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).
KeyThe 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) BrusselsThe 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
