When Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal meet in Melbourne on Sunday, the endless discussion of the announcers will again turn to the debate of who is the GOAT — Greatest of All Time.  Fitting, then, that the match will be played in Rod Laver Arena, named for the diminutive redhead with the powerful forearms and holder of the last true Grand Slam in the men’s tennis.  

The Rocket won the Australian, French, Wimbledon and U.S. Open in 1969, the second year of the Open Era, repeating the Grand Slam he won in 1962 as an amateur.  No man has won a calendar year Grand Slam since, and none have really even come close — Sampras, whose 14 individual Grand Slam record number of wins Federer can tie with a victory on Sunday, never even reached a French Open final. (The hoopla around Federer tying Sampras’ record is something of a sham since Laver, who won 11, missed 1963-1967 because he turned pro when only amateurs were allowed to compete in the slams.) Federer has reached the French final, but never won more than a set.  In fact, only one modern player has won the career Grand Slam, with Andre Agassi the only post-Laver player to do so.  But Laver won all four twice in the same year, and forty years ago he did it against all-comers – pros and amateurs alike. 

To his credit, Laver is very gracious, saying that the game was not as good in his day as it is now.  And three of the four slams then were played on grass and one on clay, unlike today’s mixture of two hard courts, one grass and one clay. But the fact is Laver did it, not once, but twice.  Until Federer or Sampras or someone else comes along and lofts all four championship trophies in the same calendar year, Laver will stand alone.

Related posts:

1. Greatest Tennis Player of All Time? Roger, Of Course, Despite the Fact I’ve Beaten Him 17 Times The GOAT discussion reached its most ludicrous point yesterday when...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.