This content was published 6 years ago. It may refer to a past edition of the Internazionali d’Italia.

Rod Laver was in attendance at the Foro Italico on Sunday to receive the ‘Golden Racket’, a prestigious award which is presented annually at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia to a male and female great of the game.

This year the award was presented to Laver and Flavia Pennetta, who was unable to be there due to the birth of her son, Federico, on Friday.

Australia’s Laver, who won 11 Grand Slam titles, was the champion at the Italian Open in 1962 and 1971. He was presented with the award by Nicola Pietrangeli before the men’s singles final on Sunday.

Former winners of the ‘Golden Racket’
2006 Maria Esther Bueno and Tony Roche
2007 Margaret Court Smith and Ilie Nastase
2008 Gabriela Sabatini and Manolo Santana
2009 Conchita Martinez and Tom Okker
2010 Arantxa Sanchez and Andres Gimeno
2011 Ken Rosewall and Monica Seles
2012 Mary Pierce and Yannick Noah
2013 Boris Becker
2014 John Newcombe
2015 Michael Chang and Martina Hingis
2016 Stan Smith and Mima Jausovec
2017 Rod Laver and Flavia Pennetta