Heavyweight champion of tennis - Jimmy Connors: A Brief Biography
Jimmy “Jimbo” Connor’s had a notably long lasting career; an exciting odyssey replete with considerable obstacles and moments of remarkable glory that spanned 21 years before finally coming to a momentous end in 1991. The “heavyweight champion of tennis”, as heralded by one of his managers, Jimmy Connors impressive on-court fighting spirit and outspoken demeanour was both loved and loathed by all. About this ferociously independent streak the man from East St Louis, USA once said: “I’m an animal. Which one, I can’t tell you, but I would say that’s the way I played my game from start to finish.”
Born on 2nd September, 1952, Jimmy Connors was brought up in Belleville by his mother, Gloria Thompson Connors, a professional tennis instructor by occupation, and his adoring grandmother Bertha “two mum” Thompson. Not surprisingly then, the young American’s first tennis lessons began at the tender age of two, under the watchful supervision of none other than his highly enthusiastic tennis-coach mother.
Reminiscing about that time, Connor’s remarked: “My mother rolled balls to me, and I swung at them. I held the racket with both hands because that was the only way I could lift it.” To further the young American’s professional tennis ambitions, the family would shift homes to California so the teenage Connors could brush up his skills further under the watchful eye of accomplished veterans like Pancho Gonzales and Pancho Segura. The endeavour would soon pay dividends as became evident when Connors triumphed at the 1971 US Intercollegiate Singles in his first year at the University of California at Los Angeles before moving on to the professional circuit the following year.
Although it was soon evident Connors lagged behind contemporaries like Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe in terms of god-given skill, he would more than make up for such deficiencies by his ruthless determination to win, a trait that would endear him to fans, who all but marvelled at the fierce resolution that was so palpable on the court. Success followed the now professionally competing American, and very soon Connors had accumulated a fair share of meaningful silverware after collecting his first singles title in Jacksonville, US in 1972 aged 20 and the US indoor title in 1973. In 1974 the aspiring young American trudged all the way to the Australian Open final before winning a tournament most other players would normally snub back then owing to its highly demanding schedule. He would remark: “I went out there with one goal in mind, and that was to play the absolute best I could and give it everything I had; win or lose.”
Unsurprisingly, it was not long before Jimmy Connors turned his attention to The All England Club Championships, the Wimbledon; a trophy widely regarded as professional tennis’s most precious gem. Connors would put on a series of impressive displays to reach the 1974 Wimbledon final before decisively routing Ken Rosewell in mere 93 minutes, 6-1, 6-1, 6-4. The next year Connors made it to the finals once again, but was unable to emulate previous season’s success after losing out to Arthur Ashe under extremely pressurized circumstances affected in part by the sensational off-court legal drama that had followed him to match. The insistent American’s 1977 and 1978 Wimbledon title ambitions were thwarted by none other than the unstoppable Swedish wonder, Bjorn Borg. Yet the American’s thirst for the title had by no means satiated, and he was to arrive at the tournament once again in 1982, when at the age of 30, he had already been written-off by most pundits as history. Incredibly though, it was here that Jimmy Connor would collect the second Wimbledon title of his career after miraculously overcoming his fired-up compatriot John McEnroe in a thrilling 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 battle.
The American had an even more successful streak at the US Open, his specialty, winning the tournament in 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982 and 1983, an incredible five times, before finally bowing out of the professional grid after reaching the second-round of the same tournament in 1991. He had said: “I hate to lose more than I love to win. I hate to see the happiness on their faces when they beat me.”
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