Guillermo Vilas’s film: Willy’s moving cry during the investigation of No....

Many will have eagerly awaited the arrival of Tuesday, October 27, 2020 to press the play in their service of Netflix. Tennis lovers or sports fans. Or simple tasters of all kinds of documentaries. “You will be what you should be or you will be nothing” is the piece that just premiered and that involves one of the best Argentine athletes in history. To one of the members of the small table who complete Juan Manuel Fangio, Diego Maradona, Roberto De Vicenzo, Carlos Monzón and Emanuel Ginobili. Nothing less than Guillermo Vilas. More names, fewer names, are the undisputed ones in their activities, despite the fact that some of them led (and lead) an impeccable and less stormy life than others.

The documentary goes through many moments of the sporting and personal life of Vilas, now 68 years old and residing in Monaco with his family, made up of his wife, Phiangphathu Khumueang (whom he met in 2000), and his four children: Andanin, Lalindao, Intila and Guillermo Jr. Of course the axis is a very concrete one: the fight to be recognized as No. 1 in the world, something that the ATP denied him on several occasions. The ranking system was much more sporadic than that of today (in 1975 it was only published in 13 out of 52 weeks) and the Argentine ranking system was ranked No. 2 in 1975, by a small margin, and also in 1977. In this last year, In addition, he achieved several records: consecutive victories on all surfaces (46) and titles won in one season (16), including no less than two Grand Slams, Roland Garros y el US Open.

1h30m long, the documentary, with the enormous investigative work carried out by the journalist Eduardo Puppo, has several special moments, but one exceedingly, when Vilas moves with his tears before what he considers an injustice of the ATP that has not yet been compensated. Surely the most emotional passage and that exhibits an unknown facet of a court gladiator, a man of tenacity rarely seen, capable of battling for hours and hours on a court, playing or simply to exercise and perfect a shot. But also very human.

Vilas documentary trailer on Netflix

That poignant moment has its own story too. It takes place at the end of 2016, shortly before the move of the best Argentine tennis player in history to Monte Carlo. In a moment of a natural conversation between Vilas and Puppo, in which they talk about a book in progress. Due to an accidental situation within the work meeting between the journalist and the athlete, the camera stayed on. And just that moment of Vilas’ emotional breakdown, who does not resist what he considers an injustice that lasted for many years. Puppo contains it, hugs him and even mentions a tattoo that Vilas wears on his left arm in tribute to Alejandro, the little brother he hardly even knew.

When they noticed moments later the existence of that accidental recording, together with the lawyer Adrián Sautu de la Riestra, who is carrying out the claim in the courts of New York for Willy to be recognized as No. 1 in the world, the parties agreed that it was included in the documentary, despite the fact that it showed a moment of great intimacy and a very personal nature of his life.

Passages later, during a walk hugging Puppo through Monaco, Vilas solves with his scathing style a very particular situation when an Argentine recognizes him on the streets, faces him and asks: “Guillermo Vilas?” The answer was like one of his remembered backhand passing shots: “What’s left”, accompanied by a smile. A Vilas in its purest form that also showed its extreme sensitivity side. A passage from the documentary in which, surely, many will have accompanied his emotion.

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