The 1960s and '70s was an era of Australian tennis giants - Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle, Neale Fraser, Lew Hoad, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall - but Rod Laver stood head and shoulders above them all. A diminutive, left-handed, red-headed country boy from Rockhampton, Rod Laver is one of Australia's greatest ever sporting champions and arguably the best tennis player the world has ever seen. He is the only male player to have won the Grand Slam - all four major titles in the same calendar year - in the Open era, and he is the only player to have won two Grand Slams. He was the dominant force in world tennis for almost two decades, playing and defeating some of the greatest players of the 20th century. Rod Laver writes vividly of his life, from the early days growing up in a Queensland country town, playing on makeshift backyard courts, to breaking into the amateur circuit and eventually the professional realm. He also writes movingly about the stroke he suffered in 1998, and of his beloved wife of more than 40 years, Mary, who died last year after a long illness.
Rod Laver's memoir is a wonderfully nostalgic journey into Australia's sporting past, filled with anecdotes about the great players and great matches, set against the backdrop of a tennis world changing from rigid amateurism to the professional game we recognise today.
Author Biography
Rodney George "Rod" Laver MBE was born in Rockhampton in 1938, the same year that American Donald Budge completed the first Grand Slam. Rod holds the record for the most singles titles won in the history of tennis - with more than 200 career titles - and was the second man to win the Grand Slam in 1962. In 1969 he won the Grand Slam again, becoming the only male player to have won the Grand Slam in the open era. Rod remains the only player, male or female, to have claimed two Grand Slams - once as an amateur and once as a professional. He was ranked World No.1 for seven years in a row and is the last male player to have won every major twice. By the end of the 1960s he was regarded as the best tennis player in the world. In January 2000, the epicentre of Australian tennis, centre court at Melbourne Park, was named Rod Laver Arena in his honour. Rod currently lives in Carlsbad, California.
