Rod Laver, say, backed to overcome forty love (5)
I believe the answer is:
adore
'love' is the definition.
(adoring is a kind of loving)
'rod laver say backed to overcome forty' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
an anagram of 'rod' is 'dor' which is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ae' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for adore that I've seen before include "Respect deeply" , "Love greatly" , "Like a lot" , "Love, revere intensely" , "Worship, idolise" .)