Rod Laver

Author: Rod Laver
Publisher: Triumph Books
ISBN: 1633194566
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 398

Book Description
Rod Laver's memoir is the inspiring story of how a diminutive, left-handed, red-headed country boy from Rockhampton, Australia became one of sports' greatest champions. Rod was a dominant force in world tennis for almost two decades, playing and defeating some of the greatest players of the twentieth century. In 1962, Rod became the second man to win the Grand Slam - that is, winning the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US titles in a single calendar year. In 1969, he won it again, becoming the only player ever to win the Grand Slam twice. Laver's book is a wonderfully nostalgic journey into Laver's path to stardom, from the early days of growing up in a Queensland country town in the 1950s, to breaking into the amateur circuit, to the extraordinary highs of Grand Slam victories. Away from on-court triumphs, Rod also movingly writes about the life-changing stroke he suffered in 1998, and of his beloved wife of more than 40 years, Mary, who died in 2012 after a long illness. Filled with anecdotes about the great players and great matches, set against the backdrop of a tennis world changing from rigid amateurism to the professional game we recognize today, Rod's book is a warm, insightful and fascinating account of one of tennis's all-time greats.

Rod Laver: A Memoir

Author: Rod Laver
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers Aus.
ISBN: 1743289898
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 452

Book Description
Rod Laver's memoir is the inspiring story of how a diminutive, left-handed, red-headed country boy from Rockhampton became one of Australia's greatest every sporting champions. Rod was a dominant force in world tennis for almost two decades, playing and defeating some of the greatest players of the twentieth century. In 1962, Rod became the second man to win the Grand Slam - that is, winning the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US titles in a single calendar year. In 1969 he won it again, becoming the only player ever to win the Grand Slam twice. His book is a wonderfully nostalgic journey into Australia's sporting past, from the early days of growing up in a Queensland country town in the 1950s, to breaking into the amateur circuit, to the extraordinary highs of Grand Slam victories. Away from on-court triumphs, Rod also movingly writes about the life-changing stroke he suffered in 1998, and of his beloved wife of more than 40 years, Mary, who died in 2012 after a long illness. Filled with anecdotes about the great players and great matches, set against the backdrop of a tennis world changing from rigid amateurism to the professional game we recognize today, Rod's book is a warm, insightful and fascinating account of a great sportsman and a great Australian.

The Golden Era

Author: Rod Laver
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1760872709
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 666

Book Description
From the 1950s to the 1970s, Australia was the world's tennis superpower, producing players who dominated amateur grand slam tournaments, the Davis Cup and the professional circuit, and none was more successful, famous or influential than Rod Laver, whose two singles Grand Slams - winning the Australian, French, Wimbledon and United States championships in a calendar year - have never been equalled. The Golden Era is Rod's deeply personal account of those great years. As a participant and eye-witness, he captures the excitement and drama of the great wins, and gives us genuine insight into the band of supremely talented Australian champions who balanced playing hard with a legendary sportsmanship. Written with all of Rod's peerless tennis knowledge, and including key interviews with Frank Sedgman, Ken Rosewall, the late Lew Hoad, Neale Fraser, Mal Anderson, Ashley Cooper, Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle, John Newcombe and Margaret Court, The Golden Era is the definitive story of the two decades of Australian tennis domination that will almost certainly never be repeated.

How to Play Winning Tennis: as Told to Jack Pollard

Author: Rodney George Laver
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description

The Education of a Tennis Player

Author: Rod Laver
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780942257625
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Original ed. published: New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971.

Tennis Maestros

Author: John Bercow
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1849547653
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Book Description
ROGER FEDERER. RAFAEL NADAL. NOVAK DJOKOVIC. At the highest echelons of tennis, a few names stand out. Dominating the rankings, these famous big hitters are unarguably among the finest players in the world, with multiple Grand Slams to their credit. But how do today's champions compare with those of earlier eras? From 'Big' Bill Tilden and Pancho Gonzalez to Rod Laver and Pete Sampras, who makes the grade as the greatest male singles player of all time? Better known as the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow has enjoyed a successful dual career in the tennis world as competitive junior player and qualified coach. Ideally placed to argue the merits of the maestros, in this fascinating guide he sets out to determine just who is the greatest of the greats. It is no easy task. Court surfaces and ball speeds have changed, racket technology has revolutionised the game, and trying to distinguish the best from the rest is as challenging as it is enjoyable. Drawing on published records of past glories, and offering his own analysis and reasoning, Bercow describes the accomplishments of twenty all-time tennis heroes and suggests a hall of fame from the unashamed vantage point of the lifelong enthusiast. Let the debate begin...

New York Magazine

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 64

Book Description
New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.

Tennis

Author: Greg Ruth
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 025205279X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 496

Book Description
Analyzing how tennis turned pro The arrival of the Open era in 1968 was a watershed in the history of tennis--the year that marked its advent as a professionalized sport. Merging wide-angle history with individual stories of players and off-the-court figures, Greg Ruth charts tennis’s evolution into the game we watch today. His vivid account moves from the cloistered world of nineteenth-century lawn tennis through the longtime amateur-professional divide and the battles over commercialization that raged from the 1920s until 1968. From there, Ruth details the post-1968 expansion of the game as it was transformed by bankable superstars, a popular women’s tour, rival governing bodies, and sponsorship money. What emerges is a fascinating history of the economics and politics that made tennis a decisive, if unlikely, force in the creation of modern-day sports entertainment. Comprehensive and engaging, Tennis tells the interlocking stories of the figures and factors that birthed the professional game.

Pete Sampras: Greatness Revisited

Author: Steve Flink
Publisher: New Chapter Press
ISBN: 9781937559946
Category : Tennis players
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
In this career biography of Sampras, the author recaptures the magic of the man, recalling the supreme hold he had on his era, bringing this isngulary gifted player vividly back to life.

Arthur Ashe

Author: Raymond Arsenault
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 1439189056
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 784

Book Description
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK A “thoroughly captivating biography” (The San Francisco Chronicle) of American icon Arthur Ashe—the Jackie Robinson of men’s tennis—a pioneering athlete who, after breaking the color barrier, went on to become an influential civil rights activist and public intellectual. Born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1943, by the age of eleven, Arthur Ashe was one of the state’s most talented black tennis players. He became the first African American to play for the US Davis Cup team in 1963, and two years later he won the NCAA singles championship. In 1968, he rose to a number one national ranking. Turning professional in 1969, he soon became one of the world’s most successful tennis stars, winning the Australian Open in 1970 and Wimbledon in 1975. After retiring in 1980, he served four years as the US Davis Cup captain and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985. In this “deep, detailed, thoughtful chronicle” (The New York Times Book Review), Raymond Arsenault chronicles Ashe’s rise to stardom on the court. But much of the book explores his off-court career as a human rights activist, philanthropist, broadcaster, writer, businessman, and celebrity. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ashe gained renown as an advocate for sportsmanship, education, racial equality, and the elimination of apartheid in South Africa. But from 1979 on, he was forced to deal with a serious heart condition that led to multiple surgeries and blood transfusions, one of which left him HIV-positive. After devoting the last ten months of his life to AIDS activism, Ashe died in February 1993 at the age of forty-nine, leaving an inspiring legacy of dignity, integrity, and active citizenship. Based on prodigious research, including more than one hundred interviews, Arthur Ashe puts Ashe in the context of both his time and the long struggle of African-American athletes seeking equal opportunity and respect, and “will serve as the standard work on Ashe for some time” (Library Journal, starred review).