Concentration on the Court

In tennis, the feat is so unusual that the borrowed term feels unfamiliar on the lips: grand slam. It means successive victories in the Australian, French, Wimbledon and U.S. championships in a single season, and it was first accomplished by Don Budge in 1938. No one could do it again until 1962, when a nimble, lean (5 ft. 9 in., 155 Ibs.) left-hander from Australia named Rod Laver swept the four tournaments.

Even then, it was considered a bit of a fluke. Said Promoter Jack Kramer: "When Laver turns pro, he's going to get beaten just like every other amateur champion who turned pro." Sure enough, Laver lost 19 of his first 21 pro matches. Even when he began to win consistently, he played in the shadow of his countryman, Ken Rosewall.

Laver no longer stands in anyone's shadow. In fact, at 31, "the Rocket" (as Laver is persistently called) dominates his game more completely than any other athlete in the world. Laver proved that last week in the quagmire of the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills, N.Y. Playing his distinctively cool, calculating game, he overwhelmed another Australian, Tony Roche, 7-9, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, to win the U.S. Open championship and thereby stash an unprecedented second grand slam into his tucker bag. His victory earned him $16,000 in prize money and brought his winnings for the year to $106,030. He became the only tennis pro ever to win more than $100,000 in a single season.

Laver was hardly a shoo-in. Driving rains interrupted play and turned the venerable club's tournament into a slippery game of chance. As Roche advanced toward the finals, Laver's luck looked even less assured. In matches earlier this year, Roche defeated Laver five out of seven times. Roche is seven years younger than Laver and, at 5 ft. 10 in., 175 Ibs., considerably stronger.

Psychological Difference. "Concentration" is fast becoming a sports column cliche, but it is the best word the tennis world has found to sum up the psychological difference between one finely trained, fundamentally expert player and another. Says Pancho Gonzales: "Rod is the most disciplined of them all. What I admire most about him is his determination and concentration. He just wears you down."

Laver did just that in the championship match. Throughout the first set --which was delayed for 1 hr. 35 min. while a helicopter tried to dry out the soggy grass--Laver and Roche gingerly tested each other. They broke each other's serves an astonishing seven times. After the ninth game Rod calmly paused to switch to spiked shoes, fully aware that adjustment to the shift would probably cost him the set. It did. But in the second set Laver settled into a flawless groove. He broke Roche's spirit by consistently parrying his powerful serve, glided swiftly over the court to fire winner after winner past an opponent whose concentration collapsed into a desperate scramble. In just 113 minutes, Laver won his seventeenth tournament and 30th consecutive match of the season.

In the tightly structured society of tennis, which still sniffs slightly at the game's new commercialism, Laver is an unabashed professional. Picking up his $16,000 check, Laver said, "I'm thrilled to have won another grand slam, but I have to say that the money is the big thing." Said Roche, hopefully: "Maybe all that money will slow him down a little." Hardly. Since Laver still has three years remaining on his fiveyear, $450,000 contract with the National Tennis League, it is likely that the king will continue to concentrate on the court for some time to come.

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