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
I would watch Gonzalez play and he mesmerized you. It would be like looking into the flame of a fire. You know you couldn't take your eyes off him because you never knew what he would do next.
Every time I went out there I performed the best that I could and it was time to step back and clear my mind.
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.
I don't go out there to love my enemy. I go out there to squash him.
From where we lived, to practise in St Louis was an hour-and-a-half drive each way, so that took a lot of the time. So really, our lives just took different paths.