Roy Emerson: 'Rafael Nadal will win Australian Open and Roland Garros'
Roy Emerson was among the best amateur players in the world during the 60s, winning 12 Major titles between 1961-67 and eight Davis Cup crowns to enter the record books, standing as the most successful tennis player until 1999 when Pete Sampras joined him on 12 biggest trophies. Also, the Blackbutt, Queensland native is the record-holder at the Australian Open with six titles, together with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, and the only player in the history of the game who claimed all Majors in both the singles and doubles (he conquered them all multiple times).
Roy Emerson and Rod Laver are the only players in men's tennis history with a couple of titles at every Major and Rafael Nadal has the opportunity to join the legendary Aussie duo if he beats Novak Djokovic in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday. The Spaniard has won 1 Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros, three at the US Open and two at Wimbledon, missing only his second crown at Melbourne Park to achieve this amazing feat, being victorious there in 2009 and losing three other finals.
Emerson believes Rafa will join him and Laver on that exclusive list and also move just one Grand Slam title away from Roger Federer after Roland Garros where he should go all the way as well. Emerson thinks Federer could stay in front if he wins Wimbledon, his biggest chance to win another Grand Slam title, but also if he finds his best game on hard court as well, which is not easy at his age.
"Rafael Nadal deserves to be there with me and Rod Laver, oh yeah," Emerson said. "Winning the French 11 times, it is ridiculous, no one's going to beat him at the French again, or Monte Carlo. He owns those tournaments so he's going to win the French again. He's going to be around for a while and he's going to lay off the hard courts quite a bit. Roger's best chance of staying ahead is Wimbledon and the other two are on hard courts, so they've got great chances there also. But at their age it's a bit more difficult on the harder surfaces."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2WntiLd
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