Rod Laver. The name is synonymous with sporting greatness. The Australian has achieved the most difficult feat in tennis. Twice. Complete a...
Rod Laver. The name is synonymous with sporting greatness. The Australian has achieved the most difficult feat in tennis. Twice. Complete a Calendar Grand Slam: win all four Grand Slams in a calendar year.
Laver first achieved the feat in 1962 when he won all four Majors in a tennis calendar year. But before the Open Era, the Grand Slams were only open for amateurs. So the Australian’s achievement didn’t receive the credit it deserved. There was always an asterisk mark against it.
But in 1969, the first full year of the Open Era, Laver, already an established great by then, was out to prove his doubters wrong.
When he arrived at the US Open which was known as the US National Championships before the Open Era, he was on a 23-game unbeaten run and had won all the three Grand Slams before.
He was the favourite to win at his favourite Grand Slam but it wasn’t easy for him to keep his focus. His wife was expecting a child and the due date was on the day of the US Open final.
But Laver revealed that he was asked by his wife Mary to focus on his job.
“Once Wimbledon ended, Mary returned to California...
