Roger Federer is a historian, says Rod Laver
In an interview to Tages Anzeiger, the Australian legend Rod Laver commented on the differences between past and modern tennis. 'When we were playing tennis it was a different world', Laver admitted. 'Now players are much more followed. I got four rackets that lasted for a year. A string set was enough for Wimbledon. If you hit the ball in the middle of the racket, it's pretty enough. And when the strings were moving, sometimes I fixed them with a bandage '
And then the shoes! "Every six months there was a new pair for me', he laughed. 'When I seen how many players use a pair for every match today, I ask myself if they run so much or if their shoes are not that good anymore.'
Laver thinks that he took the right decision in turning from amateur to professional: 'I could not allow myself to stay as an amateur. At the beginning of the professional level, I was struggling. They were much better. My idols were Lew Hoad, Pancho Gonzalez and Ken Rosewall. They gave me tough lessons. I lost to Hoad 13 times in a row. I was much better than my days as an amateur. It was the first time that all the four Grand Slams were open to professionals, and I told my wife that I wanted to face everyone. She said, Go forward, it's your career. When I was in Australia, she called me from our house in California and she told me she was pregnant. The birth was planned for the last day of US Open, which I think could bring me luck. First tennis - then family.'
Laver is looking forward to attending the Laver Cup in Geneva from 20 to 22 September. He praised Roger Federer's role into it: 'Roger is a historian. He wanted that all the results of the previous generations would not stay on the shadow and they discovered that my name was strong enough to represent all the former champions.'
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from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2G66xGa
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