FULL VERSION 1979 - Borg vs Gerulaitis - Monte Carlo

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Copyrights - Unknown French Local Broadcasting: Live Audio & Video Direct from Monte Caro, Monaco.

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PertSnergleman's Review:
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Top‐seeded, ice-cool and super stylish: Bjorn Borg of Sweden crushed Vitas Gerulaitas in the final of the $175,000 World Championship Tennis tournament in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Gerulaitis was constantly struggling against Borg's powerful ground strokes and once again fell victim to the Swede's style. Borg defeated the New Yorker eight times the previous year.

It was Borg's third triumph in the W.C.T. part of the Grand Prix tour in 1979.

Fred Stolle, who coaches Gerulaitis, said before the match - "I feel that when Vitas goes out there against Borg, he plays exhibitions with him,"

"He always plays the same. When a guy has got you 11 and zip, you shouldn't be nervous about it, your should be figuring out some different way to play him."

Everyone agrees that Gerulaitis has a better chance against Borg on a surface faster than red-clay, but that is the stage of the moment, Gerulaitis will do his best, even though it is not suited to his serve-and-volley-preferences.

Borg went on to obliterate him, Gerulaitis showing the after-effects of a week of late nights and early mornings out on the town.

In this 1979 match, Gerulaitis tried to rally with Borg from the back court, an approach that his coach, Fred Stolle has sensibly deemed unworkable.

Nobody beats Borg from the baseline, as is evidenced by his 9-0 record against Guillermo Vilas since 1975, his lifetime records of 13-0 against Eddie Dibbs, 12-0 against Harold Solomon and 10-0 against Corrado Barazzutti, some of the most accomplished back-court players of the modern generation.

Gerulaitis will try to draw Borg into the net with dropshots, especially to the slightly limited reach of his two-fisted backhand, hoping to move him into awkward positions where he will be vulnerable to an offensive job or passing shot.

And he will try to constantly change pace, taking a leaf from the notebook of the Italian, Adriano Panatta, the only player who has ever beaten Borg at Roland Garros, in the fourth round in 1973 and again in the quarterfinals in 1976.

Relax and Enjoy!