98 Facts About Jimmy Connors

James Scott Connors was born on September 2,1952 and is an American former professional tennis player.

Jimmy Connors was ranked as the world No 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals for 268 weeks, and finished as the year-end No 1 five times.

Jimmy Connors's titles include eight singles majors and three year-end championships.

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

Jimmy Connors played in his first US Championship, the US boys' 11-and-under of 1961, when he was nine years old.

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

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

Jimmy Connors reached his first ATP Tour finals at Columbus and Los Angeles.

Jimmy 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.

Jimmy Connors was acquiring a reputation as a maverick in 1972 when he refused to join the newly formed Association of Tennis Professionals, 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, Jimmy Connors played in other tournaments and won the 1973 US Pro Singles, defeating Arthur Ashe in a five-set final, one of 11 tournaments Jimmy Connors won that year.

Jimmy Connors won the Australian Open, which began in late December 1973 and concluded on January 1,1974, defeating Phil Dent in four sets.

Jimmy Connors beat Ken Rosewall in straight sets in the final of Wimbledon losing six games.

Jimmy Connors allowed Rosewall just two games in the US Open final in the most one-sided men's singles final in the tournament's history.

Jimmy Connors did not participate in the French Open during his peak years, as he was banned from playing by the event in 1974 due to his association with World Team Tennis.

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

Jimmy Connors 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 finals because he did not compete in the WCT's regular tournaments.

Jimmy Connors finished 1974 at the top of ATP Point Rankings.

Jimmy Connors 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, Rino Tommasi, World Tennis, Bud Collins, Judith Elian and Lance Tingay.

Jimmy Connors did not participate in the Masters Cup or the WCT Finals.

In 1976 Jimmy Connors lost in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon to Roscoe Tanner.

At the US Open, Jimmy Connors captured the title .

Jimmy Connors hit everything on the lines, everything in the corners.

Jimmy Connors was ranked No 1 by the ATP for the entire year and was ranked number one by World Tennis, Tennis Magazine, Bud Collins, Lance Tingay, John Barrett, and Tommasi.

Jimmy Connors defeated Borg in the US Open final.

Jimmy Connors won ten tournaments in 1978, including the US Pro Indoor.

Jimmy 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.

Jimmy Connors 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.

Jimmy Connors relinquished his initial grip 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, Jimmy 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.

Jimmy Connors reached the semifinals at the Masters in 1979 and 1980, but he did win the WCT Finals in 1980.

Jimmy Connors was generally ranked third in the world those years.

Jimmy Connors won eight tournaments in 1979, six in 1980 and four in 1981.

In 1982, Jimmy 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.

Jimmy Connors beat Ivan Lendl in the US Open final when Lendl was unable to cope "with Jimmy Connors' penetrating, sharply-angled groundstrokes into the corners, or his net-charging attacks".

Jimmy Connors reached the semifinal of the Masters Cup and won five other tournaments for a total of seven.

Jimmy 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".

Jimmy Connors finished the year as the No 3 ranked player.

In 1984 Jimmy Connors had made both the finals of Wimbledon and the WCT finals with semifinal appearances at the French Open, the US Open, and the Masters Cup.

Jimmy Connors won five tournaments and finished the year as the No 2 ranked player after McEnroe.

In July 1988, Jimmy Connors ended a four-year title drought by winning the Sovran Bank Tennis Classic in Washington, DC It was the 106th title of his career.

Jimmy Connors had played in 56 tournaments and lost 11 finals since his previous victory in the Tokyo Indoors against Lendl in October 1984.

In 1989, Jimmy Connors won the final tournaments of his career at Toulouse and Tel Aviv.

Jimmy Connors still holds the Open era record with 109 men's singles titles.

At the 1989 US Open, Jimmy Connors defeated the third seed Stefan Edberg, in straight sets in the fourth round, in a match in which Jimmy 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.

Jimmy 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.

Jimmy 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.

Jimmy 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".

Jimmy Connors then had straight sets wins over Michiel Schapers and 10th seed Karel Novacek.

Jimmy Connors then defeated Paul Haarhuis in the quarterfinals in four sets after Haarhuis had served for a two sets to love lead.

Jimmy Connors lost to Jim Courier in the semifinals, in straight sets.

In 1992, Jimmy Connors beat world No 3, Michael Stich, at Memphis.

Jimmy Connors beat 20 year old world No 12, Wayne Ferreira, to reach the quarterfinals at Indianapolis, before losing to Boris Becker.

Jimmy 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 in four sets, in the second round.

Jimmy Connors was allowed only one serve per point and Navratilova was allowed to hit into half the doubles court.

In February 1993, Jimmy Connors reached the semifinals of the San Francisco tournament, beating Richard Matuszewski, Bryan Shelton and 21 year old Chuck Adams, before retiring against Brad Gilbert due to bone spurs in his right foot.

Jimmy Connors lost this quarterfinal in straight sets to Marc Rosset.

Jimmy Connors endorsed Converse but wore Nike Air Tech Challenge IV low's at one time.

Jimmy Connors lost his stranglehold on the top ranking to Borg in early 1979 and wound up with an official tour record of 8 wins and 15 losses against Borg as Borg was four years younger and won the last ten times they met.

Head to head in major championship finals, they split their four meetings, Borg winning two Wimbledons and Jimmy Connors winning two US Opens.

In 1975, Jimmy Connors won two highly touted "Challenge Matches", both arranged by the Riordan company and televised nationally by CBS Sports from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Jimmy Connors ended his business relationship with Riordan later in 1975.

Jimmy Connors played Newcombe six matches listed on the ATP website, with Newcombe winning the first two meetings on grass and Jimmy Connors winning the last four on indoor carpet and hard courts.

Jimmy Connors won all three meetings with Rod Laver in tour events, all when Laver was at least 37 years old.

In 1982, at age 29, Jimmy Connors was back in the Wimbledon singles final, where he faced McEnroe, who by then was established firmly as the world's top player.

Head to head in major championship finals, they split their two meetings, Jimmy Connors winning the 1982 Wimbledon in five sets, and McEnroe winning the 1984 Wimbledon in straight sets.

Jimmy Connors defeated another of the next generation of tennis stars, Ivan Lendl, in the 1982 US Open final and soon regained the No 1 ranking.

Head to head in major championship finals, Jimmy Connors defeated Lendl in both meetings, winning the 1982 and 1983 US Open.

Jimmy Connors was seeking to enter the French Open, but the ATP and French officials opposed WTT because of scheduling conflicts.

Jimmy 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.

Jimmy Connors irritated sponsors and tennis officials by shunning the end-of-year Masters championship from 1974 through 1976.

Jimmy Connors is often considered among the greatest tennis players in the history of the sport.

Jimmy Connors won a male open era record 109 singles titles.

Jimmy Connors has won more matches than any other male professional tennis player in the open era.

Jimmy Connors played 398 tournaments, a record until Fabrice Santoro overtook it in 2008.

In Grand Slam Singles events, Jimmy 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.

Jimmy Connors was the only player to win the US Open on three different surfaces: grass, clay, and hard.

Jimmy Connors was the first male tennis player to win Grand Slam singles titles on three different surfaces: grass, clay, and hard.

Jimmy Connors was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1998 and Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 1986.

Jimmy Connors has a star on the St Louis Walk of Fame.

Jimmy 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.

Jimmy Connors was taught to hit the ball on the rise by his teaching-pro mother, Gloria Jimmy Connors, a technique he used to defeat the opposition in the early years of his career.

Jimmy Connors hit his forehand with a semi-Western grip and with little net clearance.

Jimmy Connors's serve, while accurate and capable, was never a great weapon for him as it did not reach the velocity and power of his opponents.

At a time when most other tennis pros played with wooden rackets, Jimmy Connors used the "Wilson T2000" steel racket, which utilized a method for stringing that had been devised and patented by Lacoste in 1953.

Jimmy Connors played with this chrome tubular steel racket until 1984, when most other pros had shifted to new racket technologies, materials, and designs.

At the Tokyo Indoor in October 1983, Jimmy 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.

Jimmy Connors used lead tape which he would wind around the racket head to provide the proper "feel" for his style of game.

Jimmy Connors did commentary with NBC-TV in 1990 and 1991, during its coverage of the French Open and Wimbledon tournaments.

Jimmy Connors has served as a commentator and analyst for the Tennis Channel since the US Open tournament of 2009.

In July 2013 former women's world No 1 Maria Sharapova announced on her website that Jimmy Connors was her new coach.

Jimmy Connors was engaged to fellow tennis pro Chris Evert from 1974 to 1975, and they each triumphed in the singles events at the 1974 Wimbledon Championships, a feat labelled "The Lovebird Double" by the media.

In May 2013, Jimmy Connors wrote his autobiography in which he alleged that Evert was pregnant with their child and that she unilaterally made the decision to have an abortion.

In October 2005, Jimmy Connors had successful hip-replacement surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

On November 21,2008, Jimmy 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.

On July 24,2018, LiveWire Ergogenics, Inc announced that Jimmy Connors joined the firm as a spokesman and advisor.

Jimmy Connors focuses on special purpose real estate acquisitions and the licensing and management of fully compliant turnkey production facilities for cannabis-based products and services.

In December 2019, Jimmy Connors appeared as himself on season 18 episode 9 of Family Guy titled Christmas Is Coming.