Word: laver
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Dill openly allowed as how he was. So did the 6,000 spectators, who were treated to a dazzling display of ground-stroke techniques in the prolonged rallies encouraged by the longer, slower serves. And so did the rest of the pros, particularly redheaded Rod ("Rocket") Laver, who beat Fellow Australian Ken Rosewall, 31-29, to take home top money of $6,321-"the biggest check I ever won." The Laver-Rosewall match was a triumph for VASSS: a furious, cliffhanging battle between the two most accomplished shotmakers in tennis today. Best of all, it lasted exactly...
Romping around on this modern surface at the Garden was an equally advanced set of tennis players. There was California's rangy Pancho Gonzales, trying for a comeback at the ripe age of 37, and the current Wunderkind of the pro circuit, Australia's Rod ("Rocket") Laver, 27, biggest money winner ($65,495) in 1965. Finally, there was slight (5 ft. 7 in.), polite Ken Rosewall, also an Australian and evidently a has-been at 31, since Laver had pushed him off the top of the heap last year. In the quarterfinals, Gonzales gave Rosewall something to think...
That made the finals a case of the missile v. the computer, the Rocket's violent volleys against the subtle shotmaking of Rosewall. Pinking the sideline markers with precision, forcing Laver to weave back and forth across the green like a wayward Agena, Rosewall pulled off an upset, winding up with a straight set victory of 6-3, 6-3. "Just a shot here and there," he said in gentlemanly fashion. "Besides, Laver missed more than he usually does...
...surprise, Laver found himself Number Zero: he lost 19 of his first 21 pro matches. No. 1 from 1961 to 1964 was Ken Rosewall. Laver had to modify his game-serve deeper and harder, cut down his backswing on volleys. "In the pros," says Rod, "you can't play a bad game. Amateurs are concerned only with winning the match. With the pros, it's how many points you win by. They determine how you're seeded for the next tournament...
Growing pains did not keep Laver from winning his share on the tour: $50,000 in 1963, $40,000 last year. Now the Rocket is really off the pad. Last week at Manhattan's 71st Regiment Armory, he needed just 41 minutes to polish off Gonzales 6-3, 6-1, to win his fourth victory in six tournaments, boost his 1965 winnings to $15,500-tops on the tour. Admitted Rosewall grimly: "I lie awake nights, staring at the ceiling...