Jimmy Connors Saved My Life: Part 3

A rare photo of Mom with Two-Mom, Gloria and Bertha.

Gloria’s Connors’ instructional style is the nucleus of her son’s story. How she taught the game pervades the core of everything that made her son succeed, from technical to emotional to mental.

Understanding her approach requires knowledge of how the game was played during the years Gloria came of age as a player. And no one cast his spell more powerfully over that era than Don Budge.

Budge struck hard, deep groundstrokes that were exceptionally forceful. His backhand is still often regarded as the best in tennis history. Not until Connors arrived in the early ’70s was there a male player so able to dictate play from the baseline as proficiently as Budge had, with strokes that oppressed opponents and kept them pinned in a defensive position.

Other instructors across the river in St. Louis emphasized serve and volley tennis. Earl Buchholz taught his son Butch the attacking game and he became one of the world’s top five players.

Another St. Louis instructor, Bill Price, loved the athletic aspects of Jack Kramer’s serve and volley style. Price was also a great believer in mastery of spins, a skill he taught…