How Old Is Rod Laver The Tennis Player?

Rod Laver is a retired tennis player who was born on August 9, 1938. He is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Introduction

Rodney George Laver MBE, better known as Rod Laver, is an Australian former tennis player. He was the No. 1 ranked professional tennis player in the world several times between 1964 and 1969. He is the only male player to have won all four Grand Slam singles titles in the same calendar year twice, in 1962 and 1969. He also won a record eleven Grand Slam singles titles between 1961 and 1969

Early Life and Career

Rodney George Laver MBE, better known as Rod Laver, is an Australian former tennis player widely regarded as one of the greatest in tennis history. He was the No. 1 ranked amateur tennis player in the world for 1961–62.

Laver was born on 9 August 1938 in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia, to Roy and Mavis Laver, née Wohead. He has an younger brother Carle ( nicknamed “Butch”). Laver grew up on a sheep and dairy farm without a road out the front, yet his family owned a piano and Laver learned to play by ear. By age five or six he was a competent player with a two-handed backhand.

Career
Laver was seventeen when he started playing tennis seriously. He won his first tournament in Hilversum in 1956 but lost in straight sets to Pancho González at Wimbledon in 1957 after having qualified to play there by winning the Australian Championships (now known as the Australasian Open). They played each other again at Wimbledon three weeks later with this time Laver winning in five sets before losing the Challenge Round (final) to Ashley Cooper.

Success didn’t come immediately for Rod, though; he lost first round matches at both Wimbledon and the Australian Championships for three years from 1958 through 1960 and didn’t make it past the quarter-finals at any Grand Slam event until his victory at Wimbledon in 1961

Major Achievements

Rod Laver was born on August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. During his amateur career, he won 11 Grand Slam singles titles and 2 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. He turned professional in 1963 and went on to win 7 more Grand Slam singles titles. In total, he has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, a record that stands to this day. Rod Laver retired from tennis in 1979 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1981.

Later Career and Retirement

Laver continued to play competitively until the early 1970s. His last professional tournament was in Brisbane in 1972. He won the event, defeating Ken Rosewall in the final. Laver then retired from competitive tennis at the age of 38.

In total, Laver won 129 singles titles and 7 doubles titles. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1981.

Laver has been married twice. His first wife, Mary Enterprise, whom he married in 1955, died tragically in a car accident in 1966. Laver subsequently married Mervyn Rose, a former tennis player and fellow Australian, in 1967. The couple had three children together: twins Roderick (who died shortly after birth) and Wendy (born 1968), and Deborah (born 1970).

Personal Life

Rod Laver was born on August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. He is the only child of Roy Laver, a cattleman, and his wife, Mavis. Laver was introduced to tennis by his father who signed him up for local competitions when he was six years old. At age eight he suffered from poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis), which kept him hospitalized for 12 months. After he recovered Laver continued to play tennis and soon became one of the best players in his age group in Australia.

Laver first came to prominence as a tennis player in 1956 when he won the Australian junior championship. That same year he turned professional and began playing on the international circuit. In 1960 Laver won his first Grand Slam singles title at the Wimbledon Championships. He went on to win Wimbledon again in 1961 and 1962. In 1962 Laver also won the French Open and became the first man in tennis history to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously (a feat known as a “Grand Slam”).

Laver continued to dominate tennis in the early 1960s, winning Wimbledon again in 1964 and 1969. He also won the Australian Open three times (in 1960, 1962, and 1969) and the U.S. Open once (in 1967). Laver retired from professional tennis in 1972 but made occasional comebacks throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. In 1992 he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Legacy

Rod Laver is a former professional tennis player from Australia who is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He was born on August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Queensland, and turned professional in 1960.

Laver’s career saw him win 11 Grand Slam singles titles and 22 Grand Slam doubles titles. He is one of only four players (along with Margaret Court, Roy Emerson, and Fred Perry) to have won all four Grand Slams in a single year, which he accomplished twice (in 1962 and 1969). He is also one of only two players (along with Ken Rosewall) to have won all four Grand Slams on three different surfaces (grass, clay, and hard court).

Laver retired from professional tennis in 1972, but he has continued to be involved in the sport through coaching and public appearances. In 1992, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In 2000, he was named by Tennis magazine as one of their “Players of the Century.”