Editing Rod Laver (section)

=== Amateur (1956–62) ===
Laver was a teenager when he left school to pursue a tennis career that lasted 24 years. He was coached in [[Queensland]] by Charlie Hollis and later by the Australian [[Davis Cup]] team captain [[Harry Hopman]], who gave Laver the nickname "Rocket".

Laver was both Australian and US Junior champion in 1957. He had his breakthrough on the world stage in 1959, when he reached all three finals at [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]], winning the mixed doubles title with [[Darlene Hard]]. As an unseeded player, he lost the singles final to Peruvian [[Alex Olmedo]] after surviving an 87-game semifinal against American [[Barry MacKay (tennis)]]. His first major singles title was the [[Australian Open|Australian Championships]] in 1960, where he defeated fellow Australian [[Neale Fraser]] in a five-set final after coming back from two sets down and saving a Fraser championship point in the fourth set. Laver captured his first Wimbledon singles crown in 1961 beating [[Chuck McKinley]] in straight sets in the final, which lasted just 53 minutes (one of the shortest men's singles Wimbledon finals on record).<ref>{{cite web|title=The Tampa Bay Times, 8 July 1961|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/318157501|website=newspapers.com|date=8 July 1961|access-date=9 June 2020|archive-date=9 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609103155/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/318157501/|url-status=live}}</ref> Laver was ranked the world No. 1 amateur in 1961 by Lance Tingay.<ref name="USLTAEncyclopedia" />
[[File:Rod Laver signing autographs Dutch Championships 1962.jpg|thumb|left|Rod Laver signing autographs at the Dutch Championships in July 1962]]

In 1962, Laver became the first male player since [[Don Budge]] in 1938 to win all four [[Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam]] singles titles in the same year. He won an additional 18 titles, for a season total of 22.<ref name=garber /> Among those titles were the [[Rome Masters|Italian Championships]] and the [[Hamburg Masters|German Championships]], giving Laver the "clay court triple" of Paris, Rome, and Hamburg that had been achieved previously only by [[Lew Hoad]] in 1956. At the Australian championships, Laver beat [[Roy Emerson]] in the final.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 January 1962|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/121273031|website=newspapers.com|date=16 January 1962|access-date=9 June 2020|archive-date=9 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609103156/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/121273031/|url-status=live}}</ref> The biggest hurdle to Laver's winning the Grand Slam was the [[French Open|French Championships]] on slow clay, where Laver won three consecutive five-setters beginning with the quarterfinals. In his quarterfinal with [[Martin Mulligan]], Laver saved a matchpoint in the fourth set with a backhand volley after coming to the net behind a second serve. In the final, Laver lost the first two sets and was down 0–3 in the fourth set before coming back to defeat Emerson. At Wimbledon, his progress was much easier. Laver lost only one set the whole tournament, to [[Manuel Santana]] in a quarterfinal, who held a set point for a two set lead. In the final, Laver beat Mulligan in 52 minutes (a minute shorter than the previous year's final).<ref>{{cite web|title=The Hartford Courant, 7 July 1962|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/370897369|website=newspapers.com|date=7 July 1962|access-date=9 June 2020|archive-date=9 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609103150/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/370897369/|url-status=live}}</ref> At the [[US Open (tennis)|US Championships]], Laver lost only two sets during the tournament and defeated Emerson again in the final. Laver was ranked world number one amateur for 1962 by Tingay,{{sfnp|Collins|2016|p=758|ps=}} by Ned Potter<ref>{{cite web|title=The Greenville News, 24 October 1962|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/189045350/|website=newspapers.com|date=24 October 1962|access-date=16 December 2021|archive-date=25 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125234031/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/189045350/|url-status=live}}</ref> and by an Ulrich Kaiser panel of 13 experts.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=February 1963 |title=Letters To The Editor |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_tennis-illustrated_1963-02_10_9/page/2/ |magazine=World Tennis |location=New York |publisher= |volume=10 |issue=9 |page=2 |access-date=}}</ref>

In February 1963, Laver appeared on the panel game show ''[[To Tell the Truth]]'', where all four panelists identified him based on his knowledge of the history of tennis.<ref>{{cite web |title=To Tell the Truth Primetime Episode guide 1566–67 |url=http://www.ttttontheweb.com/ttttnighttimeguide.html |website="To Tell the Truth" On the Web |access-date=17 June 2016 |archive-date=1 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601011541/http://www.ttttontheweb.com/ttttnighttimeguide.html |url-status=live }}</ref>