Rod Laver
From Free net encyclopedia
| ||
| Country: | Australia | |
| Residence: | San Diego, California, USA | |
| Height: | 5 ft 8 in (172 cm) | |
| Weight: | 150 lb (68 kg) | |
| Plays: | Left | |
| Turned pro: | 1962 | |
| Retired: | 1974 | |
| Highest singles ranking: | 1 | |
| Singles titles: | 39 | |
| Career prize money: | US$1,564,213 | |
| Grand Slam Record Titles: 11 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | W ('60, '62, '69) | |
| French Open | W ('62, '69) | |
| Wimbledon | W ('61, '62, '68, '69) | |
| US Open | W ('62, '69) | |
Rodney George "Rod" Laver (born August 9 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Australia. He is the only player in tennis history to have won all four of tennis' Grand Slam singles titles in the same year on two separate occasions – first as an amateur in 1962, and then again as a professional in 1969. For this achievement, Laver is considered by many tennis fans to be the greatest individual player of all time.
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Career
As an amateur
Laver was a young boy when he left school to pursue a career in tennis that would end up lasting 23 years. Hiss first major singles title was the Australian Championships in 1960, where he beat fellow Australian Neale Fraser in a titanic five-set final. He then captured his first Wimbledon singles crown in 1961.
In 1962, Laver became only the second male player after Don Budge in 1938 to win all four of the Grand Slam titles in the same year. That year, he set a record for the amateur era, winning 21 titles. In addition to the Grand Slam, he also won the Italian Championships and the German Championships – thus achieving a difficult clay court triple of Paris, Rome and Hamburg that has been achieved only one other time (by Lew Hoad in 1956).
At the time, the Grand Slam events were only open to amateur players, who were given (under the table) little more than cost of living money for their appearances in tournaments.
As a professional
Laver turned professional after completing the Grand Slam in 1962. He quickly established himself among the leading professional players, delighting crowds with duels against Pancho Gonzales and Ken Rosewall. During the next seven years, Laver won the US Pro Championships five times, including four in a row from 1966-1969.
In the first half year of 1963, Laver was beaten badly by both Rosewall and Hoad. But at the end of the year, with three tournament titles, he had established himself as the No.2 professional player (on par with Hoad) behind Rosewall. In 1964 he ranked together with Rosewall with seven important titles, but Laver had a 12-3 head-to-head record over Rosewall and won the two most prestigious titles, the US Pro over Gonzales and the Wembley Pro over Rosewall (coming from behind in a tight 5-setter). In 1965 he became clearly the No. 1 professional player, winning 15 titles. In ten finals he met the still dangerous Gonzales, and won eight of their clashes. In 1966 he won ten important tournaments, again including the US Pro and Wembley crowns. In 1967 he won a record 18 titles, including the Wimbledon Pro, US Pro, Wembley Pro and French Pro.
As an Open Era professional
With the dawn of the Open Era in 1968, professional players were once again allowed to compete in the Grand Slam events. Laver became Wimbledon's first Open Era champion in 1968, beating fellow-Australian Tony Roche in straight sets in the final.
In 1969, Laver achieved the Grand Slam for a second time, sealing the achievement with a four-set win over Roche in the US Open final. He had an incredible record that year, winning 17 of the 32 singles tournaments he entered and compiling a 106-16 win-loss record. In beating John Newcombe in four sets in the Wimbledon final, he captured the title at the All England Club for the fourth consecutive time that he'd entered the championship (and reached the final for the sixth consecutive time as he'd been runner-up in 1959 and 1960). He set a record of 31 consecutive match victories at Wimbledon between 1961 and 1970, which lasted until 1980 when it was eclipsed by Bjorn Borg. Unlike his first Grand Slam year in 1962, in 1969 Laver was playing in events open to all players in the professional and amateur ranks, and thus winning tournaments that involved all of the best players in the world.
In 1971, Laver won a then-record US$292,717 in tournament prize money. The figure enabled him to become the first tennis player to surpass US$1 million in prize money.
Davis Cup
Laver helped Australia win the Davis Cup four consecutive times from 1959-62. In 1973, professionals were permitted to play in the Davis Cup for the first time, and Laver was on a winning team for the fifth time, claiming two singles and a doubles rubber in the final as Australia beat the United States 5-0.
Place among the all-time great tennis players
Laver was officially ranked the World No. 1 player in 1961, 1962, 1968 and 1969. He retired from the professional tennis tour in 1975. He was still ranked in the Top 10 at the time of his retirement. Although Laver was past his prime by the time the Association of Tennis Professionals computer rankings were initiated, he still managed to earn a respectable World No. 3 as his highest rank.
Laver's eleven Grand Slam singles titles currently place him tied for third place on the all-time list, along with Borg. Only Pete Sampras and Roy Emerson have won more Grand Slam singles titles. Laver may well have won more than eleven Grand Slam singles titles had he not been barred from entering the Slams from 1963-67, due to his professional status. Laver also won eight Grand Slam doubles titles.
While there are other players who also have a claim to the title of the greatest male tennis player of all time, many would argue that Laver is, at the very least, among the best six or seven men ever to play tennis. Some fans consider him to be the greatest ever primarily because he is the only player (male or female) to have achieved the Grand Slam twice. An authoritative dissenting voice comes from Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter, and himself a candidate as the best player of all time. In his 1979 autobiography, Kramer ranks Laver only in the "second echelon" of great players, just behind the six best.<ref> Kramer considered the best ever to have been either Don Budge (for consistent play) or Ellsworth Vines (at the height of his game). The next four best were, chronologically, Bill Tilden, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, and Pancho Gonzales. After these six came the "second echelon" of Laver, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Gottfried von Cramm, Ted Schroeder, Jack Crawford, Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Bjorn Borg, and Jimmy Connors. He felt unable to rank Henri Cochet and René Lacoste accurately but felt they were among the very best.</ref> He writes that although Laver was "absolutely unbeatable for a year or two late in the 1960s", a "careful comparision" could be made between Laver and the somewhat older Pancho Gonzales and that Kramer is "positive that Gonzales could have beaten Laver regularly. Hoad owned Laver before Hoad was hurt, and Rosewall beat Laver in those two World Championship of Tennis finals—and that was a title Laver really wanted." In a famous meeting, a US$10,000 winner-take-all match before 15,000 in Madison Square Garden in February, 1970, the 41-year-old Gonzales beat Laver, still the No. 3 player in the world, in five sets.
Still, many experts such as Bud Collins, Dan Maskell, John Barrett, Ted Schroeder, and Tony Trabert continue to rank Laver as the best of all time. They cite as evidence the fact that in a career as an amateur, as a Kramer touring pro, and as a professional in the Open era, he won more than 170 titles. Laver holds the record for most titles won in a single season during the amateur era (21 in 1962), in the touring pro era (18 in 1967), and in the Open era (17 in 1969). After turning professional in 1963 he won the US Pro Championships 5 times and the Wembley Pro Championship 4 times. In 1967 he won a "Pro Grand Slam": the US Pro, Wembley Pro, French Pro Championship, and Wimbledon Pro. And in a poll by the Associated Press in 2000, he was voted "the male tennis player of the century".
Laver was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1981.
After retiring from tennis
In July 1998, Laver suffered a major stroke while being interviewed by ESPN for a series on greatest athletes of the 20th Century. Characteristically, tennis played an important role in his recovery.
In 2000, the centre court at Melbourne Park, which today hosts the Australian Open, was named the Rod Laver Arena in his honour.
In 2003, Laver, along with fellow Australian tennis superstar Margaret Smith Court, was honoured with his portrait on a postage stamp by the "Australia Post Australian Legends Award".
On January 29, 2006, Laver presented the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup to Australian Open champion Roger Federer. Overcome with joy and relief at winning the title and realizing the significance of his accomplishment, Federer, through tears, embraced and thanked the "Rocket."
Grand Slam singles finals
Wins (11)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final 1960 Australian Championships Neale Fraser 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 8-6, 8-6 1961 Wimbledon Charles McKinley 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 1962 Australian Championships Roy Emerson 8-6, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 1962 French Championships Roy Emerson 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 9-7, 6-2 1962 Wimbledon Martin Mulligan 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 1962 US Championships Roy Emerson 6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 Open Era 1968 Wimbledon Tony Roche 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 1969 Australian Open Andres Gimeno 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 1969 French Open Ken Rosewall 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 1969 Wimbledon John Newcombe 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 1969 US Open Tony Roche 7-9, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
Runner-ups (6)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final 1959 Wimbledon Alex Olmedo 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 1960 Wimbledon Neale Fraser 6-4, 3-6, 9-7, 7-5 1960 US Championships Neale Fraser 6-4, 6-4, 9-7 1961 Australian Championships Roy Emerson 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 1961 US Championships Roy Emerson 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 Open Era 1968 French Open Ken Rosewall 6-3, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2
Singles titles in the Open Era (39)
- 1968 - Wimbledon, Los Angeles
- 1969 - Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, Philadelphia WCT
- 1970 - Queen's Club, Los Angeles, Louisville, Montreal / Toronto, Philadelphia WCT, South Orange, St Louis WCT
- 1971 - Berkeley, Bologna WCT, Fort Worth WCT, London, Rome
- 1972 - Denver WCT, Houston WCT, Philadelphia WCT, Richmond WCT, Toronto WCT
- 1973 - Hong Kong, Miami WCT, Richmond WCT, Sydney Indoor, Toronto WCT
- 1974 - Bretton Woods, Houston, Las Vegas, Palm Desert WCT, Philadelphia WCT, Tokyo WCT
- 1975 - Caracas WCT, La Costa WCT, Orlando WCT, Sao Paulo WCT
Notes
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External links
- International Tennis Hall of Fame profile
- ATP profile
- Official Wimbledon profile
- BBC profile
- Davis Cup record
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