page_title: Jimmy Connors
section_title: Peak years
hierarchical_section_title: Jimmy Connors / Career / Peak years
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Collectie / Archief&#160;: Fotocollectie Anefo Reportage / Serie&#160;: [ onbekend ] Beschrijving&#160;: ABN-tennistoernooi in Rotterdam; Jimmy Corners in actie (kop) Datum&#160;: 5 april 1978 Locatie&#160;: Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland Trefwoorden&#160;: tennis Instellingsnaam&#160;: ABN Fotograaf&#160;: Suyk, Koen / Anefo Auteursrechthebbende&#160;: Nationaal Archief Materiaalsoort&#160;: Negatief (zwart/wit) Nummer archiefinventaris&#160;: bekijk toegang 2.24.01.05 Bestanddeelnummer&#160;: 929-6576
context_page_description: James Scott Connors is a retired American world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 weeks.
  By virtue of his long and prolific career, Connors still holds three prominent Open Era men's singles records: 109 titles, 1,557 matches played, and 1,274 match wins. His titles include eight majors, three year-end championships, and 17 Grand Prix Super Series titles. In 1974, he became the second man in the Open Era to win three majors in a calendar year, and was not permitted to participate in the fourth, the French Open. In 1982, he won both Wimbledon and the US Open and is considered to be the World-number-one Player for that year, in addition to 1974 and 1976. He retired in 1996 at the age of 43.
context_section_description: Connors won eight Grand Slam singles championships: five US Opens, two Wimbledons, and one Australian Open. He did not participate in the French Open during his peak years (1974–78), as he was banned from playing by the event in 1974 due to his association with World Team Tennis (WTT). and in the other four years was either banned or chose not to participate. He only played in two Australian Opens in his entire career, winning it in 1974 and reaching the final in 1975. Few highly ranked players, aside from Australians, travelled to Australia for that event up until the mid-1980s.
  In 1974, Connors was the dominant player and held the ATP No. 1 ranking at the end of the year. He had a 99–4 record that year and won 15 tournaments of the 21 he entered, including three of the four Grand Slam singles titles. As noted, the French Open did not allow Connors to participate due to his association with World Team Tennis (WTT), but he won the Australian Open, which began in late December 1973 and concluded on January 1, 1974, defeating Phil Dent in four sets, and beat Ken Rosewall in straight sets in the finals of both Wimbledon and the US Open losing only 6 and 2 games, respectively, in those finals. His exclusion from the French Open denied him the opportunity to become the second male player of the Open Era, after Rod Laver, to win all four Major singles titles in a calendar year.  He 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 (WCT) finals because he did not compete in the WCT's regular tournaments.
  In the open era, Connors is one of only six men to win three or more Grand Slam singles titles in a calendar year. The others are: Rod Laver who won the Grand Slam in 1969; Mats Wilander won the Australian, French and US Open in 1988; Roger Federer won the Australian, Wimbledon and US Open in 2004, 2006 and 2007; Rafael Nadal won the French, Wimbledon, and US Open in 2010; and Novak Djokovic won the Australian, Wimbledon, and US Open in 2011 and 2015.
  Connors reached the final of the US Open in five straight years from 1974 through 1978, winning three times with each win being on a different surface (1974 on grass, 1976 on clay and 1978 on hard). He reached the final of Wimbledon four out of five years during his peak (1974, 1975, 1977 and 1978). Despite not being allowed to play or choosing not to participate in the French Open from 1974 to 1978, he was still able to reach the semifinals four times in the later years of his career.
  In 1975, Connors reached the finals of Wimbledon, the US Open and Australia, he but did not win any of them, although his loss to John Newcombe was close as Connors lost 9-7 in a fourth set tiebreak. He won nine of the tournaments he entered achieving an 82–8 record.  While he achieved enough points to retain the ATP No. 1 ranking the entire year, most tennis authorities, including the ATP, named Arthur Ashe, who solidly defeated Connors at Wimbledon, as the Player of the Year. He once again did not participate in the Masters Cup or the WCT Finals.
  In 1976, Connors captured the US Open once again (defeating Björn Borg) while losing in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. While winning 12 events, including the U.S. Pro Indoor in Philadelphia, Palm Springs and Las Vegas, he achieved a record of 90–8 and defeated Borg all four times they played. He was ranked No. 1 by the ATP for the entire year and was named the player of the year by most tennis sources, but not by the ATP, which named Björn Borg as its player of the year.
  In 1977, Connors lost in the Wimbledon finals to Borg 6-4 in the fifth set and in the US Open finals to Guillermo Vilas, but Connors captured both the Masters, beating Borg, and the WCT Finals. While holding onto the ATP No. 1 ranking, the World Tennis Magazine and most tennis authorities ranked Borg or Vilas No. 1 with Connors rated as No. 3 behind Borg.
  In 1978, Borg defeated Connors in the Wimbledon final, but Connors defeated Borg at the US Open (played on hard court for the ina
caption: Connors at the 1978 ABN Tennis Tournament holding his Wilson T2000 steel racket
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