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For a man many consider the greatest tennis player in history, Rod Laver is as modest as he is accomplished.
Australia’s most prolific champion, he is the only player with two calendar-year Grand Slams to his name and he also played a key role in five victorious Davis Cup teams between 1959-62 and in 1973.
Laver was the first tennis ‘professional’ to become a millionaire, the fittest player of his generation and a poker-faced tactician able to hit himself out of trouble with equally ferocious topspin backhand and forehand shots.
Rodney George Laver was born on 9 August 1938, just over a month before Donald Budge completed the first Grand Slam in tennis history. One of 13 children, he was raised on cattle ranches run by his parents, Roy and Melba, and learned to play tennis on anthill courts his father built on the properties.
A small, sickly, left-hander, Laver took up the game aged six using a sawn-off wooden racquet, his constitution strengthening as his game improved. As a teenager he was christened ‘Rocket’ by Harry Hopman, not because of his court speed, but because of his grit, determination and work ethic.
In 1956 aged 17 he took part in his first international tour to the USA, winning the US Junior Championship. He won his first senior event four years later, coming back from two sets to love down to defeat Neale Fraser 8-6 in the fifth set of their final and claim the Australian championship in Brisbane.
“Winning that title was a big stepping stone for me,” he said of that first major victory. “It is one thing to have ability but it is no good if you don’t know how to use it,” he said. Even with a Slam under his belt Laver questioned his own credibility until he conquered the All England Club’s hallowed Centre Court in 1961. “I was looked on as a bit of a hacker…there was still a lot to prove and it was not until I won Wimbledon that I felt I could look people in the eye,” he said.
Any lingering doubts were surely dispelled the following year when the Rockhampton Rocket became the second man in history to complete the mythical Grand Slam. He secured the first leg in Sydney, using his lefty serve to great advantage on a windy White City centre court for an 8-6 0-6 6-4 6-4 victory over Roy Emerson.
At the French Championships, Laver nearly crashed out in the quarterfinals, saving a match point against Martin Mulligan and trailing Emerson one set to two and 0-3 in the fourth set of the final before taking the title in five sets.
Wimbledon was easier and Laver lost just one set during the entire tournament, beating Mulligan 6-2 6-2 6-1 for the trophy, the Queenslander going on to round off his historic achievement at Forest Hills, defeating Emerson 6-2 6-4 5-7 6-4 in the final.
Needing to earn money to finance his career, Laver left the amateur circuit and turned professional in 1963, endorsed by his heroes Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall. Laver married his wife Mary in 1966 and didn’t return to the Grand Slam stage again until 1968 when he won the Wimbledon title for a third time in the tournament’s first staging as a professional event, defeating Tony Roche in the final.
Playing in the first Australian ‘Open’ in 1969, Laver battled against the weather as much as his opponents. Heavy rain delayed early matches and the players were forced to work overtime to catch up once Queensland’s customary hot, humid conditions kicked in.
Laver won his fourth round over Fred Stolle and his quarterfinal over Emerson in the space of 24 hours before battling through a four-hour five-set semifinal against Roche, which was played, due to the heat, in front of a handful of spectators.
The final, a 6-3 6-4 7-5 victory over Andres Gimeno, was the first leg of Laver’s historic second Grand Slam haul. Ken Rosewall was Laver’s straight-sets victim in Paris, at Wimbledon he took out Newcombe in four sets and at the US Open he defeated Tony Roche in four. “It seems a long time ago now – it was actually the year my son, Rick, was born,” says Laver of his unique achievement.
The Australian never reached another Grand Slam final but his remarkable 23-year career yielded a record 183 titles, 47 of which were at professional tournaments. He was ranked in 12 year-end top 10s (1959-62 and 1968-75 - the latter as a 37-year-old), and he was year-end world No.1 four times (in 1961, ’62, ’68 and ’69).
In 2000, Australian Open organisers paid tribute to Laver’s extraordinary career by renaming Melbourne Park’s centre court in his honour. “I could never have dreamt that my name would end up on the stadium,” said the self-effacing legend who had recovered from a serious stroke in 1998.
“For something like that to happen in your lifetime…it’s very special and I consider it to be the crowning moment of my career. You only have to look up at the name on the magnificent stadium court at Melbourne Park to realize how truly privileged I am.” In 1981 Laver was inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame following suit in 1993.
Now a resident of Carlsbad, California, Laver makes regular trips back to Melbourne for the Open, famously moving Roger Federer to tears during the trophy presentation ceremony at Australian Open 2006.
This year Laver will return to the world’s biggest stage once more – this time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his historic second Grand Slam.
Rod Laver achievements:
• Winner 11 Grand Slam singles titles:
- 1960 – Australian Championships (d Neale Fraser)
- 1961 – Wimbledon (d Chuck McKinley
- 1962 – Australian Championships (d Roy Emerson)
- 1962 – French Championships (d Emerson)
- 1962 – Wimbledon (d Marty Mulligan)
- 1962 – US Championships (d Emerson)
- 1968 – Wimbledon (d Tony Roche)
- 1969 – French Open (d Ken Rosewall)
- 1969 – Wimbledon (d John Newcombe)
- 1969 – US Open (d Roche)
- 1969 – Australian Open (d Andres Gimeno)
• Runner-up six Grand Slam singles finals:
- 1959 – Wimbledon (lt Alex Olmedo)
- 1960 – Wimbledon (lt Fraser)
- 1960 – US Championships (lt Fraser)
- 1961 - Australian Championships (lt Emerson)
- 1961 – US Championships (lt Rosewall)
• Won 183 singles titles (of which 40 were professional titles) and 27 professional doubles titles.
• Amassed an Open era win-loss record of 392-99.
• 20-4 Davis Cup win-loss record; singles 16-4; doubles 4-0.
• Represented Australia in five Davis Cup finals:
- 1959 (d USA)
- 1960 (d Italy)
- 1961(d Italy)
- 1962 (d Mexico)
- 1973 (d USA)
• Honoured by Australian Open organisers when Melbourne Park’s centre court was re-christened Rod Laver Arena in 2000.
