Emerson, Roy

Roy Emerson, nicknamed Emmo, was born in the small Queensland town of Blackbutt , but as a child he moved with his family to Brisbane , where the conditions for playing sports were better. At school, he was the best sprinter , and later excellent speed qualities and mobility served him well on the court ^[3] .

Roy's son, Anthony Emerson, also played tennis, played for the University of South Carolina team and was included in the symbolic amateur USA team. Anthony later performed as a professional. In 1978, Roy and Anthony won the US championship on hard courts among fathers and sons ^[4] .

At the beginning of his career, Roy Emerson remained in the shadow of his talented compatriots Lew Hood and Ken Roswall , who were two years older ^[3] , but when they became professionals, Emerson became one of the leaders in amateur tennis.

Emerson lost his first two finals in Grand Slam tournaments , in the mixed doubles in 1956 and in men's pairs in 1958. The year 1959 brought him the first two titles in the men's doubles - at Wimbledon and the US Championship - and the Davis Cup win with the Australian national team . As part of the Davis Cup this year he held 13 singles and doubles games and won 12 of them ^[5] .

In 1960, Emerson played four times in the finals of the Grand Slam in men's and mixed doubles and added two more titles in men's pairs to the collection of his awards. He also won his second Davis Cup. The following year, at the Australian Championships, he first reached the final of the Grand Slam singles tournament and defeated his compatriot Rod Laver . Once again, he defeated Laver in the final of the US Championship. The next year, Laver in one of his star seasons won the Grand Slam, and in three of the four finals he was opposed by Emerson. Over these two years, Roy has won four more Grand Slam tournaments in male pairs (including one with Laver) and two Davis Cups.

At the end of the winning season, Laver turned into professionals. In his absence over the next three years, Emerson won seven Grand Slam singles and four doubles (including three, with three different partners, the French championship ) and was twice (in 1964 and 1965 ) recognized as the best tennis player at the end of the season lover in the world ^[4] . Particularly successful for him was 1964. During the season, he won 17 tournaments in singles, including three Grand Slam tournaments (with the exception of the French championship, where he lost to Nicola Pietrangeli in the quarterfinals), winning 109 of 115 games played (including 55 consecutive wins in the summer and autumn) ^[6] . Having lost the Americans’s Davis Cup final of 1963 with young John Newcomb , Emerson won all ten of his singles games and two of three in pairs in 1964 and brought the Australians a victory point with a score of 2: 2 in the final in the USA, defeating Chuck McKinley in four sets. After that, he and the Australian team won the Davis Cup three more times in a row, in total during the appearances for the national team, winning 21 of 23 games in singles and 13 of 15 games in doubles and having won the Davis Cup a record eight times ^[5] . He also twice helped the Australians win the World Cup - a team match against the US team ^[7] .

Having won 12 singles Grand Slam tournaments before the start of the Open Era , Emerson turned to professionals just before it began ^[3] . However, it turned out that he could not resist the tennis players who played in this capacity for a long time. So, at the first French Open , in 1968 , Emerson, last year’s winner of the amateur championship of France, already in the quarterfinal lost to professional veteran Pancho Gonzalez ^[8] . The quarter-final was his last in several more Open-era singles tournaments. But in pairs he continued to perform quite successfully even after 1967, having made his way to the finals five times and won twice (both times paired with Laver).

Roy Emerson continued to perform as a professional until 1978 , when he, as a player and coach at Boston Lobsters , brought her to the playoff semifinal of the World Team Tennis professional team league ^[6] . During his professional career, he earned $ 400,000 by winning three singles and thirty doubles. In total, in amateur and professional singles tournaments he won 106 times ^[7] .

Emerson has won 28 Grand Slam singles and men's doubles over his career - a record number of men's titles. His 12 singles wins remained a 33-year record before Pete Sampras won his 13th title in 2000 ^[7] . His merits were recognized: his name was on the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1982 and the Australian Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.

The basis of Emerson's playing style was access to the net after serving ( English serve-and-volley ), more effective on fast courts, but he successfully adapted to the conditions of slow clay courts. This is confirmed by his two victories in the French championship and a victory in the 1964 Davis Cup final over the US national team on Cleveland clay courts ^[6] .

Emerson was an outstanding doubles partner, a team player who controlled the right side of the court. As a result, he won his 16 doubles titles with five different partners. His hard training allowed him to withstand marathon matches and tournaments. His behavior embodied the Australian athlete code of honor, which stated that you should not complain of injuries while you can play ^[6] .

Singles (15)

Victories (12)

Lost (3)

Men's Doubles (28)

Victories (16)

Lost (12)

Mixed Doubles (2)

Lost (2)

Victories (8)

Defeat (1)

• Bud Collins' Modern Encyclopedia of Tennis / Bud Collins, Zander Hollander. - Detroit, MI: Visible Ink Press, 1994 .-- P. 347-349. - 666 p. - ISBN 0-8103-9443-X .

• Profile on ATP website

• Profile on the Davis Cup website

• Roy Emerson on the website of the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Roy Emerson at the Australia Sports Hall of Fame website