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McEnroe vs Emerson

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
McEnroeWinner
87.3

McEnroe wins: Dominance, Peak, Statistics

Emerson
86.7

Emerson wins: Longevity, Honours

Candidates
Locked to Tennis

Shareable URL · /compare/mcenroe-vs-roy-emerson

Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 John McEnroe
87.3

McEnroe leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. 1984's 82-3 season is still the best single year of the Open era.

1. John McEnroe
87.3
2. Roy Emerson
86.7

Category breakdown

Season form · Titles per season

Career timeline · Titles per season

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through season 5 · Titles per season
1. 🇺🇸 John McEnroe5 seasons played · career day 2,55639 titles
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇦🇺 Roy Emerson5 seasons played · career day 4,01629 titles
-25.6% vs McEnroe at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 McEnroe00001559
🇦🇺 Emerson0000014

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 seasons are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricMcEnroeRetiredEmersonRetired
Grand Slam singles titles712
Grand Slam doubles titles916
Career singles titles77
Weeks at No. 1170
Davis Cups58
Year-end No. 14
Australian Open titles6
Career titles100
Career Grand Slams2
Dominance w25%8684
Peak w20%9288
Longevity w20%8488
Honours w20%8688
Statistics w15%8986

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
McEnroe87.3
Emerson86.7
The people
McEnroe
Emerson

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Make your case for McEnroe vs Emerson. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.

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