Word: laver
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...first lesson Rod ("Rocket") Laver had to learn when he quit amateur tennis and turned pro in 1963 was respect for his elders. The cocky, carrot-topped Aussie lefthander, then 24, was far from awed by the likes of Pancho Gonzales and Ken Rosewall. After all, he was the first player since Don Budge in 1938 to achieve a grand slam of tennis' four top tournaments-the Australian, French, Wimbledon and U.S. championships. Experts marveled at his vicious ground strokes and slashing serve, his unique ability to cock his wrist at the last instant to put topspin or underspin...
...Better than Budge," said famed Coach Mercer Beasley-and who was Rod to argue when he was guaranteed $110,000 to play with the pros? "If you really want the satisfaction of knowing how good you can be," Laver explained, "you've got to pit yourself against guys like Rosewall and Gonzales. My ambition is to become No. 1-and stay there as long as possible...
...shot, and he drew a four-month suspension from the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association when he angrily heaved his racket into the stands during a 1960 Davis Cup match in Australia. In 1961 McKinley fought his way into the Wimbledon finals, only to lose to Australia's Rod Laver...
...Australia: the Davis Cup, for the eleventh time in the last 13 years, by trimming Mexico, 5-0, on Brisbane's Milton Courts. Lefthanders Rod Laver and Neale Fraser each won two singles matches; Laver teamed with Roy Emerson to defeat Mexico's Rafael Osuna and Antonio Palafox in a straight-sets doubles match that lasted only 70 min. At the closing ceremony, Mexican Captain Pancho Contreras wistfully fondled the Davis Cup, announced that his team would be back to try again. Yelled one Down Under fan, bored with yet another victory: "I hope you bloody well...
...After Laver's victory, there were the inevitable comparisons with Budge. Granting the general dolor of tennis today, Coach Mercer Beasley, at 80 the judge-historian of amateur tennis, says: "Laver has more equipment than Budge ever had. He would have beaten Budge." Professional Promoter Jack Kramer, who as an amateur got halfway to a grand slam in 1947, takes a somewhat cooler view: "Right now he's not in Budge's class. Sedgman, Gonzales, Hoad, Rosewall, Segura, even Trabert, who's 32, could beat Laver. When Laver turns pro, he's going...