NYLP After the Match: What Happens When Lithuanians and a Swede Meet? Sometimes it’s Wimbledon. Sometimes it’s a NYLP Social Hour
Our September Social Hour, AFTER THE MATCH, took place in The Shag Room at Everdene Bar, Virgin Hotels New York — a tennis-inspired evening dedicated to Vitas Gerulaitis, the Lithuanian Lion, a New York tennis legend, and one of those personalities whose story still feels larger than the sport itself.
The room had exactly the kind of energy we hoped for. People were talking, asking questions, meeting someone new, laughing, moving from one conversation to another. Boredom was safely left somewhere behind the curtains of The Shag Room.
Photos: Rugilė Žemaitytė · @rugeille · with additional images by NYLP guests
And we could not have asked for a better special guest than Magnus Nicklasson — a USTA High Performance Coach, longtime tennis professional, and manager of Longwood Covered Courts in Massachusetts. Magnus came to New York with decades of tennis experience, a deep knowledge of the game’s history, and a very personal fascination with Vitas.
He brought with him a remarkable collection of photographs, articles, and three of Vitas’s rackets. Magnus presented everything with real knowledge and care, but never made it feel formal or distant.
Photos: Rugilė Žemaitytė · @rugeille · with additional images by NYLP guests
One story stayed with us in particular: Vitas’s persistence. The idea that even after losing 16 times, you still keep going because the next one can be the win. A tennis lesson, of course, but not only a tennis lesson.
And the longer the evening went on, the more we felt that Magnus somehow carries a little of Vitas’s spirit himself. Not only in presence, but in the way he moved through the room — talking to everyone, asking questions, taking photos, telling one more story, making people feel included.
Then there was the jacket. :)
Magnus told us a funny story about his Vitas Gerulaitis-style jacket. I put it on, and in less than three minutes, three jackets were already “sold” — and just like that, the Vitas Gerulaitis Jacket Club was born, now counting approximately 70 members.
Photos: Rugilė Žemaitytė · @rugeille · with additional images by NYLP guests
Magnus also mentioned his upcoming book, and we wish him every success with it. And one detail we especially liked: Magnus is Swedish. Sweden already has its own tennis legend in Björn Borg, but Magnus chose Vitas.
He also shared this famous point from the 1977 Wimbledon semifinal between Vitas Gerulaitis and Björn Borg. Vitas was up a break in the fifth set and had game point on his serve. He missed the first serve, hit his second, started moving toward the net — and then suddenly changed his mind. That moment may well have been one of the decisive points of the match. Afterward, Vitas himself could not explain why he did not continue forward to the net. Tennis can be a very strange game sometimes.
We also managed to fit in a very speedy silent auction — a copy of Brodvėjaus Vitas by Florian Gazan, a special T-shirt featuring a painting of Vitas by Magnus’s daughter, and a water bottle from a special collection inspired by tennis-ball cans, coming directly from the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island — where you can actually find a red guitar that once belonged to Vitas Gerulaitis.
Thank you to everyone who took part and helped support the NYLP budget. We hope you enjoy your new treasures.
Photos: Rugilė Žemaitytė · @rugeille · with additional images by NYLP guests
A huge thank-you goes to Erika Gedvilaitė, our Executive Committee member, who helped us with check-in and all the logistics that become very real once a room starts filling up. We truly could not have done it as smoothly without her.
We are especially grateful to Rugilė Žemaitytė, a Columbia University film student, who generously volunteered her time and talent to capture the evening for us.
But really, the biggest thank-you goes to everyone who came.
You made the evening what it was — with your stories, anecdotes, smiles, tennis-ball tricks, unexpected conversations, and yes, even Adele’s “Someone Like You” on a slightly out-of-tune piano. Somehow it still worked.
Photos: Rugilė Žemaitytė · @rugeille · with additional images by NYLP guests
What a group we have!
Perhaps the biggest takeaway: we really do have a gold mine of Lithuanian professionals here in New York — and we are only beginning to discover each other.
250 officially registered NYLP members. A quarter of a thousand. But numbers only matter if they turn into real connection.
As we said during the evening, NYLP is not just the Executive Committee, the Advisory group, or the Legacy Circle. It is each of you.
Maybe one event falls on the wrong date. Maybe the topic is not yours. Maybe life simply gets in the way. That does not make you any less part of this network.
We want to know who you are, what interests you, who you would like to meet, what conversations you think are missing, and what would make you say: yes, I’m coming to this one.
For now, an enormous thank-you to everyone who joined us last night, everyone who sent a message of support, and everyone who wanted to come but could not.
Game. Set. NYLP.
And yes — you are counted as in.
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