Word: lavers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
They weren't the only stars rooting for Federer. At his home in California, Australian tennis legend Rod Laver, who won 11 Grand Slam titles in the 1960s, set his alarm for 5 a.m. to watch the match. Not far away in Los Angeles, Sampras rolled out of bed in time to catch Federer's winning shot, and then tell journalists that he believes that the Swiss player should now be considered the greatest ever. Woods was at home with his wife, "yelling at the TV, the whole deal...
...best? Laver, Sampras and other greats such as Andre Agassi think so. And yet. World No. 1 Rafael Nadal is in horse-racing terms Federer's "bug boy" - so called because of the "bug," or asterisk, that he places next to Federer's achievements. Federer has a 7-13 losing record against Nadal, including losses in five of the seven Grand Slam finals the pair have contested. Federer won the French Open without having to face the Spaniard, who suffered a shock defeat in the fourth round. And when he returns to Wimbledon's grass, his favorite surface, on June...
...evolve, or whether he will gain the upper hand in his rivalry with Nadal, and prove himself beyond doubt the greatest of all time. Does it matter? As an athlete, Federer participates in an arena in which greatness is fleeting and in which time eventually levels all. Perhaps Laver, now 70, says it best, "I just love to watch Roger hit the shots. I just enjoy the spectacle." While it is still fresh, we should savor the memory of those beautiful shots: the ball rising from the clay to Federer's racket, the great man seemingly lifted into flight...
...Read a Q & A: Tennis great Rod Laver Read a Q & A: Whiskey, a Travelogue
...final. I was in the stands, and in the back of my head I said to myself, "I want to try that, I want to win the Slam." But it wasn't anything to do with the record books, really. In 1969 [the second year in which Laver won the Slam], what really motivated me was just the thrill of being back at Wimbledon and these other great tournaments...