Rod Laver was the only player in the history of tennis, men's and women's, to have won the Grand Slam twice in singles, first as an amateur, in 1962, then in the Open formula, open to professionals, in 1969, a record that it has endured ever since.

To these results must be added the Pro Slam in 1967, the only one to succeed together with Ken Rosewall. He has won eleven titles on the Grand Slam circuit. To these must be added another eight titles obtained in professional tennis championships between 1963 and 1967, a period in which he was a professional and could not play as an amateur because the Open formula was introduced in 1968.

He managed to win the Davis Cup five times, although he was unable to participate for ten years (from 1963 to 1972) due to his professional status. He holds the world record of two hundred tournaments won in his career as a singles player in the various amateur and professional circuits during 23 years of activity.

He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1981. For his achievements and victories at amateur and professional level, Laver is considered one of the best tennis players ever.

Until the advent of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings in 1973, there was no world ranking system, although Laver was ranked first in the world in 1961 and 1962 (as an amateur), and in 1968 and 1969 (in the Open Era), by journalists, including the famous Lance Tingay of the Daily Telegraph.

When considering the total amount of annual prizes, Laver was the professional player who won the most prizes until 1971, as Bud Collins writes in the book Total Tennis (2003). Laver was awarded the title of number 1 in the world for seven consecutive years, mixing amateur and professional, from 1964 to 1970, although these are unofficial rankings. In this ranking we also note the 7 times as first in the world by Bill Tilden and the 8 by Pancho Gonzales.