Jimmy Connors
Jimmy Connors
James Scott "Jimmy" Connors is an American former world No. 1 tennis player, often considered among the greatest in the history of the sport. He held the top ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from July 29, 1974 to August 22, 1977 and an additional eight times during his career for a total of 268 weeks. He also held a year-end top ten ranking for an Open Era record 16 years...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth2 September 1952
CountryUnited States of America
It was like bulls banging heads. He brought out the best and the worst in me and I like to think I did the same with him. Jimmy is one of the greatest players that ever lived, in my opinion. He's like the Pete Rose of tennis. I never seen a guy try as hard as this person on a tennis court. That's something I really respected.
It's a youth-driven sport. There's no doubt about it, like all sports. But tennis is exceptional in throwing away the old and shuffling in the new, sometimes even before their time on both sides.
But why should I read what somebody else thinks of my life when I know the real story?
Tennis would be much more exciting if they had pitching machines firing Tennis was given to me to keep me off the street corners of east St. Louis.
Tennis was never work for me, tennis was fun. And the tougher the battle and the longer the match, the more fun I had.
The minute you think you know everything about tennis is the minute your game starts going down the tubes.
I don't go out there to love my enemy. I go out there to squash him.
People say I'm around because I have a lot of heart, but I know all the heart in the world couldn't have helped me if I wasn't physically fit.
There was never anything I wanted to do more than play tennis. Never once walked out there and thought, 'I wish I was doing something else.' Not once.
I've been kicked in the teeth more times in tennis than the law ought to allow.
Equality? They ought to play the women's final on opening day. Everybody knows who's going to be in it.
I hate to lose more than I love to win.
With everything else that would swirl around me when I got involved in it, tennis was my main concern.
New Yorkers love it when you spill your guts out there. Spill your guts at Wimbledon and they make you stop and clean it up.