High life
Final score
Taki
Vitas Gerulaitis was partying like mad during his last night, and had taken pain killers for his bad back. Cocaine and pain killers are not a good combination, but what killed him was the heating pad that he attached to his back just before passing out. It actually cooked him to death. The carbon monoxide that was allegedly discov- ered could have been emitted from the pad. Marty Raynes, Gerulaitis' Southamp- ton, Long Island host, and an arch vulgari- an real estate speculator, may be liable for millions of dollars for criminal negligence.
Raynes's house is a modern monstrosity built about ten years ago. It's near my brother's house, but that's as close as I've ever got to the place. Raynes is married to Patty Davis, daughter of the fat multi-mil- lionaire Marvin Davis, who was held up at gun point last year in Antibes. I have met Patty a couple of times and she wasn't too bad for a Hollywood daughter, that is. The rest of the family are just rich slobs.
Unlike them, and unlike Connors and McEnroe, all frozen in the headlights of self interest, Vitas truly did give something back to the game that made him rich and famous. He staged non-stop exhibitions for inner city kids, and was always available to take tennis lessons. Mind you, his connec- tion with drugs and high living did not exactly make him the ideal role model, but the irony is that it was because of them that he was so popular with Noo Yawkers.
He will always be remembered for that epic loss to Borg in the '77 semi-final at Wimbledon, just as missing that famous forehand volley - his strongest shot - at 40- 30, will always be blamed on his coke use among those in the know. He had the fastest hands in the business, as well as feet, but the drugs did not help. And he did take them non-stop.
Once during the eighties, while I was still living in Egerton Gardens, before my bust, I heard someone knocking on my street level window in the middle of the night. It was Vitas with another tennis playing friend of mine who shall remain nameless. Vitas asked for drugs and I lost my temper. It was the last time I saw him. Before that, I used to run into him non-stop at Studio 54, and he was always as nice as he was well man- nered and generous. The people around him, of course, were not exactly top rank. They were either fat Hollywood types living vicariously off his athletic ability, or drug dealers and small time hustlers trying to rip him off. And rip him off they did. Vitas had no money left at the end. He had a very nice father who died five years ago, and a really exceptional sister, Ruta, who adored him. His family, of course, were worried sick about him, but were very close as the best working class families tend to be. His poor mother has survived him.
Would Vitas still be alive had he not taken drugs? I think yes, meaning that perhaps his heart could have withstood the fumes had it not been weakened by the coke. Not being a doctor, and having had a heart attack of my own, I hope I'm wrong, but athletes as a rule cannot with- stand the rigours of drug taking. That's for poets and other sedentary types.
What I do know is that Vitas had taken more than other top players had in his life- time. And had handled it better than any- one. I often suspected the outbursts of some champions on court were directly involved with coke hangovers. Not Vitas's. After Borg's retirement, he disappeared out of the spotlight, but I believe the coke could have had something to do with Geni- laitis's demise. And it's a pity. Both Borg and Gerulaitis were gents on and off the court, the latter being a rare thing nowa- days among top athletes. Next week I'll tell you about some not so top athletes, but top sportsmen.
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