The 1978 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix was a professional tennis circuit held that year. It consisted of four Grand Slam tournaments, the Grand Prix tournaments and the Nations Cup, a team event. In addition eight World Championship Tennis (WCT) tournaments, a separate tennis circuit prior to 1978, were incorporated into the Grand Prix circuit. Jimmy Connors won 10 of the 84 tournaments which secured him the first place in the Grand Prix points ranking. However he did not play enough tournaments (13) to qualify for largest share ($300,000) of the bonus pool, which instead went to third–ranked Eddie Dibbs.
The table below shows the 1978 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix schedule (a forerunner to the ATP Tour).
Key
The tournaments listed above were divided into nine point categories. The highest points were allocated to the Grand Slam tournaments; French Open, the Wimbledon Championships, the US Open and the Australian Open. Points were allocated based on these categories and the finishing position of a player in a tournament. The points table is based on a 32 player draw. No points were awarded to first-round losers and advancements by default were equal to winning a round. The points allocation, with doubles points listed in brackets, is as follows:
The list of winners and number of singles titles won, alphabetically by last name:
Vijay Amritraj (1) Mexico City
Arthur Ashe (3) San Jose, Columbus, Los Angeles
Björn Borg (9) Birmingham WCT, Boca Raton, Las Vegas, Milan WCT, Rome, French Open, Wimbledon, Båstad, Tokyo Indoor
José Luis Clerc (3) Florence, Buenos Aires, Santiago
Jimmy Connors (10) Philadelphia, Denver, Memphis, Rotterdam WCT, Birmingham, Washington, D.C., Indianapolis, Stowe, US Open, Sydney Indoor
Eddie Dibbs (4) Tulsa, Cincinnati, North Conway, Toronto
Cliff Drysdale (1) Baltimore
Mark Edmondson (1) Brisbane
Peter Feigl (1) Cleveland
Wojciech Fibak (1) Cologne
Peter Fleming (1) Bologna
Vitas Gerulaitis (3) Richmond WCT, Dallas WCT, Forest Hills WCT
Brian Gottfried (3) Washington Indoor, Dayton, Houston
Tim Gullikson (1) Johannesburg
Heinz Günthardt (1) Springfield
José Higueras (4) Cairo, Nice, Bournemouth, Madrid
Kjell Johansson (1) Nigeria
Chris Lewis (1) Kitzbühel
Robert Lutz (1) Bercy
Gene Mayer (1) Guadalajara
Sandy Mayer (1) St. Louis WCT
John McEnroe (4) Hartford, San Francisco, Stockholm, Wembley
Bernard Mitton (1) Newport
Ilie Năstase (2) Miami, WCT Challenge Cup
Yannick Noah (2) Manila, Calcutta
Manuel Orantes (1) Boston
Adriano Panatta (1) Tokyo Outdoor
Víctor Pecci (1) Bogotá
Ulrich Pinner (1) Stuttgart Outdoor
Raúl Ramírez (2) Mexico City WCT, Monte Carlo WCT
Cliff Richey (1) Johannesburg
Tony Roche (1) Queen's Club
Bill Scanlon (1) Maui
Tomáš Šmíd (1) Sarasota
Stan Smith (2) Atlanta, Vienna
Harold Solomon (2) Las Vegas, Louisville
Dick Stockton (1) Little Rock
Roscoe Tanner (2) Palm Springs, New Orleans
Balázs Taróczy (2) Hilversum, Barcelona
Brian Teacher (1) Taiwan
Eliot Teltscher (1) Hong Kong
Guillermo Vilas (7) Hamburg, Munich, Gstaad, South Orange, Aix-en-Provence, Basel, Australian Open
Tim Wilkison (1) Sydney Outdoor
Vladimír Zedník (1) Berlin
Werner Zirngibl (1) Brussels
The following players won their first title in 1978:
José Luis Clerc Florence
Peter Feigl Cleveland
Peter Fleming Bologna
Heinz Günthardt Springfield
Kjell Johansson Nigeria
Gene Mayer Guadalajara
John McEnroe Hartford
Bernard Mitton Newport
Yannick Noah Manila
Ulrich Pinner Stuttgart Outdoor
Tomáš Šmíd Sarasota
Eliot Teltscher Hong Kong
Tim Wilkison Sydney Outdoor
