The Emerson–Laver rivalry was a
tennis rivalry between
Roy Emerson
Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam titles. All of his singles Grand Slam victories and 14 of his ...
and
Rod Laver
Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former professional tennis player. Laver was ranked as the World number 1 ranked male tennis players, world number 1 professional player indisputably for five years from 1965 to 1969, ...
. The two Queenslanders first met on the senior amateur tour in 1958 and dominated the amateur circuit until 1962, before Laver went pro. When
open tennis arrived in 1968, Emerson went pro and resumed his prolific rivalry with Laver.
Analysis
The statistics shows a strong dominance of Laver over Emerson, two years his senior. He dominated him in the amateur era and the open era over all surfaces. Emerson spent his best years in the amateur circuit, and during 5 years he could not face Laver.
Head-to-head tallies
The following is a breakdown of their documented head-to-head results:
*All Matches: Laver 51-21
*All Finals: Laver 22–10
*
Grand Slams: Laver 7–2
List of all matches
See also
*
List of tennis rivalries
In tennis history there have been a number of notable rivalries. This list reflects some of the great rivalries.
For the pre-1991 eras, complete statistics on all matches is difficult to obtain in definitive form. In many years there were signif ...
Sources
* Joe McCauley, ''The History of Professional Tennis'', London 2001
* World Tennis (''The US Magazine'')
* World of Tennis (Annuals edited by John Barrett)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emerson-Laver rivalry
Tennis rivalries
Sports rivalries in Australia