Jimmy Connors

James Scott "Jimmy" Connors (b. September 2 1952,
in East St. Louis, Illinois) is a former World No.
1 tennis player from the United States. During his
career, he won eight Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand
Slam singles titles and two Grand Slam doubles
titles.

Connors went to college for a year at University
of California, Los Angeles|UCLA, where he won the
National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA
singles title in 1971. He turned professional in
1972, and won his first professional title later
that year at Jacksonville, Florida.

Connors' extreme competitiveness on court quickly
made him stand out. He simply refused to ever
accept that he was beaten and gave absolutely
everything on every point of every game, no matter
how apparently hopeless the cause. He was also not
averse to playing to the crowd or abusing his
opponent or the umpire—anything he could
think of to give himself an edge. His brash
behaviour both on and off court came to earn him a
reputation as the brat of the tennis world. He
acquired the nickname of the "Brash Basher of
Belleville, Illinois|Belleville" (after the Saint
Louis, Missouri|St Louis suburb where he grew up).
His high-profile romance with fellow teen tennis
prodigy Chris Evert in the early years of his
career also helped to keep him in the headlines.

Connors also acquired a reputation as a
wiktionary:maverick|maverick in 1972 when he
refused to join the newly-formed Association of
Tennis Professionals (ATP), the union which was
embraced by most male professional players. He
avoided the mainstream of professional tennis to
play in, and dominate, a series of smaller
tournaments organized by Bill Riordan, his manager
and a clever promoter.

In 1974, Connors and Riordan began bringing
lawsuits, eventually amounting to US$10 million,
against the ATP and its President Arthur Ashe for
allegedly restricting his freedom in the game. It
started when Connors was banned from the French
Open in 1974 after he had signed a contract to
play World Team Tennis (WTT) for Baltimore (the
ATP and the French administration opposed WTT
because it conflicted with their tournament, and
the entries of all WTT players were refused).

As it turned out, the French Open was the only
major tournament which Connors did not win that
year and his exclusion possibly prevented him from
becoming the first male player since Rod Laver to
win all four Grand Slam titles in one year. Though
he would progress as far as the semifinals on four
occasions, Connors would never prevail at the
French Open, which was the one Grand Slam title he
was never able to win. However, in 1974, Connors
won the Australian Open, defeating Phil Dent in
four sets in the final. Connors then beat Ken
Rosewall in straight sets in the finals of both
Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon and the US Open
(tennis)|US Open. He won a total of 14 tournaments
that year.

Connors reached the World No. 1 ranking in July
1974, and held it for 159 straight weeks. Over the
course of his career, he held the World No. 1
ranking for a total of 263 weeks.

1975 saw Connors finish runner-up in the three
Grand Slams he had won the year before. The 1975
Wimbledon final proved to be a duel between
lawsuit opponents, as Connors faced ATP President
Arthur Ashe. Ashe won, and shortly thereafter
Connors dropped the suits and parted with Riordan.

In 1976, Connors met Bjorn Borg in the final of
the US Open and saved four set points in a
thrilling third-set tie-breaker (which Connors won
11–9) to beat the Swede 6–4,
3–6, 7–6, 6–4.

Despite his success, Connors remained an
independent character with little respect for
traditions and other people's expectations. At
Wimbledon in 1977, he refused to take part in a
parade of former champions to celebrate the
tournament's centenary, and was booed when he went
out to play the following day. He still managed to
make the final at Wimbledon that year, but lost to
Borg in a thrilling five-set final. He also lost
in the final of the US Open to Guillermo Vilas.
Having irritated sponsors and tennis officials by
shunning the end-of-year Tennis Masters
Cup|Masters championships for the previous three
years, Connors entered the competition for the
first time in 1977 and beat Borg in the final to
win the event.

Borg beat Connors comfortably in the 1978
Wimbledon final, but Connors came back and stunned
the Swede in straight sets in the US Open final to
win 6–4, 6–2, 6–2 in the first
final to be held at the new Flushing Meadows
venue.

After a few less successful years on the tour,
Connors was back in the Wimbledon final again in
1982 where he faced the new young star of the
tennis world, John McEnroe. And Connors stunned
the defending-champion as he came back from being
three points away from defeat in a fourth-set
tie-breaker to win in five sets and claim his
second Wimbledon title eight years after his
first.

Connors also got the better of another of the next
generation of tennis stars, Ivan Lendl, in the US
Open final in both 1982 and 1983.

Connors last Grand Slam final came at Wimbledon in
1984, where he again faced McEnroe. This time
McEnroe put in a superlative performance and blew
Connors off the court in straight sets 6–1,
6–1, 6–2. Though beaten, Connors'
competitive fire was certainly not dampened. Asked
afterwards if he now admitted his rival was the
better player, he simply replied: "Never".

Considered a feisty wiseguy in his earlier days,
Connors gradually transformed himself into a
respected elder of the tennis world in the later
years of his career. He continued to compete
forcefully against much younger men until he was
well into his 41st year.

The defining moment of Connors' later career came
in 1991. His career had seemed to be at an end in
1990, when he played only three tournament matches
(and lost all three), dropping to No. 936 in the
world rankings. But after surgery on his
deteriorating left wrist, he came back to play 14
tournaments in 1991, climaxing with a phenomenal
run at the US Open. While celebrating his 39th
birthday during the championships, Connors powered
his way all the way through to the semi-final
before finally being beaten by the reigning French
Open champion Jim Courier.

During his career, Connors won a record 109 men's
singles titles. He also won 15 doubles titles
(including the men's doubles titles at Wimbledon
in 1973 and the US Open in 1975).

Connors was inducted into the International Tennis
Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1998.


==Grand Slam singles finals ==

===Wins (8)===
Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1974 Australian Open Phil Dent
7–6, 6–4, 4–6,
6–3
1974 Wimbledon Ken Rosewall
6–1, 6–1, 6–4
1974 US Open Ken Rosewall
6–1, 6–0, 6–1
 1976 US Open Bjorn Borg
6–4, 3–6, 7–6,
6–4
 1978 US Open Bjorn Borg
6–4, 6–2, 6–2
1982 Wimbledon John McEnroe
3–6, 6–3, 6–7,
7–6, 6–4
1982 US Open Ivan Lendl
6–3, 6–2, 4–6,
6–4
1983 US Open Ivan Lendl
6–3, 6–7, 7–5,
6–0

===Runner-ups (7)===
Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1975 Australian Open John Newcombe
7–5, 3–6, 6–4,
7–5
1975 Wimbledon Arthur Ashe
6–1, 6–1, 5–7,
6–4
1975 US Open Manuel Orantes
6–4, 6–3, 6–3
 1977 Wimbledon Bjorn Borg
3–6, 6–2, 6–1,
5–7, 6–4
1977 US Open Guillermo Vilas
2–6, 6–3, 7–5,
6–0
 1978 Wimbledon Bjorn Borg
6–2, 6–2, 6–3
1984 Wimbledon John McEnroe
6–1, 6–1, 6–2

==Grand Slam results==
===Australian Open===
* Singles champion: 1974
** Singles finalist: 1975

===Wimbledon===
* Singles champion: 1974, 1982
** Singles finalist: 1975, 1977, 1978, 1984
* Doubles champion: 1973

===US Open===
* Singles champion: 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1983
** Singles finalist: 1975, 1977
* Doubles champion: 1975