am i the only one who notice the silly hat or its been discussed somewhere else
The hat is called an Australian Bucket Hat. It was standard equipment through the 60s. Somewhere along the line, the baseball cap replaced it. However, when you don't have the hair you used to and you want to keep you ears and neck from getting sunburned, it's still my headwear of choice. I recently bought a few more, in one of two models, one all terry cloth and on regular cloth. Again, they are great for preventing too much sun on the neck and ears.
Laver wore them all the time.
Vilas won against Connors and Borg many times.
Well I don't know about many, Vilas was 5 - 17 against Borg and 4 - 5 against Connors. Borg was the PF Flyer version of Vilas, i.e. he could run faster, jump higher, hit harder and last longer than Vilas
It's incredible to see Vilas serving and volleying like that. He worked very hard before the Australian Open to learn grass tennis.
The difference then was you played different games by surface. There was more strategy and variety. Vilas was never considered even a good volleyer when compared to the other players of his day. But, when viewing this video, he seems to be a great volleyer. That is the difference between then and now. Vilas was a complete player from a court perspective especially when compared against today's players who play every surface the same, bashing from the baseline. Most folks see highlights of Vilas on clay. And, on clay, he stayed back and kept the ball deep to the corners. Borg didn't invoke all his power on clay preferring to win through attrition. But, both guys could whale on the ball when the surface speed would reward them.
Note in the clips, the wide volley that Marks hit and Vilas running to the next court to retrieve and hit a clean winner down the line. Vilas and his mates were every bit as competitive and capable as today. Vilas also demonstrated unbelievable speed around the court and sliding ability.
I have a DVD of Vilas playing Nastase from the 75 Masters I believe. In the first set, there are no less than a dozen topspin lobs hit by both players. In one point, Vilas retrieves a topspin lob hit by Nastase with a 'tweener. Yes, the trick shot most folks think was invented by Noah and perfected by the current crop. Vilas did it in '75. This particular attempt hit the top of the net, but it was clear this wasn't Vilas' first time to to this. The big difference was that in '75, Vilas was doing it with a Jack Kramer Autograph. I can also remember John McEnroe hitting swinging volleys with wood racquets and Cliff Drysdale calling it a "bolo" volley.