Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player. He won 12 Grand Slam tournament singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam tournament titles. All of his singles Grand Slam victories and 14 of his Grand Slam doubles victories were achieved before the Open era began in 1968. He is the only male player to have completed the career Grand Slam (winning titles at all four Grand Slam events) in both singles and doubles, and the first of four male players to complete the double career Grand Slam in singles (later followed by Rod Laver, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal). His 28 major titles are the all-time record for a male player. He was ranked world No. 1 amateur in 1961 by Ned Potter, 1964 by Potter, Lance Tingay and an Ulrich Kaiser panel of 14 experts and 1965 by Tingay, Joseph McCauley, Sport za Rubezhom and an Ulrich Kaiser panel of 16 experts.
Emerson was the first male player to win 12 singles majors. He held that record for 30 years until it was passed by Pete Sampras in 2000. He also held the record of six Australian Open men's singles titles until 2019 when Novak Djokovic won his seventh title. Emerson won five of those titles consecutively (1963–67), a still-standing record. Emerson is one of only five tennis players ever to win multiple slam sets in two disciplines. Emerson was a member of a record eight Davis Cup–winning teams between 1959 and 1967. Unlike several of his contemporaries, he chose to remain an amateur player and did not turn professional before the advent of the Open Era.
Emerson was born on a farm in Blackbutt, Queensland. His family later moved to Brisbane and he received better tennis instruction after attending Brisbane Grammar School and Ipswich Grammar School. He played his first singles tour event at the 1951 Southwest Queensland Championships. He won his first singles title at the 1953 Queensland Hard Court Championships.
Emerson won his first Grand Slam tournament doubles title in 1959 at Wimbledon (partnering Neale Fraser). In 1961, he captured his first Grand Slam tournament singles title at the Australian Championships, beating compatriot Rod Laver in four sets in the final. Later that year, Emerson claimed his second major singles crown when he again beat Laver in the final of the US Championships.
Known as "Emmo" on the tour, the six-foot right-hander was known for training hard and always being ready for strenuous matches because of his level of fitness. He was primarily a serve-and-volley style player, but was also able to adapt to the rigours of slow courts, allowing him to play on all surfaces.
From 1963 to 1967, Emerson won five consecutive men's singles titles at the Australian Championships. His record of six Australian men's singles crowns was surpassed in 2019 by Novak Djokovic who won his record seventh.
1963 also saw Emerson capture his first French Championships singles title, beating Pierre Darmon in the final.
Emerson's first Wimbledon singles title came in 1964, with a final victory over Fred Stolle. Emerson won 55 consecutive matches during 1964 and finished the year with 109 victories out of 115 matches. He won three of the year's four Grand Slam events that year (failing to win only the French Open).
During his amateur career, Emerson received several offers to turn professional, including an £38,000 offer made at the end of 1964 by Jack Kramer, but declined and opted to remain an amateur.
In 1966, Emerson rejected a $100,000 guarantee over two years offer to turn pro, stating that he "couldn't afford to take a pay cut." It was estimated that Emerson and Santana were paid about $1,000 to $1,500 a week in living expenses alone from their national tennis associations as "shamateurs".
Emerson was the world No. 1 amateur player in 1964 and 1965 according to Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph and in 1961 and 1964 according to Ned Potter of World Tennis. In 1965, he successfully defended his Australian and Wimbledon singles crowns. He was the heavy favourite to win Wimbledon again in 1966, but during his fourth round match he skidded while chasing the ball and crashed into the umpire's stand, injuring his shoulder. He still finished the match, but was unable to win.
Emerson's last major singles title came at the French Championships in 1967 – the year before the open era began. His 12 major singles titles stood as a men's record until 2000, when it was surpassed by Pete Sampras. Emerson signed a professional contract with the National Tennis League in early April 1968.
Emerson had 10 straight victories in Grand Slam tournament finals in which he appeared, which is an all-time record.
Emerson's final Grand Slam doubles title was won in 1971 at Wimbledon (partnering Laver). His 16 Grand Slam doubles crowns were won with five different partners. From 1960 to 1965, he won six consecutive French Open men's doubles titles. Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and tennis great, writes in his 1979 autobiography that "Emerson was the best doubles player of all the moderns, very possibly the best forehand court player of all time. He was so quick he could cover everything. He had the perfect doubles shot, a backhand that dipped over the net and came in at the server's feet as he moved to the net. Gene Mako and Johnny van Ryn could hit a shot like that sometimes, but never so often nor as proficiently as Emerson."
Emerson was also a member of a record eight Davis Cup winning teams between 1959 and 1967.
Emerson's 12 singles and 16 doubles titles make him one of the leading players in Grand Slam tournament history.
Emerson's last top-20 ranking was in 1973, primarily owing to his winning his 119th and final career title at the Pacific Coast Championships in San Francisco. He defeated Roscoe Tanner, Arthur Ashe, and Björn Borg in the last three rounds of that tournament. Emerson played just a few tournaments through 1977. His last appearance was at the Swiss Open in Gstaad, Switzerland in 1983.
Although he exited the tournament circuit, Emerson did not retire. In the late 1970s, he served as a player/coach for the Boston Lobsters in World Team Tennis (WTT). He mostly played doubles with the Lobsters and often teamed with fellow Australian Tony Roche. In the 1978 season, the last season under the original iteration of World Team Tennis, Roy coached the Lobsters to the Eastern Division Championship and into the WTT Finals against the Los Angeles Strings. The final Lobster team that Emerson coached consisted of Tony Roche, Mike Estep (for part of the season), and Emerson himself as the male players.