Laver would welcome Djokovic to calendar Grand Slam ‘club’
SAN DIEGO – If Novak Djokovic wins the U.S. Open two weeks from now to complete the first calendaryear Grand Slam in men's tennis since 1969, “Rocket” Rod Laver will be there to welcome him into a remarkably exclusive group.
“I'd be very happy to shake his hand if he can win the four Slams. I'd be happy for him to be a part of – whether it's a ‘club' or not, I don't know,” Laver said with a chuckle during a recent interview with The Associated Press.
No man has won the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open in the same season since the slightly built, red-haired, left-handed Australian did it for the second time – yes, second – 52 years ago.
The decades have rolled along, and Laver – who also completed a true Grand Slam as an amateur in 1962 – and Don Budge, who did it in 1938, remain the only men to accomplish the greatest feat in tennis.
– Wire reports