Legendary Laver Was at His Best

An unusual outcome had the winner shaking his head.

Rod Laver was certainly capable of a one-sided victory. He’d won the Grand Slam--all four majors in the same calendar year--in 1962 and came to the Pacific Southwest Open tournament in 1968 as the reigning Wimbledon champion.

But winning the final two sets, 6-0, 6-0, in the tournament final was extraordinary. When you consider that the victim was Ken Rosewall, then the reigning French Open champion, the final result, 4-6, 6-0, 6-0, had to be a misprint, right?

Wrong.

The first year of the open era at the Los Angeles event ended unusually. Laver double-faulted to lose his serve at 4-4 in the first set, and Rosewall held with a couple of service winners to take it, 6-4.

He won no more that day.

Laver, the top-seeded player, said afterward it might have been the best he had ever played. And even though Rosewall lost the final 12 games, he thought he hadn’t played “that badly.”

Veteran tournament director Perry T. Jones, who died two years later on the eve of the tournament, was appropriately impressed by Laver.

“Wonderful tennis,” he told The Times. “Those may have been the finest two sets ever played by anybody. Nothing seemed impossible for that fellow Laver.”

The first five days of the event were played at the Los Angeles Tennis Club, and the final four at the Sports Arena, drawing 7,281 fans for the match between Rosewall and Laver. Laver, who won $3,800 for his effort, went on to another Grand Slam the next year when he swept the majors.

Arthur Ashe had lost to Rosewall in the semifinals the day before and had joked about the daunting task of facing Laver or Rosewall, asking reporters, “Would you rather play the Packers or the Rams’ front four? Laver misses once in a while but Rosewall doesn’t.”

And speaking of the Rams . . .

Earlier in the day, before the tennis final, the Rams beat the Steelers at the Coliseum. Next to the tennis story in The Times in the Monday paper was this byline: George Allen, Head Coach, Los Angeles Rams.

There was also an “exclusive” drawing by Allen of Roman Gabriel’s 55-yard touchdown pass, a play called “Pass 37.”