In 1967, Laver also won the Professional Grand Slam.

Laver was also the runner-up to Ken Rosewall in the first French Open.

Laver also won the last big open event of the year, the Pacific Southwest in Los Angeles on hard courts.

Laver had also many battles with Lew Hoad in his first years on the pro circuit 1963 – 1966.

While Laver was indisputably the best player from 1965 through 1969, the article asserts that Laver had a valid claim for the top spot also for 1964 and 1970.

Previous observations change substantially if we also consider professional grand slam majors, which were played on three different surfaces ( clay, grass and wood / parquet ), and wherein Laver, like Rosewall, excelled.

Corporal Laver and Marine Mills were also recommended for the DSM which at the time could not be awarded posthumously, so instead they were mentioned in dispatches.

Robert Roy of L ' Équipe, Kléber Haedens and Philippe Chatrier of Tennis de France, Michel Sutter ( who has published " Vainqueurs 1946 – 1991 Winners "), Christian Boussus ( 1931 Roland Garros amateur finalist ), Peter Rowley, Robert Geist, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe, Rod Laver and also the New York Times and World Tennis magazine considered Rosewall as the new no.

At the end of the South African tour, Rosewall also beat Laver 6 – 4 6 – 1 6 – 4 in a Challenge Match considered by some as a World Championship match, held in Ellis Park, Johannesburg.

Judith Elian of the French sports paper L ' Équipe, approved these statistics by ranking Rosewall as the number one player ahead of Newcombe and the panel of experts for the ' Martini and Rosso ' Cup also had Rosewall first, narrowly over Laver.

Because it was sponsored by Dunlop in 1971, all the World Championship Tennis ( WCT ) players ( including the ancient National Tennis League players since spring 1970 ) entered ( John Newcombe, Rosewall, Rod Laver, Tony Roche, Tom Okker, Arthur Ashe ( a WCT player since the beginning of the year ) and so on ) and some independent pros also played.

Courier also became the first player since Rod Laver to reach the finals of the Australian, French and Wimbledon in the same season ; the feat was not matched until 2006 by Roger Federer.

He also enjoyed particular success in 1970, again reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon, where he achieved a big upset win over defending champion Rod Laver en route, and the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

Roche grew up playing in Australia under the tutelage of Harry Hopman, who also coached other Australian tennis players such as Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall.

Rod Laver Arena was also the site of the first ever " outdoor " pro basketball game in Australia when the Magic hosted the Adelaide 36ers on 31 December 1997 with the roof open.

The largest basketball crowd at Rod Laver Arena was set in 1996 when 15, 366 attended a local derby game between the Magic and Tigers while the 1996 NBL Grand Final series, also between the Magic and Tigers, saw the NBL's largest ever single game Grand Final crowd when 15, 064 watched the Magic defeat the Tigers 88-84 in game two of the three game series.

Rod Laver Arena also holds the record aggregate crowd for an NBL Grand Final series when 43, 605 saw the three game series between the Tigers and the winning SE Melbourne Magic in 1992.

He also reached the final of the Australian Open in 1969, losing to Rod Laver in three sets.

He also captured the doubles title in Barcelona that year when he teamed with L. Hoad to defeat R. Laver / A.

The crowd also stands as the largest NBL Grand Final crowd away from Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

Laver's firm, Fuller and Laver, also designed the East and West blocks of Ottawa's Parliament Buildings.

Billie Jean King won £ 750 for taking the title while Rod Laver won £ 2, 000.

Others include: Rod Laver who won the Grand Slam in 1969 ; Mats Wilander won the Australian, French and US Open in 1988 ; Roger Federer won the Australian, Wimbledon and US Open in 2004, 2006 and 2007 ; Rafael Nadal won the French, Wimbledon, and US Open in 2010 ; and Novak Djokovic won the Australian, Wimbledon, and US Open in 2011.

Connors won all three meetings with Rod Laver in tour events.

Rodney George " Rod " Laver MBE ( born 9 August 1938 ) is an Australian former tennis player who holds the record for most singles titles won in the history of tennis, with 200 career titles.

Laver won a total of twenty major tournaments, including eleven Grand Slam tournament titles and nine Pro Slam titles.

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.

Only Roy Emerson and Margaret Court had won all four Grand Slam tournaments twice before Laver in the history of tennis.

In 1962, Laver became only the second male player after Don Budge in 1938 to win all four Grand Slam singles titles in the same year and won an additional 17 titles.

The biggest hurdle to Laver's winning the Grand Slam was the French Championships on slow clay, where Laver won three consecutive five-setters beginning with the quarterfinals.

During the next seven years, Laver won the U. S. Pro Championships five times, including four in a row beginning in 1966.

Hoad won the first 8 matches against Laver, and Rosewall won 11 out of 13.

In 1964, Laver and Rosewall both won seven important titles ( in minor tournaments Laver won four and Rosewall won three ), but Laver won 15 of 19 matches against Rosewall and captured the two most prestigious titles, the U. S. Pro Championships over Gonzales and the Wembley Pro Championship over Rosewall.

In ten finals, Laver won eight against the still dangerous Gonzales.

In 1966, Laver won 16 events, including the U. S. Pro Championships, the Wembley Pro Championship, and eight other important tournaments.

His exclusion from the French Open may have prevented him from becoming the first man player since Rod Laver to win all four Major singles titles in a calendar year.

In 1973, professionals were permitted to play in the Davis Cup for the first time, and Laver was on a winning team for the fifth time, claiming two singles and a doubles rubber in the final as Australia beat the United States 5 – 0.

In 1970 Pilić won the men's doubles title at the US Open together with his French partner Pierre Barthès by defeating the Australians John Newcombe and Rod Laver in four sets.

In 1974, Connors became the second male in the open era to win three or more Grand Slam singles titles in a calendar year ( Rod Laver being the first in 1969 and having been joined since by Mats Wilander, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic ).

Among those titles were the Italian Championships and the German Championships, giving Laver the " clay court triple " of Paris, Rome, and Hamburg that had been achieved previously only by Lew Hoad in 1956.

By the end of the year, however, with six tournament titles, Laver had become the No. 2 professional player behind Rosewall.

In 1965, Laver was clearly the No. 1 professional player, winning 17 titles and 13 of 18 matches against Rosewall.

In 1967, Laver won 19 titles, including the Wimbledon Pro, the U. S. Pro Championships, the Wembley Pro Championship, and the French Pro Championship, which gave him a clean sweep of the most important professional titles, a professional Grand Slam.

Laver proved his versatility by winning the Grand Slam tournaments on grass and clay, plus the two most important hard court titles ( South African Open at Ellis Park, Johannesburg and the U. S. Professional Championships at Boston ) and the leading indoor tournaments ( Philadelphia U. S. Pro Indoor and Wembley British Indoor ).

In 1970, Laver won 15 titles and US $ 201, 453 in prize money, including the rich " Tennis Champions Classic " and five other big events ( Sydney Dunlop Open, Philadelphia, Wembley, Los Angeles, South African Open ).

Wimbledon champion Newcombe, U. S. champion Rosewall, and Laver ( who won the most titles and had a 3 – 0 win-loss record against Newcombe and a 5 – 0 record against Rosewall ) were ranked the highest by different journalists and expert panels.

In 1975, Laver set a record for WCT tournaments by winning four titles and 23 consecutive matches but in 1976, Laver semi-retired from the main tour, playing only a few selected events.

Laver won a record 45 open titles after he turned 30 years old.