Three Timeless Principles You Can Learn from Jimmy Connors


Joel Drucker


What did Jimmy mean when he said I would have learned "the game"?

One of the more inspirational moments I ever had with Jimmy Connors took place nearly 20 years ago. It was a spring day in 1996. He and I were walking the grounds of the famed Pebble Beach Golf Club with where Connors and John McEnroe were the headliners for a four-man senior event.

This was the early stage of the senior tour launched by Connors. There was a large crowd and plenty of excitement. Connors was comfortable and friendly as I observed him going through his public relations obligations: the Pro-Am, the celebrity lunch, the press conference.

At that point I'd already interviewed Jimmy numerous times for nearly 15 years. But that day, having just played doubles in the Pro-Am with Connors himself, I felt more like player than a mere journalist.

I asked a question that had been on my mind for several years."Jimmy," I said, "If I'd taken lessons from your mother, what would I have learned?"

Connors didn't respond. He looked away from me and stared at the Pacific Ocean. Then he turned back, leaned a foot closer to me, his hazel eyes squinting as if he was about to hit a service return. "Son," he said, "you would have learned the game."

That's all he said--like there was nothing more that needed to be said. The game. It was left for me to ponder what that meant to Jimmy and Gloria. And so I have.

I thought about the distance from Pebble Beach to Connors' birthplace, East St. Louis, the distance from the concrete courts of Illinois to the grass at Wimbledon. I thought about his years of hard work and sweat, the matches in every corner of the globe, spanning 50 years of legends, from Pancho Gonzalez, McEnroe and Bjorn Borg, to Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi.

Want to study the rest of this article?

Click Here to Subscribe!




Joel Drucker is one of the world's best known tennis writers, having written for years for Tennis and many other publications. He is a consultant and background researcher working with some of the top commentators for the Tennis Channel. Joel is also the author of the book "Jimmy Connors Saved My Life." He lives in Oakland, California and plays regularly at the Berkeley Tennis Club.


"Jimmy Connors Saved My Life"

"Jimmy Connors Saved My Life" is a unique account of the career of the legendary American champion, James Scott Connors, and how it intertwined with the life of the author in a relationship both real and imagined. The book combines the perspective of an intellectual, a devoted tennis player, a professional writer, and a student of society searching for meaning and identity in a defining period of American history, a period in which tennis became a big time, big money, and big media sport.

Click Here to Order!


Tennisplayer Forum
forum
Let's Talk About this Article!

Share Your Thoughts with our Subscribers and Authors!

Click Here