Tennis has always been considered an elite sport. At first, the cream of society played in it, but now any person, possessing sufficient talent and good technique, is able to become a tennis player. History has known many champions in this sport who have come from the bottom. Among them, Jimmy Connors is a tennis player who not only became a champion, but also gained the love and recognition of the audience, although he often behaved on the court like a bully.
Jimmy Connors childhood
James Scott Connors was born in September 1952 in the United States. His mother, Gloria, was fond of tennis in her youth and even took the thirteenth place in the list of US junior tennis players. That is why barely young Jimmy was two years old, as he was already learning to hold a heavy tennis racket. Having absorbed love for this game with his mother’s milk, the boy quickly learned and made progress.
Behind a small house of the Connors family there was a court of their own, which enabled the guy to devote all his free time to his favorite pastime. In addition, his parents took Jimmy with them to all the competitions in which his mother participated. Watching professional tennis players, he gradually formed his own style of play.
The first steps in the world of tennis
When Jimmy Connors grew up (he was 16), Gloria saw that in a professional sense he had outgrown it. Therefore, she began to look for a suitable trainer for her child. They became Pancho Segura. It was this “veteran of the court” that helped to hone his skills.
Jimmy was left-handed from birth, this gave him an advantage over his rivals, accustomed to playing with righties. In addition, through the efforts of a new coach, the guy brought his backhand (left kick) to perfection.
After leaving school, Jimmy Connors, thanks to his talent as a tennis player, easily entered college, where athletes were held in high esteem. However, he quickly realized that he would have to choose either a game or study, since he simply did not have enough time for everything.
Having dropped out of school, the young man focused on his sports career. His trainer was Rick Riordan. With his help, at the age of twenty, Jimmy Connors has already begun to play tennis at a professional level.
In the first year, Jimmy won seventy-five tournaments, becoming the first male tennis player in the United States. In 1973, this athlete retained his primacy. And the following year became even more successful in the life of Connors, or “Jimbo, ” as fans called him.
Peak of popularity
1974 was marked by Connors' highest achievement. He participated in three Grand Slam tournaments and won all of them (Australia, Wimbledon, Forest Hills). However, in the fourth tournament (France) he was forbidden to participate. The judges justified this ban by the fact that Jimmy Connors already plays in the world tennis team.
This event, of course, upset the tennis player, because it was an honor to win all four Grand Slam tournaments. However, even without this, he remained the favorite of the public and the best tennis player in the world.
For the next four years, Connors held the title of the first racket of the world. And even losing this title to another, the athlete continued to win in the most prestigious tournaments of the planet.
However, gradually new stars began to light up in the tennis horizon, and the audience began to tire of the impudent “tennis hooligan”, marking every victory with a signature punch in the air.
Sunset career
Despite his talent, over time, Jimmy Connors began to gradually give up. At first it was a small defeat. However, in May 1984, the athlete suffered his most devastating defeat from Ivan Lendl in the Grand Slam tournament in Forest Hills. Connors lost to the opponent with a score of 0-6, 0-6. It is not known what caused this defeat, because the previous two years Jimmy beat Ivan in US Open tournaments.
After that, Jimmy Connors (photo below) began to appear less and less on the court, preferring to watch the game in the audience. In addition, in one of the matches he received a serious wrist injury. Because of this, he was forced to abstain from participating in competitions for almost a year.
However, this could not continue for long, because Jimbo loved the game itself, and not just victory and success. That is why in the very beginning of the nineties, in anticipation of his fortieth birthday, Connors decided to once again go to court.
Triumphant return in 1991
In 1991, Jimmy Connors took part in the Grand Slam tournament held in Forest Hills. From the "veteran of the court", which was already considered at that time by Connors, the audience did not expect anything special. The maximum that the aged Jimbo could hope for was to lose to a younger opponent with a decent score. After all, at that time in the online ranking of tennis players in the world, Connors was 936th, and according to official statistics - 174th.
In the first match with young Patrick Mackinaw, Jimmy lost, but unexpectedly for all over the past fifteen minutes he was able to literally wrest the victory from the enemy.
In the following two “battles, ” Connors defeated his opponents: Michael Schapers and the tenth racket of the world Karel Novachek.
Jimbo’s fourth rival was young Aaron Krikstein, who beat the tournament’s most powerful rivals. Being a fan of Jimmy as a child, the young man thoroughly studied all his signature strokes and learned to reflect them.
The match between Krikstein and Connors lasted almost five hours, during which time both tennis players showed a great game. However, the veteran managed to become a winner, proving that there is still gunpowder in the flasks. In the last hour of the game, when both athletes were almost knocked down from fatigue, the entire stadium (even the fans of the opponent) began to shout the name “Jimbo”!
After this grand victory, the fans nicknamed Jimmy Connors "Mr. Open."
Jimbo completed his sports career only five years later. However, feeling still strong within himself, the athlete decided to become a coach of the younger generation.
Coaching
Having stopped playing himself, Connors began to teach other athletes. At one time he was the coach of the American tennis player Andy Roddick, who achieved the title of the first racket of the world.
Later, Jimbo's ward was also Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova. However, they did not agree on the characters and soon ceased cooperation.
Jimmy Connors: records
During his career, the athlete has achieved significant results. Moreover, many of his records could be broken only recently. He became the record holder for the number of victories at the American Grand Slam tournament (US Open) Jimmy Connors.
His achievements are great: Connors is the owner of 120 sports titles, and so far no one has been able to surpass him in this regard. In addition, he won 233 single matches at various Grand Slam tournaments (this record was broken only in 2012).
Among other things, Connors won the US Open semi-final for twelve consecutive years and the Wimbledon quarter-final for eleven years.
The athlete was able to be in the top three of the best tennis players in the world for twelve years in a row and fourteen in the four.
Having received the title of the first racket of the world in 1974, he was able to hold it for 160 weeks. In total, he was the best tennis player in the world for 268 weeks (the fourth result in the history of tennis).
The only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments that Connors did not win is Roland Garros.
Did Jimmy Connors lose? There were, of course, vacations. However, he won 80% of the matches.
