Antony Emerson (29 March 1963 – 23 January 2016) was a professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player from Australia. He was the son of

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 ...

Biography

Early years

Emerson was born in Brisbane on 29 March 1963, to Joy and Roy Emerson. He and his father, who was the first man to win 12

Grand Slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

singles titles, won the US Hard Court Father and Son tournament in 1978. During his junior career he also had a win over

Mats Wilander Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

. Growing up in

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

, Emerson attended

Corona del Mar High School Corona del Mar High School (CdM) is a public school located in the Eastbluff neighborhood of Newport Beach, California, and belongs to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. It is a combination of a middle school (7th and 8th grades) and a Se ...

, at the same time as family friend

Lars Ulrich Lars Ulrich (; ; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician who is the drummer and a founding member of American heavy metal band Metallica. Along with James Hetfield, Ulrich has songwriting credits on almost all of the band's songs, and the ...

. He was a member of the varsity tennis team at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

before turning professional and earned

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n selection in 1984.

Professional career

Coached by his father, Emerson competed on the professional tour in the 1980s. He made most of his appearances as a doubles player and won a

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, The Challenger, or, The Challengers, may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and telemovies * ''Challengers ...

title with

Mark Woodforde Mark Raymond Woodforde, OAM (born 23 September 1965) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. He is best known as one half of " The Woodies", a doubles partnership with Todd Woodbridge. Woodforde was born in Adelaide, and join ...

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

in 1985. On two occasions he made the men's doubles quarter-finals at the

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

, in 1985 and 1987. He partnered Des Tyson in both. His other Grand Slam appearances were at the

1986 French Open The 1986 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 26 May until 8 June. It was the 85th staging of the French Open, and the first Grand ...

with

Harald Rittersbacher Harald Rittersbacher (born 27 April 1963) is a former professional tennis player from Germany. Biography Born in Ludwigshafen, Rittersbacher played collegiate tennis in the United States for Texas Christian University in the early 1980s. Ritter ...

and

1988 Australian Open The 1988 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 76th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 11 through 24 January 1988 and was the first ...

with

Ramesh Krishnan Ramesh Krishnan (born 5 June 1961) is an Indian tennis coach and former professional tennis player. As a junior player in the late 1970s, he won the singles titles at both, Wimbledon and the French Open. He went on to reach three Grand Slam q ...

Later life

Emerson worked as a tennis professional in Miami for many years. Every year since 1983 he also helped run the Roy Emerson Tennis Weeks, a popular six week tennis camp held in the Swiss town of

Gstaad Gstaad ( , ) is a town in the German language, German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society ...

. Diagnosed with brain and liver cancer in 2015, Emerson's condition worsened rapidly and his father skipped the

2016 Australian Open The 2016 Australian Open was a List of tennis tournaments, tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 18 and 31 January 2016. It was the 104th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tourname ...

where he was due to be honoured. On 23 January 2016, Emerson died at the age of 52.

Challenger titles

Doubles: (1)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emerson, Antony 1963 births 2016 deaths Australian male tennis players Tennis players from Brisbane Tennis players from Newport Beach, California USC Trojans men's tennis players Australian expatriate tennis players in the United States Deaths from brain cancer in California Deaths from liver cancer in California 21st-century Australian sportsmen Sportsmen from Queensland 20th-century Australian sportsmen