Explained: Who is Rod Laver and why is the Laver Cup named after him?

FP Sports • September 23, 2022, 17:11:26 IST

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The Laver Cup was created in honour of Australia’s Rod Laver — one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

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Explained: Who is Rod Laver and why is the Laver Cup named after him?

Rodney George Laver was an Australian Tennis star, popularly called Rod Laver, whose professional Tennis career spanned a period of 16 years from 1963 to 1979. Laver was born in Australia’s Queensland in 1938. We take a look at his professional history, achievements, and why is one of the significant tournaments named after him. Professional Life of Rod Laver Laver started his amateur career in 1956 and turned professional in 1963 after winning the Davis Cup for the Australian team in 1962 — which was also his fourth Davis Cup win. Laver was one of those players who started his professional journey in the pre-Open era and saw the transition to the Open Era in 1968. Laver played on five different courts — grass, hard, clay, carpet, and wood and excelled on all of them.

What were Rod Laver’s achievements? Rod Laver won 11 major singles titles in his career — three Australian Open, two French Open, four Wimbledon titles, and two US Open titles. He is the only player to win a Calendar Slam (win all four major titles in the same calendar year) twice – in 1962 and 1969. Laver, like most players back in time, played doubles too and won six major titles in Men’s doubles as well as three in Mixed Doubles. Laver won 200 titles in his career, as the ATP has registered, which is the most in tennis history. Laver is one of the four male players in the history of the sport to win each major title twice in his career besides Roy Emerson, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal. Laver was a part of five Australian teams that won the Davis Cup — winning four consecutive tournaments from 1959 to 1962 and the fifth in 1973. Laver was an undisputed number 1 for a period of more than four years from 1965 to 1969. He also holds an all-time unique record of winning 10 or more titles in a year for seven straight years from 1964 to 1970. Laver also became the first Tennis player to surpass the amount of $10,00,000 prize money and was the all-time leading money winner till 1978. What honours were bestowed upon Rod Laver? Rod Laver was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of fame in 1981. Laver was also honoured with a bronze statue in Melbourne which was unveiled in 2017 ahead of the Australian Open. In January of 2016, the centre court of the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne, which is the main venue for the Australian Open was named as Rod Laver Arena. How is the Laver Cup played? The Laver Cup is a tournament played between Team Europe and Team World — which comprises tennis stars from other continents. The tournament was created and inaugurated in 2017. Roger Federer’s management company TEAM8, Brazil’s Jorge Paulo Lemann — a former Davis Cup player, and Tennis Australia came together to create the tournament. The tournament was the brainchild of Federer who was motivated to create a tournament similar to the Ryder Cup in Golf. Why was the tournament named after Rod Laver? The official Laver Cup website states that the tournament was created to honour the greatest player of the 20th century.