Rod Laver - Place Among The All-time Great Tennis Players

Place Among The All-time Great Tennis Players

The members of the press, notably Lance Tingay of the Daily Telegraph, issued subjective rankings for amateur players before the start of the open era and for all players after the start of that era. Laver was ranked by the press as the World No. 1 player in 1961 and 1962 (as an amateur) and in 1968 and 1969 (as a professional).

According to the article, Bill Tilden was the best player for seven years and Pancho Gonzales for eight years. 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.

Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter, ranked Laver only in the "second echelon" of great players, just behind the six best. He writes that although Laver was "absolutely unbeatable for a year or two late in the 1960s", a "careful comparison" could be made between Laver and the somewhat older Gonzales and that Kramer is "positive that Gonzales could have beaten Laver regularly." Kramer's main argument for downgrading Laver is that, "Ken Rosewall beat Laver in those two World Championship of Tennis finals and that was a title Laver really wanted." Kramer sees as evidence of Gonzales's superiority over Laver the fact that Gonzales defeated Laver in a U.S.$10,000 winner-take-all, five-set match before 15,000 spectators in New York City's Madison Square Garden in January 1970, when Gonzales was 41 years old and Laver was still considered the World No. 1 player. On the other hand, Gonzales was still a top ten player when this match occurred and Laver subsequently won this event, beating Gonzales in a straight sets semifinal. Overall, his head-to-head-record with Gonzales was either 35–19 or 38–21 in favour of Laver, depending on the source. Laver was 12–5 against Gonzales during the open era, although Gonzales was then in his late 30s.

Many experts disagree with Kramer's assessment of Laver. For example, Dan Maskell, John Barrett, Joe McCauley, Ted Schroeder, and Tony Trabert and John McEnroe rank Laver as the best of all time. Schroeder has been quoted by Alan Trengove as saying, "You take all the criteria – longevity, playing on grass and clay, amateur, professional, his behaviour, his appearance – in all criteria, Laver's the best player of all time." Trabert said in January 2008, "I still maintain that Rod Laver is the best player who ever played the game because he's done something no one has ever done in the 120 or 140-year history of our sport: he won the Grand Slam as an amateur and he won the Grand Slam as a pro. If someone in some other sport held a world record no one else had, you would say that person was the best in that sport. So in my view, you've got to say Laver is the best player of all time." Similarly, the tennis author Peter Bodo wrote in May 2008, "Give him credit? Shoot, the only real issue is whether the GOAT argument is a debate at all, given that posting those two Slams puts Laver in a league of his own." Other experts cite the fact that during his amateur, touring professional, and open era careers, Laver won a record 184 singles titles. He also holds the record for most titles won in a single year during the amateur era (22 in 1962), during the touring pro era (19 in 1967), and during the open era (18 in 1969). After turning professional in 1963, Laver won the U.S. Pro Championships five times and the Wembley Pro Championship four times between 1964 and 1967 (plus two more times in 1969 and 1970 when the event was known as the "British Covered Court Championships"). In 1967, Laver won a "Professional Grand Slam" by winning all four of the major professional tournaments: the U.S. Pro Championships, the Wembley Pro Championships, the French Pro Championship, and the Wimbledon Pro.

Laver came out on top in various experts polls for the best of all time. In 1986, the US magazine Inside Tennis polled 37 experts, which resulted in a computerised tournament. Laver ranked first on this list ahead of John McEnroe, Don Budge, Kramer, Björn Borg, Gonzales, Tilden, Jimmy Connors, Fred Perry, and Lew Hoad. In a poll by the Associated Press in 2000, Laver was voted "The Male Tennis Player of the Century", ahead of Pete Sampras, Tilden, Borg, Budge, McEnroe and Hoad (tied), Rosewall and Roy Emerson (tied), and Kramer. In an article in Tennis Week in 2007, the tennis historian Raymond Lee statistically analysed the all-time best players. Laver topped his list ahead of Tilden and Borg (tied), Roger Federer, Gonzales, Rosewall, Budge, Ivan Lendl, Connors, Sampras, McEnroe, and Kramer.

In 1989, Bud Collins wrote, "I remain unconvinced that there ever was a better player than Rod Laver". Thirteen years later, however, as editor of the massive "Total Tennis, The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia", Collins was more guarded. He wrote on page 693 that Laver would "be known as possibly the greatest player ever." On page 673, Collins said that Gonzales was "probably as good as anyone who ever played the game, if not better." And on page 749, Collins called Tilden "perhaps the greatest player of them all." In an August 2006 article for MSNBC, Collins ranked Laver as one of the five top men's tennis stars of all time, along with Tilden, Gonzales, Borg, and Sampras. He pointed to Tilden's "phenomenal .938 winning percentage", said "If I had to choose someone to play for my life it would be Pancho Gonzalez", praised Borg's uncanny transition from the French Open to Wimbledon, cited Sampras's "assault on the citadels of the past", and called Laver "in my eyes, the greatest player ever".

In 1973, the ATP's computer rankings were established. Laver attained his highest ranking on that computer of World No. 3 in 1974. Laver's highest year-end ranking by the ATP was World No. 4 in 1974. Laver semi-retired from the main professional tennis tour in 1975 while still being ranked in the top 10.

In terms of yearly prize money won, Laver was the leader from 1964 until 1971.

The number of tournament singles titles that Laver won during his career varies depending on the source. The ATP credits Laver with 40 open era titles in ATP sanctioned events. Other sources, like "Total Tennis: The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia" (edited by Bud Collins), give him 47 or 54 titles during the open era alone. Collins credits him with 184 titles in amateur, professional, and open competition, without listing them in detail.

Laver's eleven Grand Slam singles titles currently place him tied with Borg and Rafael Nadal for fourth place on the all-time list. Only Sampras, Emerson, and Roger Federer have won more Grand Slam singles titles. Laver also won eight Major doubles titles. Laver is the only player to have twice won all four Grand Slam singles tournaments during the same calendar year although 3 of the 4 Grand Slams were played on grass at the time – the Australian Open, US Open, and Wimbledon. Because none of the Majors were played on hardcourts in Laver's era (both the US Open and Australian Opens were played on grass), Laver never won a Grand Slam tournament on hardcourt; this is quite different from the modern landscape, where half of the year's Majors are played on hardcourts. Only five players have won Major titles on clay, grass and hardcourts: Jimmy Connors, Mats Wilander, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the only players in history to have simultaneously held Grand Slam tournament titles on the three surfaces.

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. Great are also Laver's performances on hardcourt and on carpet from 1968 onwards (even better than those of Sampras).