Rod Laver vs. John Newcombe (1 of 2)

Highlights from the first two sets of the 1969 Wimbledon final. Rod Laver d. John Newcombe, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

This was Laver's fourth title at Wimbledon, a record at the time. It was also his fourth straight victory in four attempts, starting in 1961.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• tennis
• Laver
• Newcombe

[stealthpakfa]

nadal would slaughter these fools on any surface any day, rafa will pass these serve volleyers until the sun disappears!

[krosero]

Have you ever seen Rafa play with a wood racquet, against the best serve-and-volleyers?

[stealthpakfa]

serve and volley??? LMAO!!! serve and volley is not tennis, its tiddlywink tennis! kng rafa plays the way tennis should be played, its entertainment with long baseline rallies to entertain the crowd with his skills and athletic ability, we dont need unathletic skillless geezers doing serve and volley! serve and volley should be banned, its against the 21st modern way of playing tennis! we dont talk about wooden racquets, that ancient history and serve and volley is also ancient history!

[krosero]

Fantastic self-hanging comments. You even avoided answering the question (though you gave away the answer).

[mrbobevans]

I have studied all the greats on Youtube. I realize one thing - Rod Laver is the GOAT. His game is the most beautiful game to watch. It makes me wonder if the game should go back to wood racquets. I see all these big goons who do nothing but try to hit it as hard as possible.

[slatz20]

@mrbobevans yea nadal federer djokovic would have no chance vs laver connor so...hahaahaha...

[AXOU2203]

@krosero

You're right. Seeing that kind of defensive beast winning on grass without coming even once to the net, makes me sick.

[aryaldo]

Thank you so much for upload this. True fans of tennis will enjoy and appreciate the skill and movement of these great great players, players who inspired generations to come...

[andunusblick]

laver > sampras > federer > bambi > nadal

[gregluland]

Laver the Greatest, check out his pro years. Rod best ever, no doubt, although not completely invincible as Sir Don Bradman was in cricket, then again WHO was. Answer, nobody.

[DanimalLawlz]

@krosero Well serve and volley is relatively a futile method now, although Llodra sometimes places decently. It's a pointless argument, as there is way more focus on passing and baseline now. Nadal would probably lose with a wooden racquet on the faster courts back then but players are certainly more athletic and have benefited from training techniques and the physiology knowledge we have today

[studiosaraghi]

@Fernandez218 Newcombe had without question the most beautiful in the history of the game. No quest Rogers has the most beautiful all round game and has the finest record in the history of the game, but Newcs serve was poetry in motion and devastatingly effective.

[andy55055]

You're all a bunch of monkeys comparing players of different eras. Shouldn't be done in any sport, particularly when equipment changes so radically.

[tomloft2000]

a couple of observations:this was Laver's Grand Slam year-you can see why.imo he had one of the most well-rounded games ever.Newcombe was great around the net,and though he didn't posess great passing shots he had a very reliable lob.another thing is the crowds,they seemed a lot more reserved than they do in the present day.