Tennis great Rod Laver hopes to play the sport he loves once more despite injury Rod Laver will reconnect with his home state during his book tour. AUSTRALIAS greatest tennis player hopes again to be able to swing a racquet and fill the gap left in his life by not being able to play his beloved sport. Rod Laver, in Brisbane this week to promote his biography "A Memoir"," has not been able to play in recent times due to an arthritic hip. The 75-year-old, the only player to win the Grand Slam twice, was feted by 300 guests at the Brisbane City Hall auditorium at a nostalgic lunch to mark his two-day visit to Brisbane. "It's bone on bone and I guess I played too much topspin on my backhand and forehand and created the problems,"" Laver told The Courier-Mail. I haven't played much in recent times. I miss not being able to hit tennis balls around. I'd like to think I could play again, social tennis. But it's always going to be limited."" Friendly faces from Queensland he had not seen for up to 50 years lined up to have copies of Laver's book autographed and many of his mates took the opportunity to spin a yarn about old times with the long-time California resident. All that was missing was wooden racquets, towelling hats and white tennis balls. "It's great seeing so many familiar faces, who I played against in the age events so many years ago, and a great honour to be in this City Hall,"" Laver said. You don't forget the character of the person. The faces change, but not the character."" Like his biography, which is in a second printing, Laver's comments at the lunch spanned his junior days in Queensland, his amateur tennis days, culminating in his 1962 Grand Slam, and his years on professional whistlestop tours and the Open-era circuit. Rod Laver relives some of his finest moments in his new book. I was involved in The Courier-Mail coaching program in Brisbane (firstly, as a 14-year-old) for about two and a half weeks, practising and playing with 15 or 20 players from around Queensland. We got instruction from (Australian Davis Cup captain) Harry Hopman,"" Laver said. "I was shy and a little lackadaisical at that age and Harry Hopman called me "Rocket," because I wasn't. Charlie Hollis, my coach in Rockhampton, groomed you into having the right stroke production to improve on. Without someone like Charlie I wouldn't be where I am now. When I was 13, 14, he said, "You will never win Wimbledon without a topspin backhand." You need this, this and this - go away and work on it."" Laver would have pocketed $9.47 million in tournament prizemoney and bonuses had he won the Grand Slam in 2013, the event's host Pat Welsh, the Channel 7 journalist, discovered with some research. Laver's cheque for winning Wimbledon in 1969 was, famously, just 2000 pounds. Laver's decision to join the professional tours of the United States, Australia and other countries in 1963 earned him $US110,000 over three years, but meant he was ineligible for all Grand Slam events until the ban on pros was lifted for Wimbledon in 1968. Despite, he remembers, being beaten "13, 14 times in a row"" by Lew Hoad on the whistlestop tours, the great left-hander was ranked No.2 at the end of his first year on the professional tour. "I gave up playing at Wimbledon, but I wanted to become a better player and playing Hoad and (Ken) Rosewall every second night made me that,"" he recalled. Rod Laver (R) with Davis Cup teammate John Newcombe (l) at Wimbledon. Picture: Don Morley