Long before Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal made longevity at the top level a marvel, Jimmy Connors, with his tough-as-nails obstinacy and bustling aggressive play, was an integral part of The Championships drama.

During a remarkably consistent spell of 20 singles campaigns on the grass between 1972 and 1992, he won two titles (1974 and 1982, beating Ken Rosewall and John McEnroe) and finished runner-up four times. Every time he stepped on court you could guarantee he was fired up to put on a compelling display.

“The guy personified leaving it all on the court”, said Justin Gimelstob, whose career was inspired by the 5ft 10ins fighter from Illinois. “He symbolised maximising effort and getting every ounce of talent out of your body. He was the ultimate competitor.”

It was drama every step of the way in 1987 when he came up against Sweden's Mikael Pernfors in the fourth round; he rapidly lost the first two sets and was 1-4 down in the third. One newspaper, taking a punt in its early edition, published a report headlining Connor’s surprise loss. He was the No.7 seed, after all. Even when he had fought to claim the third set 7-5, Connors slipped to 0-3 in the fourth before taking it 6-4. In the deciding set, 4-1 up, he had to summon the trainer to treat a damaged leg muscle.

As the Wimbledon Annual reported, “Serving at 5-2 in the final set, having broken with exhilarating winners in the third and fifth games, Connors more or less limped through the points – but even the limp added to the heroism of his magnificent comeback and seemed to set the stamp on one of the game’s greatest competitors.”

It was one of those magical matches that turns the All England Club into a great bubble of buzzing anticipation. Fans who had left their seats in the middle of the third set to catch trains home or to seek refreshment, thinking the match was all but over, regretted their premature exits as they were immediately replaced by others, who were still queuing for admittance until the last, unbelievable point was played. Those who stayed were mesmerised as Connors staged a revival as memorable as any Wimbledon has ever witnessed.

Nothing embodied Connors’ brash, defiant, win-at-all-costs attitude better than his Lazarus-like comeback that day. The sweat of his effort seeps through the understated tone of the Annual: “Less than three months away from his 35th birthday and against an opponent almost 11 years his junior, Jimmy Connors conquered what seemed the impossible mountain when he was 6-1, 6-1, 4-1 down, to beat Mikael Pernfors in three hours 38 minutes.”

Afterwards, Connors, never one to analyse turning points or winning shots, called it bluntly: “To be 6-1, 6-1, 4-1 down is a pretty good spanking. My ego was hurt. I had to do something to counteract what he was doing. The best thing I did out there was to grind and fight.” He went on to reach the semi-finals, losing to eventual champion Pat Cash.

Connors was seeded 17 times between 1973 and 1989, which was a record until Roger Federer broke it in 2018 (the Swiss has been seeded 19 times now). He also contributed to many an entertaining evening game of doubles – super-competitively, of course – winning the men’s doubles in 1973 with Ilie Nastase, and entering the mixed doubles in 1973 and 1974 with Chris Evert, when they were engaged to be married.

He may have named his autobiography The Outsider, but Connors has described how walking on to Centre Court always made him proud. With two titles on the Clubhouse honours board, he is happy to have left something behind as part of the Wimbledon legacy.

Typically, in highlighting his 1982 Championships victory over John McEnroe as one of his top accomplishments, he reverts to fighting talk. “Mac had taken Wimbledon away from Bjorn, he had taken the US Open… Grass was his best surface. He was the best player in the world. Wrestling that from him was pretty good.”

 Despite the absence of a Championships this year, there are still plenty of ways you can get into the Wimbledon spirit…

#WimbledonRecreated

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Play The Championships

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A Wish from Wimbledon

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