James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 268 weeks (fifth-most of all time), and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. By virtue of his long and prolific career, Connors still holds three prominent Open Era men's singles records: 109 titles, 1,557 matches played, and 1,274 match wins. His titles include eight singles majors (an Open Era joint-record five US Opens, two Wimbledons, one Australian Open) and three year-end championships. In 1974, he became the second man in the Open Era to win three major titles in a calendar year, and was not permitted to participate in the fourth, the French Open. He retired in 1996.
Connors turned professional in 1972 and won his first tournament, the Jacksonville Open, quickly followed by his second at Roanoke, third at Queen's Club, fourth at Columbus, fifth at Cincinnati and sixth at Albany. Connors was acquiring a reputation as a maverick in 1972 when he refused to join the newly formed Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the union that was embraced by most male professional players, in order to play in and dominate a series of smaller tournaments organized by Bill Riordan, his manager. However, Connors played in other tournaments and won the 1973 U.S. Pro Singles, defeating Arthur Ashe in a five-set final, one of 11 tournaments Connors won that year.
In 1975, Connors reached the finals of Wimbledon (losing to Arthur Ashe), the US Open (losing to Manuel Orantes) and Australia (losing to John Newcombe), but he did not win any of them, although his loss to Newcombe was close as Connors lost 9–7 in a fourth set tiebreak. He never played in the Australian Open again. He won nine of the tournaments he entered achieving an 82–8 record. While he earned enough points to retain the ATP No. 1 ranking the entire year and was ranked number one by Rino Tommasi, all other tennis authorities, including the ATP, named Arthur Ashe, who solidly defeated Connors at Wimbledon, as the Player of the Year. He once again did not participate in the Masters Cup or the WCT Finals.
In 1976 Connors lost in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon to Roscoe Tanner. At the US Open, Connors captured the title once again (defeating Björn Borg). After the match, Borg said “it was a very good match. It was the best Jimmy has ever played against me. He hit everything on the lines, everything in the corners. I couldn't do anything. Usually, you play like that for one and a half sets and start missing. But he was very consistent." He won 12 events, including the U.S. Pro Indoor in Philadelphia, Palm Springs and Las Vegas, he achieved a record of 90–8 and defeated Borg all four times they played. He was ranked No. 1 by the ATP for the entire year and was ranked number one by World Tennis, Tennis Magazine (U.S.), Bud Collins, Lance Tingay, John Barrett,The Financial Times and Tommasi. The ATP named Björn Borg as its Player of the Year.
In 1977, an injured Connors lost in the Wimbledon finals to Borg 6–4 in the fifth set and in the US Open finals to Guillermo Vilas, but Connors captured both the Masters, beating Borg, and the WCT Finals. While holding onto the ATP No. 1 ranking, World Tennis Magazine and most tennis authorities ranked Borg or Vilas No. 1 with Connors rated as No. 3 behind Borg. He won eight tournaments this year.
In 1978, Borg defeated Connors in the Wimbledon final. Connors defeated Borg in the US Open final (played on hardcourt for the inaugural time). The Los Angeles Times described the match by saying "Connors played smashingly, as he has all tournament, pressuring Borg from the start. Yet Borg looked nothing like the broad-shouldered, power-hitting Swede who dominated Connors in straight sets at Wimbledon." Borg was suffering from an infected callous on his thumb but said "it was little bit tender earlier today, but it did not bother me during the match. Jimmy was just too good today." Connors reached the final of the US Open in five straight years from 1974 through 1978, winning three times with each win being on a different surface (1974 on grass, 1976 on clay and 1978 on hard). Connors won ten tournaments in 1978, including the U.S. Pro Indoor. While he retained the ATP No. 1 ranking at the end of the year, the ATP and most tennis authorities rated Borg, who also won the French Open, as the player of the year.
Connors reached the ATP world No. 1 ranking on July 29, 1974, and held it for 160 consecutive weeks, a record until it was surpassed by Roger Federer on February 26, 2007. He was the year-end No. 1 player from 1974 through 1978 and held the No. 1 ranking for a total of 268 weeks during his career. Connors relinquished his initial grip (160 weeks) on the No. 1 ranking for only one week, from August 23 to 30, 1977, before resuming as No. 1 for another 84 weeks.
From 1979 to 1981, Connors lost in the semifinals of the three top Grand Slam events every time except the 1981 French Open, where he lost in the quarterfinals. He reached the semifinals at the Masters in 1979 and 1980, but he did win the WCT Finals in 1980. He was generally ranked third in the world those years. He won eight tournaments in 1979, six in 1980 and four in 1981.
In 1982, Connors experienced a resurgence as he defeated John McEnroe in five close sets "that varied from boringly slow to fiercely brilliant" to win the Wimbledon final. Connors beat Ivan Lendl in the US Open final when Lendl was unable to cope "with Connors' penetrating, sharply-angled groundstrokes into the corners, or his net-charging attacks". After the US Open, Connors reclaimed the ATP No. 1 ranking. He also reached the semifinal of the Masters Cup and won five other tournaments for a total of seven. After trading the number-one ranking back and forth with McEnroe, he finished the year ranked No. 2 in points earned, but he was named Player of the Year by the ATP and was ITF World Champion due to his victories at Wimbledon and the US Open.
In 1983, Connors, McEnroe and Lendl traded the No. 1 ranking several times. Connors won the US Open for a record fifth time beating Lendl in the final in four sets, where he "blunted Lendl's power with defensive strength and spectacular volleys". It was his 100th tournament victory and fourth of the year. He finished the year as the No. 3 ranked player.
In the fourth round of the 1987 Wimbledon Championships, Connors defeated Mikael Pernfors, ten years his junior, in five sets from two sets down and having trailed 1–4 in the third set and 0–3 in the fourth set. In July 1988, Connors ended a four-year title drought by winning the Sovran Bank Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. It was the 106th title of his career. Connors had played in 56 tournaments and lost 11 finals since his previous victory in the Tokyo Indoors against Lendl in October 1984. He also won the title at Toulouse.
In 1989, Connors won the final tournaments of his career at Toulouse (beating his old rival McEnroe, who was then ranked No. 4 in the world) and Tel Aviv. He still holds the Open era record with 109 men's singles titles. At the 1989 US Open, Connors defeated the third seed (and future two-time champion) Stefan Edberg, in straight sets in the fourth round, in a match in which Connors accumulated fines of $2,250 for three code violations, was penalized a game in the second set and was one more code violation from being defaulted. Afterwards Connors said "I went out and played a match everybody dreams will happen and he played one of those matches you hope you have only one time in your career.” Connors pushed sixth-seeded Andre Agassi to five sets in the quarterfinals before losing. He ended 1989 ranked 14 in the world.
Connors' career 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. However, after surgery on his deteriorating left wrist, he came back to play 14 tournaments in 1991. An ailing back forced him to retire from a five-sets match in the third round of the French Open against Michael Chang, the 1989 champion. Connors walked off the court, after hitting a service-return winner against Chang on the first point of the fifth set, having just levelled the match by winning the fourth.
Connors recuperated and made an improbable run to the 1991 US Open semifinals which he later said were "the best 11 days of my tennis career". In the first round, Connors was two sets and 3-0 down against Patrick McEnroe before winning in five sets. He then had straight sets wins over Michiel Schapers and 10th seed Karel Novacek. In the fourth round, on his 39th birthday, he defeated 24-year-old Aaron Krickstein in five sets, in 4 hours and 41 minutes, coming back from a 2–5 deficit in the final set. Connors then defeated Paul Haarhuis in the quarterfinals in four sets after Haarhuis had served for a two sets to love lead. He lost to Jim Courier in the semifinals, in straight sets. 22 years later, ESPN aired a documentary commemorating Connors's run.
In 1992, Connors beat world No. 3, Michael Stich, at Memphis. Afterwards Stich accused Connors of being "very unfair on the court,” saying "he talks to the crowd between your first and second serves and he talks to the crowd as you are preparing for your serve. If that’s his idea of winning... I think it’s ridiculous what he’s doing." Connors lost in the semifinals to Mal Washington. He beat 20 year old world No. 12, Wayne Ferreira, to reach the quarterfinals at Indianapolis, before losing to Boris Becker. Connors participated in his last major tournament, in the 1992 US Open, where he beat 22 year old Jaime Oncins in straight sets in the first round on his 40th birthday, before losing to Lendl (then ranked No. 7) in four sets, in the second round.
In September 1992, Connors played Martina Navratilova in the third Battle of the Sexes tennis match at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. Connors was allowed only one serve per point and Navratilova was allowed to hit into half the doubles court. Connors won, 7–5, 6–2 and won an estimated $1 million.
In February 1993, Connors reached the semifinals of the San Francisco tournament, beating Richard Matuszewski, Bryan Shelton (in an ill-tempered match in which Shelton afterwards accused Connors of disrupting his concentration by stalling, yelling obscenities and playing to the crowd) and 21 year old Chuck Adams, before retiring against Brad Gilbert due to bone spurs in his right foot.
However, this would not be the end of his playing career. As late as June 1995, three months shy of his 43rd birthday, Connors beat 22 year old Sébastien Lareau, in straight sets, and 27 year old Martin Sinner, in straight sets, to progress to the quarterfinals of the Halle event in Germany. Connors lost this quarterfinal in straight sets to Marc Rosset. His last match on the ATP Tour came in April 1996, when he lost in three sets to Richey Reneberg in Atlanta.ATP World Tour, Official Website. Player Information Jimmy Connors. Main Website http://www.atpworldtour.com/
Connors endorsed Converse but wore Nike Air Tech Challenge IV low's at one time.
Connors played Newcombe six matches listed on the ATP website, with Newcombe winning the first two meetings on grass (1973 US Open quarterfinal and 1975 Australian Open final) and Connors winning the last four on indoor carpet (WCT Aetna World Cup 1976 and 1978) and hard courts (1978 Sydney Indoor quarterfinal and 1979 Hong Kong round of 16). Connors won all three meetings with Rod Laver in tour events, all when Laver was at least 37 years old.
Although Connors's tour record against McEnroe was 14–20 McEnroe is 6½ years younger than Connors and had a losing record against Connors until he won 12 out of their last 14 meetings. Head to head in major championship finals, they split their two meetings, Connors winning the 1982 Wimbledon in five sets, and McEnroe winning the 1984 Wimbledon in straight sets. McEnroe won six of their nine meetings in Grand Slam events. Connors described his rivalry with McEnroe in a newspaper article in 1987 by saying "We went at it on and off the court. That was because we were fire and fire, we were so similar. Still are."
At Wimbledon in 1977, he declined to participate in a parade of former champions to celebrate the tournament's centenary, choosing instead to practice in the grounds with Ilie Nastase while the parade took place. In 2000, he also declined to join a gathering of 58 former champions held to mark the millennium. In his 2013 autobiography, Connors blamed his missing the 1977 parade on the All England Club for not letting his doctor onto the grounds so that Connors could try on a customized splint for a thumb injury. Connors explained that this necessitated his rushing to meet the doctor at the entrance to the grounds, and then convincing Nastase to help him try out the splint on a practice court. By Connors' account, he then rushed to Centre Court for the parade, but was too late.
Connors also irritated sponsors and tennis officials by shunning the end-of-year Masters championship from 1974 through 1976. However, he entered this round-robin competition in 1977 when it moved to New York City. Although Connors lost a celebrated late-night match to Vilas, he took the title by defeating Borg in the final.
In a semi final of a tournament at Boca Raton in February 1986 against Ivan Lendl, Connors protested what he said was a bad line call in the sixth game of the fifth set that gave Lendl a 3-2, 40-0 lead. Umpire Jeremy Shales, after imposing a 15-second warning, gave Connors a code-of-conduct warning for delay of game. Connors then was penalized a point giving Lendl the game and making the fifth-set score 4-2 for Lendl. Connors continued to protest and refused to play. He then was given a game penalty, making it 5-2 for Lendl. After supervisor Ken Farrar had failed to persuade Connors to continue play, he was defaulted. Connors insisted that he did not quit the match. Connors told reporters the next week at Palm Springs. "I didn't quit, I was defaulted. I take full credit, good or bad, for what I've done. If I'm suspended, I'll just go home and ride my horses. I was standing up for the rights of players. I'll tell you, if a lot of guys could afford it, they would do it. I did it because I thought it was right." A month after the incident, the Men’s International Professional Tennis Council decided that Connors would be banned for 10 weeks and fined $20,000 (in addition to $5,000 imposed on the day of the match).
In Grand Slam Singles events, Connors reached the semifinals or better a total of 31 times and the quarterfinals or better a total of 41 times, despite entering the Australian Open Men's Singles only twice and not entering the French Open Men's Singles for five of his peak career years. The 31 semifinals stood as a record until surpassed by Roger Federer at Wimbledon 2012. The 41 quarterfinals remained a record until Roger Federer surpassed it at Wimbledon 2014. Connors was the only player to win the US Open on three different surfaces: grass court, clay court, and hard court. He was also the first male tennis player to win Grand Slam singles titles on three different surfaces: grass (1974), clay (1976), and hard (1978).
Connors was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1998 and Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame in 1986. He also has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. In his 1979 autobiography, tennis promoter and Grand Slam winning player Jack Kramer ranked Connors as one of the 21 best players of all time. Because of his fiery competitiveness and acrimonious relationships with a number of peers, he has been likened to baseball player Pete Rose.ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary This is What They Want In 1983, Fred Perry ranked the greatest male players of all time and put them in to two categories, before World War II and after. Perry's modern best behind Laver: "Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Hoad, Jack Kramer, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Manuel Santana".
His on-court antics, designed to get the crowd involved, both helped and hurt his play. Schwartz said, "While tennis fans enjoyed Connors's gritty style and his never-say-die attitude, they often were shocked by his antics. His sometimes vulgar on-court behavior—like giving the finger to a linesman after disagreeing with a call or strutting about the court with the tennis racket handle between his legs; sometimes he would yank on the handle in a grotesque manner and his fans would go wild or groan in disapproval—did not help his approval rating. During the early part of his career, Connors frequently argued with umpires, linesmen, the players union, Davis Cup officials and other players. He was even booed at Wimbledon—a rare show of disapproval there—for snubbing the Parade of Champions on the first day of the Centenary in 1977." His brash behavior both on and off the court earned him a reputation as the brat of the tennis world. Tennis commentator Bud Collins nicknamed Connors the "Brash Basher of Belleville" after the St Louis suburb where he grew up. Bud Collins Joins ESPN Connors himself thrived on the energy of the crowd, positive or negative, and manipulated and exploited it to his advantage in many of the greatest matches of his career.
Connors was taught to hit the ball on the rise by his teaching-pro mother, Gloria Connors, a technique he used to defeat the opposition in the early years of his career. Gloria sent her son to Southern California to work with Pancho Segura at the age of 16. Segura advanced Connors' game of hitting the ball on the rise which enabled Connors to reflect the power and velocity of his opponents back at them. In the 1975 Wimbledon final, Arthur Ashe countered this strategy by taking the pace off the ball, giving Connors only soft junk shots (dinks, drop shots, and lobs) to hit.
In an era when the serve and volley was the norm, Björn Borg excepted, Connors was one of the few players to hit the ball flat, low, and predominantly from the baseline. Connors hit his forehand with a semi-Western grip and with little net clearance. Contemporaries such as Arthur Ashe and commentators such as Joel Drucker characterized his forehand as his greatest weakness, especially on extreme pressure points, as it lacked the safety margin of hard forehands hit with topspin. His serve, while accurate and capable, was never a great weapon for him as it did not reach the velocity and power of his opponents.
His lack of a dominating serve and net game, combined with his individualist style and maverick tendencies, meant that he was not as successful in doubles as he was in singles, although he did win Grand Slam titles with Ilie Năstase, reached a final with Chris Evert, and accumulated 16 doubles titles during his career.
At the Tokyo Indoor in October 1983, Connors switched to a new mid-size graphite racket, the Wilson ProStaff, that had been designed especially for him and he used it on the 1984 tour.
Connors used lead tape which he would wind around the racket head to provide the proper "feel" for his style of game.
In July 2013 former women's world No. 1 Maria Sharapova announced on her website that Connors was her new coach. On August 15, 2013, Sharapova confirmed that she had ended the partnership with Connors after just one match together.
Former Miss World Marjorie Wallace was engaged to Connors from 1976 to 1977, but in 1979 Connors married Playboy model Patti McGuire. They have two children, and live in the Santa Barbara, California, area. "'Lovebird Double' who ruled Wimbledon", The Independent (London), June 19, 2004. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
In 1988, Connors auditioned to host the NBC daytime version of Wheel of Fortune, a show of which he and his wife "never missed an episode". E! True Hollywood Story: Wheel of Fortune. (television program) E! Network, 2005. However, the job went to Rolf Benirschke. According to show creator Merv Griffin, many news outlets tried to obtain Connors' audition tape, but Griffin refused to release it because he said "it wouldn't have been fair to Jimmy."Griffin, Merv. Merv: Making the Good Life Last. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003, page 103.
In the 1990s, he joined his brother John as an investor in the Argosy Gaming Company, which owned on the Mississippi River. The two owned 19 percent of the company which was headquartered in East Alton, Illinois, in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Argosy narrowly averted bankruptcy in the late 1990s and Connors' brother sought Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In the liquidation, Connors, through his company, Smooth Swing, acquired the Alystra Casino in Henderson, Nevada, for $1.9 million from Union Planters, which had foreclosed on John. In 1995, John Connors had opened the casino with announced plans to include a Jimmy Connors theme area. It closed in 1998, and thieves subsequently stripped its copper piping. The casino never reopened under Connors' ownership and it was destroyed in a May 2008 fire.
In October 2005, Connors had a hip-replacement surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
On January 8, 2007, Connors' mother Gloria died at age 82.
On November 21, 2008, Connors was arrested outside an NCAA basketball game between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of California at Santa Barbara after refusing to comply with an order to leave an area near the entrance to the stadium. The charges were dismissed by a judge on February 10, 2009. Jimmy Connors Cleared! TMZ.com, February 10, 2009
On July 24, 2018, LiveWire Ergogenics, Inc. announced that Connors joined the firm as a spokesman and advisor. The company focuses on real estate, and the licensing and management of production facilities for cannabis-based products.
In December 2019, Connors appeared as himself on season 18 episode 9 of Family Guy titled Christmas Is Coming.
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Roger Federer |
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Ivan Lendl |
Björn Borg Roger Federer |
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Rod Laver John McEnroe Pete Sampras |
Andre Agassi Roy Emerson Frank Parker |
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