Next month’s Australian Open will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Rod Laver’s Grand Slam achievement when the Australian tennis great will be reunited with the four players he beat in the Grand Slam finals of 1969, organizers said yesterday.
Laver’s achievement of twice winning the Grand Slam of the French, Wimbledon, US and Australian crowns in one calendar year in 1962 and 1969 remains unmatched in men’s tennis.
The “Rockhampton Rocket,” who made a good recovery from a stroke that he suffered 10 years ago, will be reunited with the four players he beat in the four Slam finals — Spaniard Andres Gimeno (Australian Open), and Australians Ken Rosewall (French Open), John Newcombe (Wimbledon) and Tony Roche (US Open).
All five tennis greats will get together for a special panel chat about their roles in tennis history at a luncheon on Jan. 31 during the 2009 Australian Open, organizers said.
Gimeno, 71, whose French Open triumph at Roland Garros at the age of 35 makes him the oldest player to win a Grand Slam final, is travelling from Barcelona for the event.
Rosewall, Roche and Newcombe are all legends of Australian tennis with 60 Grand Slam titles between them, 16 of them in singles.
The Australian Open, which takes place in Melbourne from Jan. 19 to Feb. 1, has named its main show court the Rod Laver Arena.
Additional reporting by staff writer
American rugby sevens star Ilona Maher is to join 15-a-side club Bristol next month in a bid to play in next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English club announced on Monday. Maher, 28, helped the US to a bronze medal at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris and is the seven-a-side sport’s most popular player on social media. “This is a huge coup to be able to bring Ilona Maher to Bristol Bears on a short-term deal,” Bristol head coach Dave Ward said. “She is one of the biggest names in women’s sport, let alone rugby, and we believe she will
Major League Baseball (MLB) star Shohei Ohtani wants his former interpreter to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of baseball cards he says were fraudulently bought using his money. The Los Angeles Dodgers star is also requesting Ippei Mizuhara, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly US$17 million from the unsuspecting athlete, return signed collectible baseball cards depicting Ohtani that were in Mizuhara’s “unauthorized and wrongful possession,” court documents filed on Tuesday said. The legal filing alleges Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s bank account beginning in about November 2021, changing his security protocols so that he
US skier Mikaela Shiffrin said she sustained an abrasion on her left hip and that something “stabbed” her when she crashed during her second run of an Audi FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom race on Saturday, doing a flip and sliding into the protective fencing. Shiffrin stayed down on the edge of the course for quite some time as the ski patrol attended to her. She was taken off the hill on a sled and waved to the cheering crowd before going to a clinic for evaluation. “Not really too much cause for concern at this point, I just
CLASH OF MANAGERS: Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler and Russell Martin of Southampton accused each other of disrespect, while both were booked Southampton on Friday were denied a priceless victory by a controversial decision as they drew with hosts Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 in the Premier League. Kaoru Mitoma spectacularly headed Brighton into a first-half lead and Flynn Downes hammered home an equalizer an hour in. Minutes later teammate Cameron Archer converted a cross from Saints substitute Ryan Fraser. A video assistant referee check of more than four minutes eventually decided that Archer was onside, but then penalized Adam Armstrong, who was offside, but did not touch the ball, for interfering with goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. “I find it hard to accept,” Southampton manager Russell Martin
RSS