Talk:Roy Emerson

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This article is quite biased. True Gonzales was a far better player, but this is an article about Emerson, not Gonzales. Irrespective of whether Emerson was deserving or not, it is of little use to incorporate bitterness into the article.]

It is almost universally accepted today (at least by younger people) that Roy Emerson was one of the very greatest players, based solely on the fact that he won a lot of Majors when the really good players weren't there to challenge them. It is certainly worthwhile in an encyl. article to try to establish his true value by pointing out that he won these titles as an amateur and that once he started playing the big boys his record of winning Majors stopped. How else to do it except by giving his record against other players? You could say Mike Tyson was the greatest fighter of all time by listing all his first-round knockouts -- if you then omitted to list all the people who have beaten him in the last 5 years or so.... Hayford Peirce 5 July 2005 17:04 (UTC)

[edit] A Different Evaluation of Emerson

Was Roy Emerson one of the great tennis players of his era? Yes.

Was he one of the greatest of all time as his Grand Slam record might indicate? No.

Is the mention of Gonzales' record against Emerson particularly persuasive in support of the assertion that he would never have won any Grand Slam singles titles had tennis been Open throughout his run? Not really.

Most tennis players begin to fade around age 30. That Emerson did not fare as well when Open Tennis was born in 1968 in his 32nd year should not be unexpected. This makes Rod Laver's achievements in his early thirties all the more remarkable while acknowledging those two fewer years (Laver was born in 1938) were a significant blessing. Note that Laver did not win another Grand Slam singles title after his 31st birthday.

Of additional importance, the players Emerson beat were not always marginal. He beat Laver twice in 1961 before Rod won his first Grand Slam the next year. Three of those four victories were Laver over Emerson if I recall correctly, meaning Emmo had a significant run in 61-62 in his own right and took two out of five over one of the greats of all time. He beat Arthur Ashe twice (1966-67) and Ashe won the first Open Era U.S. Open in 1968.

Finally, tennis, much like boxing, has always had notable instances of players, or styles of play that gave another player fits.

For example, one could easily assert that Bjorn Borg would have been lucky to win one Wimbledon had he faced a talented serve and volleyer like John McEnroe at the beginning of his run. How many times did we see Borg almost dethroned by second-rate players with big serve and volley games more naturally suited for grass? Who did he beat for the majority of his wins? Moderate servers and groundstrokers like Nastase and Conners.

Overall, I agree with the premise that Emerson's career has to be critically evaluated, but find the assertion that he would never have won a Grand Slam title had the professionals of his day been competing highly speculative, particularly as it is substantiated primarily by his poor record against one player rather than his actual victories over historically important champions.

Balcombie 13:13, 8 September 2005 (UTC)