Player Profile: Rod Laver

Photos from Google Immages

                Rod Laver is a living legend of tennis. Born Aug. 9, 1938, Rod Laver would be one of the best tennis players of his time. He was born in Rockhampton, Queensland Australia, and began his career on the Amateur Tour. Before 1968, Tennis was separated into two tours the Amateur and the Pro tours. The Amateur tour contained the Grand Slams and other major tournaments, but the participants received no money. The Professionals were given money to play, but they weren't allowed to play in the slams. As an Amateur, Laver obtained his first breakthrough by reaching the Wimbledon finals in 1959. A year later, he would win his first singles title at the Australian Open. His greatest accomplishment as an Amateur was winning all four slams in one year which is commonly referred to as a calendar grand slam.
                     

                  In the December of 1962, Rod Laver joined the professional tour to support himself. On this tour, Laver established himself as a dominant player winning 17 titles in 1965 alone, and winning the professional equivalent of a grand slam. His years on this tour initiated his rivalry with Ken Rosewall which would last until 1976 when both retired. After many years of separation between the Amateur and Professional tours, the gap began to close. In 1967, Wimbledon held its first professional tournament, and Rod Laver was the winner. The tours would soon combine allowing players to get paid for their efforts.

             The next year marked the beginning of the Open Era. Both professionals and amateurs were able to compete in the slam events. That year, 1968, Laver became the first Wimbledon champion of the Open Era. In 1969 Laver won all four slams achieving the calendar grand slam a second time. His time in the Open Era was very fruitful; he won 74 singles titles which is still the 5th most anyone has ever won. With this much success on three tours, Rod Laver is one of the greatest tennis players of all time.