Rod Laver

Rodney George "Rod" Laver (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) was born on August 9 of 1938. He is an Australian former tennis player who holds the record for most singles titles won in the history of tennis, with 200 career titles. He was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970 (from 1964 to 1967 in the professional circuit). He is the only tennis player to have twice won the Grand Slam (all four major singles titles in the same year) – first as an amateur in 1962 and second as a professional in 1969. He is the only male player and was the first player, male or female, to have won the Grand Slam during the open era (in 1988 Steffi Graf also achieved this feat). Laver won a total of twenty major tournaments, including eleven Grand Slam tournament titles and nine Pro Slam titles. In 1967, Laver also won the Professional Grand Slam. In addition he won nine Championship Series titles (1970–75) the precursors to the current Masters 1000. Laver won and excelled on all the surfaces of his time (grass, clay and wood/parquet), and was ranked as the best professional player in the world during the five-year period he was excluded from the Grand Slam tournaments Rod Laver is the second and last male player to win each major title twice in his career. Only Roy Emerson and Margaret Court had won all four Grand Slam tournaments twice before Laver in the history of tennis. Laver is regarded as one of the greatest tennis players yet seen. Within his slams there are also 6 in doubles and 3 in mixed doubles.

Country	Australia
Residence	Carlsbad, California, United States
Born	9 August 1938 Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	N/A
Turned pro	1962
Retired	1979
Plays	Left-handed; one-handed backhand
Career prize money	US$1,564,213   View ATP Profile