JAK'S MONTHLY ESSAY SERIES: Achieving Your Personal Best

Roy Emerson Explains The Way To Your Best Tennis

By Jak Beardsworth

I suspect that some of you do not recognize that name. Emerson, a former world #1, was also a contemporary of Rod Laver, a name I'm wagering that you do probably recognize.

Laver, and other top players back in the day, grew tired and frustrated by the paltry appearance payments/"prize money" only awarded under the table at the discretion of the tournament organizers. That's indentured servitude in today's sport's environment. Tennis was not "open" back then as we know it today – amateurs and professionals were finally allowed to play side by side, with no restrictions, for prize money in events beginning in 1968.

Prior to '68, rebelling professionals playing on their own tours and in exhibitions for money over the table were summarily blackballed from playing in the main events. Shamateurism ruled the day, much like the Olympics of that era and before. Tennis fancied itself as a pure bastion of non-professional players. Thus, the country club image, with its dreaded "blue blazers" leading the charge.

My own experience with that shamateurism came in 1964. As a promising 17 year old I received an invitation to play the Newport Invitational (an important lead-up to the U.S. Nationals at Forest Hills as the U. S. Open was called then), now the ATP Hall of Fame Championships.. I lost badly in the first round to the world #12 (I'm still claiming to have won the warm-up). For my new found status at the top echelon of the game I received a voucher for a ham sandwich, and a copy of the draw sheet for my efforts.

It quickly became time to re-think college tennis!

Roy Emerson, unlike Laver and some other top players – anyone remember the professional Handsome Eight Pro Tour of that era? - retained his amateur status and proceeded to capture 13 major titles around the world while Laver and company were barnstorming major U.S. cities, traveling in station wagons while hauling portable courts themselves, for peanuts.

Emerson's formidable major's record held for years until Pete Sampras surpassed it with an insurmountable 14 titles (haha) in 2002 at his last hurrah with his surprising triumph in New York.

Years later, long after his playing heyday I had the opportunity to attend a Roy Emerson Clinic. Probably nearing 50 years of age at the time, he still dominated the few hand-picked young lions while demonstrating some of his favorite live ball drills. He made it very clear to all that he still had it

But after over :30 plus minutes of this those in attendance grew visibly restless wanting some pearls of wisdom from the legend versus Emmo just showing off in simple drills that were standard fare.

Finally approaching jammed grandstand, he explained that he, and Laver, and the "boys," as teammates were commonly referred to Down Under in those days, would practice those types of drills in the a.m. for a couple of hours followed by a few sets in the p.m. And, he further explained that was a typical preparation for an Australian Davis Cup Team upcoming tie, he concluded: "And after a few weeks of that we could see the ball pretty well. Any questions?"

Some in attendance got it, some – pros teaching the game - did not. Do you?

The greatest sophistication in any endeavor is found in simplicity.

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Past Essays

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• February 2025 -Roy Emerson Explains The Way To Your Best Tennis
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• January 2024 - Win the First Set. Lose The 2^nd. Then the Tb Crapshoot.
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• December 2024 - Believing In Your Shots
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• November 2024 - The Walking Wounded
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• June 2024 - KNOW YOUR DOUBLE’S IN-POINT SITUATION WHEN BACK or RETURNING SERVE
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• April 2024 - Coulda, shoulda got that: The Art of Poaching
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• March 2024 - Get Your JuJu On
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• February 2024 - Giving Opponents too Much Respect
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• January 2024 - Rally Ball Or Pull The Trigger
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• December 2023 - The Forgotten Stop Volley
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• November 2023 - "You're Only as Good as Your Second Serve"
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