Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal – The only French Wimbledon double champions of the Open era
Becoming a professional tennis player requires a lot of work and effort and becoming a tennis champion is one of the most difficult feats one can accomplish. In order to become a true tennis champion one needs to put their heart and soul into the game and make their life circulate around the game of tennis and nothing else for quite some time because winning a tennis Grand Slam championship is something extremely difficult.
Those who have managed to achieve the title of being a Grand Slam champion are cherished to a great extent. They are worshipped by tennis fanatics all around the world. There are four tennis Grand Slams that take place over the year, namely the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. These are the biggest events in the world of tennis. Winning one Grand Slam title is considered to be an honour but to win multiple Grand Slams in one year is indeed something great. Many players have managed to win at the French Open and at Wimbledon, both, in their careers, but to win these championships in the same year is something that has been done by only four players in the history of tennis.
Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the only tennis champions to have won the French-Wimbledon double in the Open era. Laver and Borg are now retired but during their tennis career they were world number one. Federer is a former world number one and has fell to being world number three for the first time in almost seven years but he is still expected to regain his top position. Nadal is currently world number one and is at the peak of his career still working hard to climb up higher.
Rod Laver was an Australian professional tennis player. He has not only won the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year but he is the only player to have twice won all four Grand Slam championships in the years 1962 and 1969. This record of his still stands and no other player has been able to match it. His rule over the game of tennis lasted for seven consecutive years in which he stayed world number during most of this period. The grand achievements of Laver have led to people calling him one of the best players in history.
Bjorn Borg is another great name in the world of tennis. He is also a retired professional tennis player and belongs to Sweden. Being one of the only four special players to have won the French-Wimbledon double, he is even more special because he is the only tennis player in history to have won the French-Wimbledon double three consecutive times in the years 1978, 1979 and 1980. He also has a record of winning five consecutive times at Wimbledon which he shares with Roger Federer. This further adds to the greatness of this former Swedish tennis player. He is also considered by many to be the greatest player of all time.
Roger Federer, the Swiss tennis champion who has won the hearts of millions of tennis fans out there, is the third man to have won at the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. He joined Laver and Borg in this accomplishment in the year 2009. Federer has only won the French Open once in his career but he still stands tall with the record of winning sixteen Grand Slam singles titles, a number of wins which is still unmatched by any other professional tennis player. He has prevailed over the world of tennis for almost a decade now but some fear that his reign might be over now. However, true fans still believe that the Swiss champion is still one of the greatest players.
Rafael Nadal has set the tennis scene on fire with his amazing game of tennis. He has already managed to win the French-Wimbledon double twice in his career. 2008 was the first time he accomplished this and recently by being victorious at Wimbledon this year he has also attained this feat in the year 2010. Nadal is at the top of his game and is ready to crush all others who come in his way. Greatness awaits this young Spaniard as his tennis career is still on the run.
Laver, Borg, Federer and Nadal have made a prominent mark in the history of the Open era by being the only players to have accomplished the French-Wimbledon double. They will no doubt, be remembered throughout history as some of the best players to have graced the game of tennis.
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