INTRODUCTION The world’s best tennis players are wizards with rackets Yet their grit and guts might be even more impressive 4
Tennis is an unforgiving game Matches are long The weather can be extreme And on the court all eyes are focused on just two or four players It takes amazing agility power stamina and mental strength to excel in tennis Those who do become stars And those who can win in the Grand Slams the Australian Open the French Open the US Open and Wimbledon become legends Here are some of the greatest tennis players of all time 5
ROD LAVER 6Rod Laver raised the Wimbledon trophy four times in his stellar career The date was September 10 1962 The place was Forest Hills New York The event was the men’s final at the US Championships the precursor to the US Open The two best tennis players in the world were showing off their talents But Rod Laver was making better shots than fellow Australian Roy Emerson Emerson was the defending champion But he had no chance Laver hit the ball so hard that Emerson barely had time to react The left-hander broke Emerson’s serve to open the fourth set and cruised to victory When it was over Laver tossed his racket in the air and smiled It might have been his first smile since the tournament had begun
