Rod Laver

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For the arena in Melbourne Park used for show matches in the Australian Open, see Rod Laver Arena

Rod Laver

Country	Australia
Residence	Carlsbad, California, USA
Date of birth	August 9, 1938
Place of birth	Rockhampton, QLD, Australia
Height	5 ft 8 in (172 cm)
Weight	150 lbs (68 kg)
Turned Pro	1962 (Started playing in 1956)
Retired	1979
Plays	Left-handed
Career Prize Money	US$1,564,213
Singles
Career record:	392 - 99
Career titles:	39
Highest ranking:	1
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	W ('60, '62, '69)
French Open	W ('62, '69)
Wimbledon	W ('61, '62, '68, '69)
U.S. Open	W ('62, '69)
Doubles
Career record:	230 - 77
Career titles:	27
Highest ranking:	?
Infobox last updated on: N/A.

Rodney George ("Rod") Laver (born August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is a former tennis player from Australia who was the World No. 1 player for up to 7 consecutive years. More famously, he is the only player in tennis history to have twice won all four of tennis' Grand Slam singles titles in the same year—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 player of all time.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 As an amateur 1.2 As a professional 1.3 As an Open Era professional 1.4 Davis Cup 2 Place among the all-time great tennis players 3 After retiring from tennis 4 Grand Slam singles finals 4.1 Wins (11) 4.2 Runner-ups (6) 5 Singles titles in the Open Era (39) and overall singles titles (181) 6 Notes 7 Facts and Figures 8 Sources 9 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] 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. He was coached in Queensland by the tennis teacher Charlie Hollis, and later was tutored by the Australian team captain Harry Hopman, who gave him the nickname 'Rocket'. Laver became US Junior Champion in 1956 and Australian Junior Champion in 1957. He had his breakthrough on the world stage in 1959, when he reached all three finals at Wimbledon, winning the mixed with Darlene Hard. As an unseeded player, he lost the singles final to Peruvian Alex Olmedo, after surviving a 87-games marathon match against American Barry MacKay in the semifinals. His first major singles title was the Australian Championships in 1960, where he defeated fellow Australian Neale Fraser in a 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 Grand Slam singles titles in the same year and won an additional 17 titles. Among those titles were the Italian Championships and the German Championships, giving Laver the "clay court triple" of Paris, Rome, and Hamburg that had been achieved only once before (by Lew Hoad in 1956). The biggest hurdle on his way to the Grand Slam was the French on slow clay, where Laver had to overcome three five-setters in a row from the quarterfinals onwards. In his quarterfinal with Martin Mulligan, he saved a matchpoint in the fourth set - with a backhand volley, coming in behind a second serve. In the final, he came back from two sets down and 0-3 down in the fourth set, to defeat Roy Emerson. At Wimbledon, his progress was much easier. Laver lost only one set in the whole tournament, to Manuel Santana in a quarterfinal, who held a set point for a two set lead. At Forest Hills, Laver lost only two sets during the tournament and defeated Emerson again in the final.

At the time, the Grand Slam events were open only to amateur players, who were given (under the table) little more than cost-of-living money for their appearances in tournaments.

Although of a slightly short stature and medium build (1.72m), Laver developed a technically complete serve-and-volley game, with aggressive groundstrokes to back it up. As Dan Maskell put it, he was "technically faultless, from his richly varied serve to his feather-light touch on drop volleys plus a backhand drive carrying destructive topspin when needed or controlling slice when the situation demanded it." His lefthanded serve was well disguised and wide swinging. His wristy groundstrokes on both flanks were hit with topspin, an innovation in the 1960s, as was the attacking topspin lob, which Laver developed into a weapon. His stroke technique was based on quick shoulder turns, true swings, and exquisite timing. His backhand, often hit on the run, was a point-ender. Laver was very quick and mobile and had a gigantic left forearm. Rex Bellamy wrote, "The strength of that wrist and forearm gave him blazing power without loss of control, even when he was on the run and at full stretch. The combination of speed and strength, especially wrist strength, enabled him to hit ferocious winners when way out of court." At the net, he had forcing volleys, often hit as stroke volleys. Especially on the backhand, he could hit sharp underspin angles as well. Julius Heldman pointed out, "He is competent on low balls, handling them with underspin for control, but he will cream any ball at waist level or higher." He was difficult to lob, because of his springing agility, and when forced to retreat, he could come up with a vicious counterpunch.

As an amateur, Laver was a somewhat flashy player, often a late starter. He had to learn to control his adventurous shotmaking and integrate percentage tennis into his game when he turned professional. In his prime, he could adapt his style to all surfaces and to all conditions. Laver had a great record in five-set-matches, often turning things around with subtle changes of tactics or by simply hitting his way out of danger. When he got into the "zone," he went for broke. Then he would, as Heldman explains, "literally jump and throw his racket at the ball with all the force he could muster, wrist and arm snapping over at the hit."

[edit] 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 U.S. 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. Hoad, in fact, won the first 8 matches against Laver, Rosewall 11 out of 13. By the end of the year, however, with four tournament titles, Laver 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 (plus four minor events), but Laver had a 12-3 head-to-head record over Rosewall and won the two most prestigious titles, the U.S. Pro over Gonzales and the Wembley Pro Championship over Rosewall (coming from behind in a tight 5-setter), signalling the change of pro leadership. In 1965 he became clearly the No. 1 professional player, winning 15 titles and beating Rosewall 13-5 in head-to-head matches. In ten finals he met the still dangerous Gonzales, and won eight of their clashes. In 1966 he won fifteen events, with 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 Championship, which gave him a clean sweep of the most important Pro titles. The tournament in 1967 on Wimbledon's Centre Court was the only Pro event ever staged on the sacred lawns and paved the way to open tennis. Laver beat Rosewall in the final 6-2, 6-2, 12-10.

Laver had a long-running, friendly rivalry with Rosewall between 1963, when he started out as a pro, and 1976, when both were semi-retired from the main tour. Including tournaments and one-night stands, they played over 130 matches, all of them as professionals, with some results from the barnstorming pro tours lost or badly recorded. According to "Total Tennis," Laver won 62 of their matches while losing 49. Other counts and estimations by the tennis historian Robert Geist give possible results of 76-66 or 100-85 in favor of Laver. The bulk of Rosewall's wins came in the first half-year of 1963, when Laver was a rookie pro. Except the first year (1963) and the last year they played (1976), Laver had always a positive record against Rosewall. In the open era a match score of 23-9 in favor of Laver can be documented.

[edit] 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 the best amateur, American Arthur Ashe in the semifinal and fellow-Australian Tony Roche in the final, both in straight sets. He was also runner-up to Rosewall in the first French Open on clay. In this first 'open' year, there were in fact only 10 open events, where professionals, registered players and amateurs could compete against each other. The pros mainly played their own circuit, with two groups - National Tennis League (NTL) and World Championships Tennis (WCT) - operating. Laver was ranked Nr. 1 universally, winning the US Pro on grass and the French Pro on clay (both over John Newcombe) and the last big open event of the year, the Pacific South West at Los Angeles on hard court. His 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 final win over Rosewall is regarded as one of his finest performances.

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 18 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 Björn 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. On his road to the Grand Slam, Laver had to go the full distance of five-set-matches five times, twice coming from back from 0-2 down in early rounds. In the four finals, however, he lost only two sets altogether. His hardest match was a marathon 90-games semifinal against Roche at the Australian Open under tropical hot conditions. Other opponents at the Australian Open included Emerson, Fred Stolle and Andres Gimeno. At the French Open he beat Gimeno, Tom Okker and Rosewall. At Wimbledon he had to overcome strong challenges of later champions Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, and Newcombe. At Forest Hills, on slippery grass courts, he defeated Dennis Ralston, Roy Emerson, Ashe, and Roche. The majors then were played on grass and clay (French Open). Laver showed his versatility, when he won the two most important hard court titles (South African Open at Ellis Park, Johannesburg and US Pro at Boston) as well as the leading indoor tournaments (Philadephia US Pro Indoor and Wembley British Indoor).With US$ 124.000 in prize money gains, he was also the first player to break the US$ 100.000 barrier in a year.

In the early 1970s Laver lost his grip on the major tournaments, playing a limited schedule there. But on the World Championship of Tennis (WCT) tours, he remained the leading player and by far the leading prize money winner. In 1970 he won 13 titles on all surfaces and US $ 201,453 in prize money, including the rich 'Tennis Champions Classic' and 5 other big events (Sydney Dunlop Open, Philadelphia, Wembley, Los Angeles, South African Open), which were the equivalents of the modern day Masters Series. With only two majors played by all the best players (Wimbledon and US Open), there was no clear-cut world Nr.1 in 1970. Wimbledon champion Newcombe, US champion Rosewall and Laver, who had the most title wins and also a 3-0 personal record over Newcombe and a 5-0 record over Rosewall, were ranked top respectively by different journalists and expert panels. Newcombe himself, who was rated Nr. 1 by Lance Tingay, wrote later in his autobiography 'Newk-Life on and off the Court', 2002, that the top honour in 1970 still belonged to Laver. In 1971 Laver defended his title in the 'Tennis Champions Classic', winning the astounding string of 13 straight winner-take-all-matches against top opponents and a sum of US $160,000. In 1971 and 1972 he finished as the points leader of the WCT tournament series, but lost the playoff finals at Dallas to Rosewall. The last match is rated as one of the best of all time and drew a TV audience of over 20 Million. 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. Since 1972, partly due to back and knee injuries, Laver reduced his playing schedule, mainly concentrating on the WCT circuit in spring. Nevertheless, until 1975 Laver remained a top ten player, winning a minimum of 5 titles each year. His highpoint in 1973 was his successful effort in the semifinals and finals of the Davis Cup, where he won all 6 of his rubbers for Australia. In 1974 he won 6 out of 13 tournaments and ended the year as computer Nr. 4, with 36 the oldest player ever in open era, who reached the top five at years end. In 1975 he set a record for WCT tournaments, by winning 4 titles and 23 matches in a row. By 1976 Laver semi-retired from the main tour, playing only a few selected events. In 1976 he also signed with World Team Tennis, where he became 'Rookie of the year' at the tender age of 38. Laver is credited with a record 45 open titles for a player older than 30 years. And despite his advanced age he held an overall win-loss-percentage of around 80% in open era alone, which places him still fifth on the open era list behind Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe, but ahead of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Place among the all-time great tennis players

Until the Association of Tennis Professionals(ATP) computer rankings were established in 1973 there was no objective ranking system, but Laver was ranked the World No. 1 player in 1961, 1962 (as an amateur), and 1968 and 1969 (in open era) by the press, notably by Lance Tingay of the 'Daily Telegraph'. In prize money won, Laver was the pro money leader until 1971, as covered by the reference book 'Total Tennis' by Bud Collins (2003). The World number one male tennis player rankings places Laver as world's best player, amateur or professional, for up to 7 consecutive years, 1964 through 1970, although these are unofficial rankings. On this list the leaders are Bill Tilden with 7 times and Pancho Gonzales with 8 times. While Laver was the undisputed world pro champion 1965 to 1969, he has a valid claim for the top spot for two more years, 1964 and 1970.

There are also different accounts of his tournament singles titles. This problem is discussed in an article of 2006 by Raymond Lee [1]. The ATP credits him with 39 open era titles in ATP sanctioned events. Other sources, like 'Total Tennis' give him 47 or 54 titles in open era alone. His overall tally, however, is much higher. 'Total Tennis' credits him with 184 titles in amateur, pro, and open competition, without listing them in detail. Laver semi-retired from the main professional tennis tour in 1975, still ranked in the Top 10 at the time. By the time the Association of Tennis Professionals computer rankings were initiated, he earned a World No. 3, 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 also won eight Grand Slam doubles titles. He is the only player (male or female) to have achieved the calendar 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.^[1] He writes that although Laver was "absolutely unbeatable for a year or two late in the 1960s", a "careful comparison" 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 January, 1970, the 41-year-old Gonzales beat Laver, still the No. 1 player in the world, in five sets.

Still, many experts such as Dan Maskell, John Barrett, Joe McCauley,Ted Schroeder, and Tony Trabert continue to rank Laver as the best of all time. The late Ted Schroeder is quoted by Alan Trengove: "You take all the criteria - longevity, playing on grass and clay, amateur, professional, his behaviour, his appearance - in all criteria, Laver's the best player of all time." The experts 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 a record 184 singles titles. He also 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 (18 in 1969). After turning professional in 1963 he won the U.S. Pro Championships 5 times and the Wembley Pro Championship 4 times between 1964 and 1967, and two more in 1969 and 1970, when it was called 'British Covered Court Championships'. In 1967 he won a "Pro Grand Slam": the U.S. Pro, Wembley Pro, French Pro Championship, and Wimbledon Pro. Joe McCauley, the author of "The History of Professional Tennis," writes in the final chapter that "in my humble opinion, [Laver] was the best ever." ^[2] And in a poll by the Associated Press in 2000, he was voted "The Male Tennis Player of the Century", ahead of Pete Sampras, Bill Tilden, Björn Borg, Donald Budge, John McEnroe and Lew Hoad (tied), Ken Rosewall and Roy Emerson (tied), Jack Kramer.

In his 1989 book, My Life with the Pros, Bud Collins writes: "I remain unconvinced that there ever was a better player than Rod Laver". Thirteen years later, however, as editor of the massive Total Tennis, The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia (2003), Collins is more guarded. He writes on page 693 that Laver would "be known as possibly the greatest player ever." On page 673, however, Collins says that Gonzales was "probably as good as anyone who ever played the game, if not better." And on page 749 he calls Bill Tilden "perhaps the greatest player of them all." In an August 2006 article for MSNBC.com, Collins ranks Laver as one of the five top men's tennis stars of all time, along with Tilden, Gonzales, Borg, and Sampras. He points to Tilden's "phenomenal .938 winning percentage", says "If I had to choose someone to play for my life it would be Pancho Gonzalez," praises Borg's uncanny transition from Roland Garros to Wimbledon, cites Sampras' "assault on the citadels of the past", and calls Laver "in my eyes, the greatest player ever". ^[3]

Laver was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1981.

[edit] 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".

[edit] Grand Slam singles finals

[edit] 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 Championships	Chuck McKinley	6-3, 6-1, 6-4
1962	Australian Championships (2)	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 Championships (2)	Marty Mulligan	6-2, 6-2, 6-1
1962	U.S. Championships	Roy Emerson	6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
Open Era:
1968	Wimbledon (2)	Tony Roche	6-3, 6-4, 6-2
1969	Australian Open (3)	Andres Gimeno	6-3, 6-4, 7-5
1969	French Open (2)	Ken Rosewall	6-4, 6-3, 6-4
1969	Wimbledon (4)	John Newcombe	6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
1969	U.S. Open (2)	Tony Roche	7-9, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2

[edit] Runner-ups (6)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1959	Wimbledon Championships	Alex Olmedo	6-4, 6-3, 6-4
1960	Wimbledon Championships	Neale Fraser	6-4, 3-6, 9-7, 7-5
1960	U.S. Championships	Neale Fraser	6-4, 6-4, 9-7
1961	Australian Championships	Roy Emerson	1-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4
1961	U.S. Championships	Roy Emerson	7-5, 6-3, 6-2
Open Era:
1968	French Open	Ken Rosewall	6-3, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2

[edit] Singles titles in the Open Era (39) and overall singles titles (181)

• 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, São Paulo WCT

Note: These are only the ATP registered tournament titles of open tournaments since 1968, following the ATP-Webside. This list does not cover the pre open titles nor many pro titles, Laver won in the first years of open tennis.

Overall singles titles of Rod Laver 1960-1976 (181):

Sources: Joe McCauley, History of Professional Tennis, London 2001; Michel Sutter, Vainqueurs-Winners 1946-1991, Paris 1992; Rod Laver (with Bud Collins), The Education of a Tennis Player, New York 1971; John Barrett, World of Tennis Yearbook 1970-1976, London 1970-1976; Betty Laver, The Red-headed Rocket from Rockhampton, Rockhampton 2001.

Amateur titles 1960-1962

1960: Brisbane Australian Champ., Lausanne, Newport, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, South Orange, Southampton. N.Y. (7).

1961: Wimbledon, Adelaide, Auckland, Bad Neuenahr, Brisbane, Brisbane Hard Courts, Caracas, Deauville, Hamburg German Champ., Houston, Kingston, Melbourne, Sydney, Sydney Metropolitan (14).

1962: Sydney Australian Champ., Paris French Champ., Wimbledon, Forest Hills US Champ., Bournemouth BHC, Brisbane, Brisbane Hard Courts, Caracas, Connaugh, Dublin Irish Champ., Gstaad Swiss Champ., Hamburg German Champ., Hilversum Dutch Champ., Houston, Lugano, Melbourne, Oslo, Palermo, Queen's Club, Rome Italian Champ., Sydney (21).

Professional titles 1963-1967

1963: Cannes, Kitzbühel, Noordwijk-on-Sea, Capetown (4).

1964: Boston US Pro, Wembley London Pro, Geneve, Johannesburg, Monterey, Perth (4 man event), Port Elizabeth, Salisbury, Biarritz (4 man), Cairo (4 man), Marseille (4 man). (11).

1965: Wembley London Pro, Adelaide, Cannes, Durban, Lake Tahoe, Capetown, Hobart (4 man), Los Angeles R.R., Melbourne, Nairobi, New York US Pro Indoor, Newport R.R., Oklahoma (4 man), Perth , Rhodesia, San Rafael, Belfast (4 man) (17)

1966: Boston US Pro, Wembley London Pro, Binghamton, Brisbane, Cannes (4 man), Capetown, Forest Hills R.R., Johannesburg, Melbourne, Perth, Nancy (4 man), Oporto, Milan (4 man), Abidjan (4 man), Dakar (4 man). (15).

1967: Wimbledon Pro, Boston US Pro, Wembley London Pro, Paris French Pro, Paris Indoor, Binghamton, Boston Garden, Johannesburg, Fort Worth, Marseille (4 man), Miami, New York US Pro Indoor, New York Madison Square Garden, Newport R.R., Oklahoma, Orlando, San Diego, San Juan (18).

Titles at the begin of Open era 1968-1976

1968: Wimbledon, Boston US Pro, Paris French Pro, Buenos Aires, Corpus Christi, La Paz, Los Angeles PSW Open, London Indoor, London BBC 2 (4 man), New York Madison Square Garden, São Paulo (11).

1969: Brisbane Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, South African Open, Boston US Pro, Wembley British Indoor, Anaheim, Baltimore, Binghamton, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, London BBC 2 (4man), Madrid, New York Madison Square Garden Invitational, Orlando, Philadelphia US Pro Indoor, St. Louis (18).

1970: Canadian Open, South African Open, Wembley British Indoor, Fort Worth WCT, Louisville WCT, Los Angeles PSW Open, New York Champions Classic, Philadelphia US Pro Indoor, Queen's Club, South Orange, St. Louis WCT, Sydney, Vancouver WCT, Germany (Berlin, Bonn, and Saarbrücken) Round Robin (4 man) (14).

1971: Rome Italian Open, Berkeley WCT, Bologna WCT, Fort Worth WCT, London Indoor, New York Champions Classic, Hilton Head CBS Classic (4 man) (7).

1972: Denver WCT, Houston WCT, Philadelphia US Pro Indoor, Richmond WCT, Toronto WCT (5).

1973: Hong Kong, Miami WCT, Richmond WCT, Sydney Australian Indoor, Toronto WCT, Hilton Head CBS Classic, Hilton Head World Invitational Tennis Classic (4 man) (7).

1974: Bretton Woods, Houston WCT, Las Vegas, Palm Desert WCT, Philadelphia US Pro Indoor, Tokyo WCT (6).

1975: Caracas WCT, La Costa WCT, Orlando WCT, Puerto Rico CBS Classic, São Paulo WCT (5).

1976: Detroit (probably 4 man) (1)

Note: This list of 181 tournament title wins between 1960 and 1976 may still be incomplete. Nevertheless it is far more than the 'official' record of Jimmy Connors with 109 tournament title wins in the open era.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Kramer considered the best player 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 Rod Laver, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Gottfried von Cramm, Ted Schroeder, Jack Crawford, Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Björn Borg, and Jimmy Connors. He felt unable to rank Henri Cochet and René Lacoste accurately but felt they were among the very best.
2. ^ "The History of Professional Tennis," 2003, by Joe McCauley, page156
3. ^ The Collins article: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14489546/

[edit] Facts and Figures

• Rod Laver was so successful a tennis star that in 1970 Adidas made a signature shoe called the "Rod Laver". This shoe has become very popular among freestyle footbag players.

• .rod laver was also the name of a rapcore band on Screaming Giant Records and Tooth and Nail Records.

• Was a childhood influence of John McEnroe according to McEnroe's autobiography "You Cannot Be Serious."

[edit] Sources

• The Game — My 40 Years in Tennis (1979) — Jack Kramer with Frank Deford (ISBN 0-399-12336-9)
• The History of Professional Tennis (2003) Joe McCauley
• From where I sit (1988) Dan Maskell (with John Barrett)
• Love Thirty. Three Decades of Champions (1990) Rex Bellamy
• The Style of Rod Laver (1999) Julius Heldman (in: Caryl Phyllips, The Right Set. A Tennis Anthology)
• The Education of a Tennis Player (1971) Rod Laver (with Bud Collins) (ISBN 0-671-21533-7)
• Vainqueurs-Winners 1946-1991 (1992) Michel Sutter (Forewords by Arthur Ashe, Mark Miles)
• Advantage Australia. Rod Laver and Margaret Court: Legends of the Grand Slam (2003) Alan Trengove
• The Red-Headed Rocket from Rockhampton (2001) Betty Laver.
• Newk-Life on and off the Court (2002) John Newcombe (with Larry Writer).

[edit] External links

• International Tennis Hall of Fame profile
• ATP profile
• Official Wimbledon website profile
• BBC profile
• Davis Cup record