in 1977 and the Australian Open in '78 and '79.
In '77, Vilas won 16 of the 31 tournaments he competed in that year. At the end of the season Vilas had 130 wins to his name and just 14 losses, which included a streak of 53 matches unbeaten on Clay. This record was then beaten by Spaniard Rafael Nadal in 2006. He also became the only man to win titles in 5 different continents.
Despite all those successes the one major goal he never reached was getting to world number one, which was kept from him by Jimmy Connors. He did go on to maintain his place in the top 10 for nine years on the bounce.