Rod Laver (Dai-Y)

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Rodney George "Rod" Laver is the only tennis player to have twice won all four of tennis' Grand Slam singles titles in the same year — first as an amateur in 1962, then as a professional in 1969. 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. His left-handed serve was well disguised and wide swinging. His wristy groundstrokes were hit with topspin, an innovation in the 1960s.

Laver was the U.S. junior champion in 1956 and the Australian junior champion in 1957. His breakthrough on the world stage was in 1959 at age 20, when he reached the singles final at Wimbledon, losing to Peruvian Alex Olmedo. In 1960 he won his first major amateuer singles titles at the Australian Championships, where he defeated fellow Australian Neale Fraser in a five-set final. He then captured his first Wimbledon singles title 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. Thereafter Laver turned professional. From about 1964 or 1965, he established himself as the No. 1 professional player, taking the crown from the American Pancho Gonzales.

With the dawn of the open era in 1968, professional players were once again allowed to compete in Grand Slam events. Laver became Wimbledon's first open era champion in 1968, beating Arthur Ashe in the semifinal and fellow-Australian Tony Roche in the final. In 1969, Laver won all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same calendar year for the second time. Unlike his first Grand Slam year in 1962, in 1969 Laver played against the best professional and amateur players of the world. With the victory over Ken Rosewall in the 1969 French Open final Laver became the first male Yokozuna of the open era.

In the early 1970s, Laver lost his grip on the major tournaments. He played only five Grand Slam tournaments from 1970 through 1972. This was partly due to his contracts with the NTL and WCT pro tours. On the WCT tours, however, he remained the leading player through at least 1973. Laver has positive head-to-head career records with most other greats of his era, including Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, Pancho Gonzales, and Arthur Ashe. Yokozunatennis ranks Rod Laver as the #1 male player of the open era.

This article is a shortened and modified version of Rod Laver's portrait at Wikipedia.

Rod Laver

Dai-Yokozuna
Born August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia
Grand Slam Achievements, Pre-Open Era
	Australian	French	Wimbledon	US	Total
Titles	2	1	2	1	6
Finals	1	0	2	2	5
Semifinals	0	1	0	0	1
Quarterfinals	0	0	0	1	1
Career points	11	6	14	11	42
Grand Slam Achievements, Open Era
	Australian	French	Wimbledon	US	Total
Titles	1	1	2	1	5
Finals	0	1	0	0	1
Semifinals	0	0	0	0	0
Quarterfinals	0	0	1	0	1
Career points	4	7	9	4	24
Career Timeline, Pre-Open Era
Year	Tournament	Rank Pre-T	Result	Rank Post-T	Career points
1956	A	-	r3	-	-
1956	F	-	r1	-	-
1956	W	-	r1	-	-
1956	U	-	r1	-	-
1957	A	-	r3	-	-
1957	F	-	-	-	-
1957	W	-	-	-	-
1957	U	-	-	-	-
1958	A	-	r3	-	-
1958	F	-	r2	-	-
1958	W	-	r3	-	-
1958	U	-	r4	-	-
1959	A	-	r3	-	-
1959	F	-	r3	-	-
1959	W	-	final	s	3
1959	U	s	qfinal	o	4
1960	A	o	win (1)	o	8
1960	F	o	r3	o(k)	8
1960	W	o(k)	final	o	11
1960	U	o	final	o	14
1961	A	o	final	o	17
1961	F	o	sfinal	o	19
1961	W	o	win (2)	o	23
1961	U	o	final	o	26
1962	A	o	win (3)	y(a)	30
1962	F	y(a)	win (4)	y(a)	34
1962	W	y(a)	win (5)	y(a)	38
1962	U	y(a)	win (6)	y(a)	42
1963 - 67 on Pro Tour, 8 Majors Titles
Career Timeline, Open Era
Year	Tournament	Rank Pre-T	Result	Rank Post-T	Career points
1968	F	-	Final	S	3
1968	W	S	Win (1)	O	7
1968	U	O	R4	O(k)	7
1969	A	O(k)	Win (2)	O	11
1969	F	O	Win (3)	Y(a)	15
1969	W	Dai-Y(a)	Win (4)	Dai-Y(a)	19
1969	U	Dai-Y(a)	Win (5)	Dai-Y(a)	23
1970	A	Dai-Y(a)	-	Dai-Y(a)	23
1970	F	Dai-Y(a)	-	Dai-Y(a)	23
1970	W	Dai-Y(a)	R4	Dai-Y(a)	23
1970	U	Dai-Y(a)	R4	Dai-Y(ia)	23
1971	A	Dai-Y(ia)	R4	Dai-Y(ia)	23
1971	F	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	23
1971	W	Dai-Y(ia)	Qfinal	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1971	U	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1972	A	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1972	F	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1972	W	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1972	U	Dai-Y(ia)	R4	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1973	A	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1973	F	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1973	W	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1973	U	Dai-Y(ia)	R3	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1974	A	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1974	F	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1974	W	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1974	U	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1975	A	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1975	F	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1975	W	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1975	U	Dai-Y(ia)	R4	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1976	A	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1976	F	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1976	W	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1976	U	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1977	A1	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1977	F	Dai-Y(ia)	-	Dai-Y(ia)	24
1977	W	Dai-Y(ia)	R2	Dai-Y(ia)	24