“Perhaps you can be a sourpuss and hurl your racket about. There are a lot of players who agree with you. “I didn’t,” said Rod Laver.
“Perhaps you can be a sourpuss and hurl your racket about. There are a lot of players who agree with you. “I didn’t,” said Rod Laver. The only player in tennis history to win all four majors in the same calendar year (Rod Laver, who did so in 1962 and 1969) was the beneficiary of Roger Federer’s retirement announcement.
The debate over who is the best player of all time will continue to rage; Federer believes that Laver, at 84, is “the greatest of all time.”
Federer had said, “Thank you for always being there,” to the person he sincerely revered. After a decade or more of friendship, he named the team event he envisioned after Laver, on whose shoulder he had shed tears when he won the 2006 Australian Open.
Interview
According to an interview posted on telegraph.co.uk, Rod Laver, who was present to see Roger Federer conclude his career at O2 Arena, and cry us the Thames, said that the two superstars struck it off immediately.
He told telegraph.co.uk, “I’m happy that he feels that way about prior champions.” The instant we met, Roger and I clicked; we were both looking for a friendship like this.
To this day, I can vividly recall our initial encounter because of how open he is as a person. My former competitor Tony Roche had been instructing Roger on proper volleying techniques.
In spite of the fact that Tony was still primarily a baseliner, he increasingly felt the need to get closer to the net in order to score.
Although he agreed that we should be introduced, Roger was too overcome with emotion during the trophy ceremony in Melbourne for us to meet. What has happened since then is truly remarkable.
Statement
Retiring was a calm process for Laver himself back in the day. “I don’t think too many people retire that way,” Laver says. When I was 38 years old, I played Bjorn Borg.
Though I didn’t make any formal announcements, it was clear that my time at the company was winding down. As Roger looked back on his long and fruitful career, he realized he needed a moment when he could say, “OK, that’s enough.”
Remarks
“Rod handles himself with a charming humility,” Federer said in the foreword to Rod’s memoir.
This is why he found Jimmy Connors so irritating, and why he finally snapped during a match against Ilie Nastase in the mid-’70s when Nastase called Laver “old man” across the net, with telegraph notes indicating that Laver exploded, telling Nastase, “You’re a disgrace. I will never face you in competition again.
In the same interview, Laver would joke about another lavish tribute that had surprised him. He was initially taken aback when, at the ripe old age of 60, the Australian Open honored him by naming their primary show court after him. I thought they were making fun of me.
Being a native of Queensland necessitated further permission from the state of Victoria. “At that point, I realized this was becoming far more significant than I had anticipated,” he explained.
Another similarity between Federer and himself is that they both grew up in a tennis bubble were simply striking the ball the way they did was sufficient.
Declarations
Having packaging around was unnecessary. “I let my racket do the talking,” he told Telegraph.co.uk. I didn’t think it was necessary to introduce myself to strangers.
I recently practiced hitting tennis balls. Roger is somewhat similar. He’s just a fan who plays for fun. You can tell because of the dedication he shows in practicing a single technique again until he masters it. In a similar vein, I went and did the same thing.
The timing was key when using his Dunlop Maxply. That’s why I was able to succeed in amateur competitions.
Not many people have the skill to effectively use a wooden racket. I kept at it, and before long, I was using topspin effectively. You can forget about winning Wimbledon with a slice backhand, my coach Charlie Hollis warned me.
The ball must be given topspin, and you must learn how to do this. Those bumps in the road were educational. To my knowledge, no other left-handers have mastered the topspin backhand. The experience elevated me to a new plateau. In 1962, he will win all four majors and 18 other tournaments.
A nice man amongst brats
He was also uninterested in school and schoolboy activities like racquet smashing, which may have been due to his early interest in tennis.
I did it for the pure enjoyment of the game,” he reflected. You didn’t know anything about Ilie, but he was an incredible player. Did he take pleasure in tennis when he was younger?
What you see here is the source of your cosmetics. Sure, you can be a sourpuss and hurl your racket around. There are a lot of players who agree with you. There were only two of us, so we didn’t.
Earlier this year, Laver expressed his disappointment that Nick Kyrgios “would never learn.” However, Kyrgios’ unexpected run to the Wimbledon final caused him to reevaluate his first thoughts.
“Kyrgios has every skill in the world, every shot you could ever hope to make. He is very likely the largest server in the game.”
He’s a steady hand, and he plays well under pressure. I was quite happy for him that he made it to the final, but he didn’t believe he could win Wimbledon. Put up your best show, I told myself. You could even shock yourself. You can win some of these matches,’ I told him a month or two later. ‘Man, why don’t you put in the effort?’
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