Jimmy Connors

James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952), known universally as Jimmy Connors, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player.

He played in his first U.S. Championship, the U.S. boys' 11-and-under of 1961, when he was nine years old.

Connors's mother, Gloria, took him to Southern California to be coached by Pancho Segura, starting at age 16, in 1968.

But she remained part of the team as his coach and manager.

He and his brother, John "Johnny" Connors, attended St. Phillip's grade school.

Connors won the Junior Orange Bowl in both the 12- and the 14-year categories, and is one of only nine tennis players to win the Junior Orange Bowl championship twice in its 70-year history.

In 1970, Connors recorded his first victory in the first round of the Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles, defeating Roy Emerson.

In 1971, Connors won the NCAA singles title as a Freshman while attending UCLA and attained All-American status.

He turned professional in 1972 and won his first tournament, the Jacksonville Open.

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, his first significant title, defeating Arthur Ashe in a five-set final, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 3–6, 6–2.

Connors won eight Grand Slam singles championships: five US Opens, two Wimbledons, and one Australian Open.

He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 weeks.

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 major singles titles (a joint Open Era 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.

Connors finished year end number one in the ATP rankings from 1974 to 1978.

He did not participate in the French Open during his peak years (1974–78), as he was banned from playing by the event in 1974 due to his association with World Team Tennis (WTT).

and in the other four years chose not to participate.

He played in only two Australian Opens in his entire career, winning it in 1974 and reaching the final in 1975.

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).

He reached the final of Wimbledon four out of five years during his peak (1974, 1975, 1977 and 1978).

Despite not being allowed to play or choosing not to participate in the French Open from 1974 to 1978, he was still able to reach the semifinals four times in the later years of his career.

In 1974, Connors was the dominant player.

He had a 99–4 record that year and won 15 tournaments of the 21 he entered, including three of the four Grand Slam singles titles.

As noted, the French Open did not allow Connors to participate due to his association with World Team Tennis (WTT), but he won the Australian Open, which began in late December 1973 and concluded on January 1, 1974, defeating Phil Dent in four sets, and beat Ken Rosewall in straight sets in the finals of both Wimbledon and the US Open losing only 6 and 2 games, respectively, in those finals.

His exclusion from the French Open denied him the opportunity to become the second male player of the Open Era, after Rod Laver, to win all four Major singles titles in a calendar year.

He chose not to participate in the season-ending Masters Cup between the top eight players of the world and was not eligible for the World Championship Tennis (WCT) finals because he did not compete in the WCT's regular tournaments.

Connors finished 1974 at the top of ATP Point Rankings.

He also was the recipient of the Martini and Rossi Award, voted for by a panel of journalists and was ranked World No. 1 by Rex Bellamy, Tennis Magazine (U.S.), Rino Tommasi, World Tennis, Bud Collins, Judith Elian and Lance Tingay.

In 1975, Connors reached the finals of Wimbledon, the US Open and Australia, but he did not win any of them, although his loss to John Newcombe was close as Connors lost 9–7 in a fourth set tiebreak.

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.

Few highly ranked players, aside from Australians, travelled to Australia for that event up until the mid-1980s.

Connors is one of thirteen men to win three or more major singles titles in a calendar year.

In 1982, he won both Wimbledon and the US Open and was ATP Player of the Year and ITF World Champion.

He retired in 1996 at the age of 43.

Connors grew up in East St. Louis, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri, and was raised Catholic.

During his childhood he was coached and trained by his mother and grandmother.