Tennis legend Jimmy Connors reveals all - Video on NBCNews.com Rock Center | May 10, 2013 Tennis legend Jimmy Connors reveals all From his engagement to Chris Evert, to the role his mother played in his tennis career, to his gambling addiction when his life on the court faded, legend Jimmy Connors reveals all to Rock Center’s Harry Smith. Share This: Did Camp Lejeune water cause man’s breast cancer? Rock Center Game Gone Wrong: Bryan Stow and his recovery Rock Center Boston bombing amputee rises to her feet Rock Center Activists say Goodwill exploits workers with penny wages Rock Center Stella!

Inside the empire of Stella McCartney Rock Center Brian Williams signs off Rock Center with a look back Rock Center Boston bombing amputee walks with new legs Rock Center Some workers at Goodwill paid as little as 22 cents an hour Rock Center Paul McCartney: Being Stella’s dad, ‘pretty cool’ Rock Center In the Newsroom: Happy 'Trololo' birthday to you Rock Center 19-year-old hopes to revolutionize nuclear power Rock Center Aesha, three years later: ‘I’m a very lucky girl’ Rock Center June 14, 2013 This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program. >>> for mother 's day, our next report focuses on one of the most intense mother /son relationships you will ever come across. jimmy connors became a tennis legend famous for his grit also his volcanic temper, but it's the portions of his new memoir that deal with his life off the tennis court that are deservedly getting the most attention. tonight for the first time he talks about all of it with harry smith . >> reporter: at a municipal tennis court off highway 101 a man repeats a ritual he's been performing since his mother put a racket in his hand.

yes, that's jimmy coners. grinding away at a public tennis court . maybe we shouldn't be surprised because in the 1970s , connors was the guy who dragged tennis kicking and screaming from the country clubs to the streets. you come on the scene, you're brash. you yell at umpires. you flip off people in the crowd. you use your tennis racket in obscene ways sometimes. we'll find the pictures. >> i'm not denying anything. >> reporter: love him or loathe him, fans wanted to see him. >> this is what they pay for. this is what they want. >> reporter: they're amazed by you. they're transfixed on you. but they don't necessarily like you. >> well, not at the beginning, no. i mean i'm going to get hammered for this, but i don't really care. tennis needed a face-lift. we needed people who were loving baseball, basketball. >> reporter: the average sports fan. >> the real sports fan. not the average sports fan.

the real sports fan who wanted to come see two guys going at it willing to give everything they had, break their back for them, leave their blood on the court and have fun doing it. >> reporter: you were the torch that lit that fire. >> burn. let it burn . i needed something to do. >> reporter: and now connors is likely to burn a few bridges after a long self-imposed exile. he's emerged with a raw and revealing memoir called "the outsider." >> you know, i look back, it was painful writing this book. going back. i had amnesia for so long. it resurrected a lot of things that kind of made me look at myself. >> reporter: here are the headlines. how his engagement to chris evert ended. how he brazenly humiliated his wife with a very public affair . how he tortured him family with a high stakes gambling addiction and how he never said no to his mother who taught him the game but also tried to wall jimmy off from the world. east st. louis, illinois, north 68th street, the house where tennis lessons from mom began on a backyard practice wall. when the family moved, the new house had a full-sized court.

people said there's something wrong with this relationship. why is it? what's this deal with connors ? your opponents would call you a mama's boy. what was that like for you? >> but never to my face. it's interesting because i've said many, many times that it's okay for joe montana 's dad to hit him with the football, wayne gretzky 's dad to give him a hockey stick but a relationship with your mother especially who had the guts to step up just wasn't acceptable. >> reporter: jimmy and his mother . their relationship was the source of his success and the reason for his rage. >> i think a lot went back to the incident with my mother . >> reporter: you're at a tennis court -- >> right. when she got smacked. >> reporter: jones park in east st. louis. jimmy and his mom were playing here one day when gloria asked two men playing nearby to turn down their radio. in response one man hit her so hard he knocked her teeth out. how old were you? >> 8. about 7, 8 years old. >> reporter: to hear you talk about it, it sounds like it happened yesterday.

>> it did. in my mind, it did. >> reporter: because she was hurt pretty badly. >> i don't know if she ever got over it or not, but she never said a word about it after that day. >> reporter: really? >> not a word. nope. >> reporter: gloria connors would mold jimmy 's tennis career, no matter where it would take them, no matter the cost. your mother had the right idea on that. in 1968 , gloria took jimmy to beverly hills . he was 16. there gloria surrendered the rest of jimmy 's tennis education to tennis legend pancho sigura. >> she had taken me as far as she could. and she realized that. that was more her genius, not only did she give me the game, very compact, easy playing game, but she knew when to turn me loose. >> reporter: take me back to 1974 . you won 99 matches, 15 tournaments, all of the grand slams except the french open . that's a pretty good year. >> that's a career. >> reporter: cover of "time" magazine.

>> that's one of the coolest right there. being on the cover of "time". >> reporter: and to top it all off, the bad boy of tennis was dating the princess of the court, chris evert . when 19-year-old evert and 21-year-old connors both won wimbledon in 1974 , the british press dubbed it the love double. the two were engaged with a november wedding date. why didn't you and chris get married? >> bad timing at the time for both of us. even though we had something very special during the time that we were together, it was -- you know, the pressure on us was unbelievable. >> reporter: last week word spread of connors ' shocking revelation. from what i'm reading, it looks to me like she had an abortion. did you and chris have a conversation about this? about making a decision like that? >> well, that was certainly a decision that needed to be made, and you know to have faced that together and to go through that together was a necessarily, sure. >> reporter: in reaction, chris evert released this statement.

jimmy connors has written about a time in our relationship that was very personal and emotionally painful. i am extremely disappointed that he used the book to misrepresent a private matter that took place 40 years ago and made it public without my knowledge. in 1978 , connors married the former patti mcguire . she was the new playmate of the year. by this time, gloria connors had developed a reputation as an iron lady who controlled all aspects of her son's life. how did you get along with jimmy 's mom? >> not well. not well. i mean, i loved her, but she was a tough cookie. all 5'2". >> reporter: what was that about? because you write in your book that your mother basically froze patti out. >> well, you know, my mom, as like patti said, she hunched her shoulders and did what she did, which was, you know, almost, you know, push patti aside. >> reporter: jimmy , here's your point to say, i should have stood up to my mother and -- >> listen, you're leaning in to me. that's a bad sign.

>> reporter: in the book, connors writes how in 1983 he openly cheated on patti . let me just ask you why did you stay? >> bottom line is i loved him. and you know, no one's infallible. we all make mistakes. >> i think that, you know, it's been written many times that patti connors was a saint to put up with jimmy connors . and i've said that's the only thing the press really got right about my whole career. they don't know how right they are about that. >> reporter: but most tennis fans remember about jimmy connors and what some of us will never forget took place in september of 1991 , the u.s. open . we were riveted that labor day . his 39th birthday. watching an epic nearly five-hour match, connors beat aaron cricksteen, a top ten player 15 years his junior. >> i've never felt anything like that before ever. and for me, that's what i waited 20 years to hear.

>> reporter: when connors finally left the game in the late '90s and the cheering stopped, his landing in real life wasn't pretty. patti was busy at home with son brett and daughter aubrey. without the adrenaline rush of tennis , jimmy turned to compulsive big money gambling, an expensive substitute. what did you tell him? >> either that goes or i go. >> reporter: really? >> yeah, i'm not going to put up with that. >> reporter: so you still gamble? >> no. >> reporter: done? >> finished. >> reporter: now on new artificial hips connors is at the muni court regularly breaking a sweat with good friends cindy nally and pete moran na. as ever, he's generous with hackers. >> no, impossible! >> reporter: i've always wanted to do it. >> what? >> reporter: and is accommodating to autograph seekers. >> pleasure to meet you.

Roger Federer: Swiss Legend Will Not Challenge Jimmy Connors' Title Record | Bleacher Report Roger Federer: Swiss Legend Will Not Challenge Jimmy Connors' Title Record By Ian Hanford , Featured Columnist May 29, 2012 Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse more stories Clive Brunskill/Getty Images 4 Comments Roger Federer 's 74 career tournament titles will never amount to Jimmy Connors' 109 tourney championships. Federer has been a professional tennis player for roughly 14 years. That means he has won around 5.3 tournament titles per year of competition. With his current pace, Federer would need to play on his championship level for seven more years. That just isn't realistic. This is why. Age Federer will be 37 by the time he breaks Connors' record, if he were to stay on his current pace. His age is already discouraging, given his small setback in success, but it will be worse in a year or two. Can Federer challenge Connors' record? A. Yes Submit Vote vote to see results Can Federer challenge Connors' record? A.

Yes 55.5% Total votes: 274 It is tough to believe that Federer will win five titles a year, for seven more years. If he were in his prime, maybe his early 20s, he could possibly do it. However, being 30 years old now greatly diminishes that possibility. Federer is certainly a contender in this year's French Open, but his longevity should be questioned. Other players have caught up to his skill level, and are able to use his age to their advantage. Which brings up to the other players in today's tennis world. Stiff Competition Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will give Federer enough obstacles to overcome in the next few years. That doesn't even include any other solid players now, or anyone who may emerge. Djokovic and Nadal are already on Federer's level. Give them—Djokovic especially—a few more years of seasoning and they will only become a tougher challenge. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images Federer will need to traverse a tightrope of tough competitors and increasingly difficult odds in order to chase down Connors' record. Despite Federer's superior talent, the situation just isn't in his favor.

He still has a few more solid touring years ahead of him, but not up to the caliber of his prime playing years. The idea of Federer breaking Connors' record is nice for Federer fans and fans of modern tennis, but it isn't a realistic goal. Instead, tennis fans will have to settle for Federer's already-elite career resume. Jimmy Connors: still angry after all these years - Telegraph Celebrity news Jimmy Connors: still angry after all these years Tennis legend Jimmy Connors on his new memoir and the shocking revelation about an abortion that has so upset his former girlfriend Chris Evert Jimmy Connors says rage has been a motivating emotion in his life Photo: Getty Images Comments 'Get those tiger juices flowing,” Gloria Connors would urge her young son before a game. The shaggy-haired, working-class boy from Illinois would do as he was told, harnessing the rage built up during a tough childhood and unleashing it on his unsuspecting opponent. It was that rage, he says now, that won him his first major tennis title in the men’s doubles with Ilie Nastase at Wimbledon in 1973.

That rage went on to win him eight Grand Slam singles titles, including Wimbledon in 1982, beating John McEnroe in an epic final. That rage, he claims in his new autobiography, The Outsider, won him a record 109 tournaments over the course of his career, propelled him to world Number One for 268 weeks, and allowed him to play at the highest level well into his forties. “What was I angry about?” he muses today, a solid, California-tanned figure in a baby-blue golfing sweater and jeans, the unruly hair now tamed into a salt and pepper slick. “Sometimes I was just angry about the morning. It was all there inside.” Connors had plenty to feel cross about. As an eight-year-old playing on the public courts in East St Louis, he witnessed his mother, grandfather and grandmother being savagely beaten by two local punks. His mother had more than 100 stitches to her mouth and struggled with her injuries until the day she died. Connors was also scarred for life. “When I needed something to push me to another level during matches, I would remember that day. I needed something extra a lot of the time.

Looking back, I can see why I played with so much rage.” Related Articles The Promise of Endless Summer 03 May 2013 Still now, over a decade after Connors gave up professional tennis, the 60-year-old is a tightly wound, uncompromising figure, his controlled speech belying the fraught character beneath. He may be remembered as one of the “Brat Pack” of tennis – a foul-mouthed tennis genius who was mentored on and off the court by his pal, “Nasty” Nastase and took the game from the back pages to the front with his off-court antics – but to him, the title of his autobiography was obvious. “I always felt like an outsider. Then, as I got older, I deliberately kept myself in that same mode because it gave me an edge. I might have dipped a toe on the inside, but really I was always better on my own.” Much has been made of his feud with McEnroe – a relationship that allegedly remains strained to this day – but Connors insists that it was never personal. “I liked a lot of the guys.

Maybe they didn’t like me and the way I played, but that was what it took for me to be what I became.” When, in the 1970s, television turned tennis from a game of country-club gentility into what Connors calls “a Wild West show” – with characters like Nastase, Bjorn Borg and McEnroe doing for the sport what the Stones had done for music a few years earlier – he was in his element. “My job was to make the crowd go crazy,” he writes in the book. “Anything else they got was a bonus,” he maintains. “But the tennis was always the show that drew people in.” Connors claims he was prone to shyness off-court, but that did not manifest itself when he gave the finger to a linesman who disagreed with a call or belted out profanities at adversaries. “We gave them glamour, excitement and controversy and they didn’t want it,” he shrugged. “Now, they’re longing for it and they can’t have it. Tennis is big business these days and the conscious entertainment has gone, but back then we all walked a fine line. Did we overstep it sometimes?

Sure, but that’s what drew in the crowds.” Connors admits that if he watched any of his past tournaments now (he never does), his behaviour “would probably make me blush”. Yet both in the book and in person, he seems reluctant to elaborate on just how far he overstepped the line off-court. Despite being nicknamed “the George Best of tennis” – a comparison he feels “is actually a pretty big compliment” – Connors insists he was never much of a party boy. “I could go out but it would catch up with me two or three days later,” he frowns. “I kept all that under control, and sometimes that was hard, but I always knew that it shouldn’t interfere with the tennis. And I wasn’t a ladies’ man. I was the shy, laid-back one but I happened to hang around guys who were pretty good with women.” Despite highly publicised relationships with fellow tennis star Chris Evert – to whom he became engaged when he was 21 and she was 19 – former Miss World Marjorie Wallace and Playboy model Patti McGuire, now his wife, and mother of their two adult children, Connors makes it clear in the book that he found it hard to remain faithful.

After he’d cheated on McGuire early in their marriage, she began divorce proceedings, but she later forgave Connors and has been with him ever since. “I consider myself lucky to have ended up with just the one woman,” he smiles. “Tennis gave me everything I became but I needed a woman who could handle all that. I’ve been married to Patti for 35 years, and she’s stayed with me through the ups and the downs. “I was great at confrontation on the court but not so much off it. Rather than confront issues, I would let things slide and go into the dark place in my head. Now I’m so grateful that my family stuck by me throughout all that.” There are touching passages in The Outsider about his mother – a former professional tennis player who honed Connors’ skills from a young age, taking him to California as a teenager for tutelage by the Ecuadorian player, Pancho Segura – his grandmother and his wife. But they are largely overshadowed by his unchivalrous portrayal of his former fiancée, Evert, as a controlling, promiscuous young woman who bore little resemblance to the softly spoken all-American girl with whom the world fell in love.

In a passage that made global headlines when the book was published in the US earlier this month, Connors strongly hints – without stating it – that Evert had an abortion, against his wishes, shortly before they were due to be married. Evert responded with the statement: “I am extremely disappointed that he used the book to misrepresent a private matter that took place 40 years ago, and made it public without my knowledge.” Does he regret the revelation now? “No,” Connors says, his mouth tightening. “It was a part of my life. At the time, a very important part of my life.” And he didn’t feel stung by the subsequent criticism? “I didn’t read any of it,” he shrugs. Has he been in touch with Evert since? “Yes – we spoke.” Did he apologise? “No. We spoke. But it’s a book about my life and it was very subtle. There are 400 other pages in the book, but everyone focuses on that one.” While it’s tempting to think that Connors became hardened by celebrity and his sporting ambition, it seems more likely that the iron will at the core of him was forged years before, on that bloodied tennis court in East St Louis.

His regrets (“there’s always a price to pay: tennis was my mother and my grandmother, but it wasn’t my dad, so I distanced myself from him”) and the pain that the end of his career caused him have done nothing to soften his character. “There’s no doubt that you go through a depression when it ends,” he says sadly. “I fought it until I was 40 and then did the senior tour until I was 49, just to keep my hand in. It wasn’t the big stage, but it was still a stage…” He goes on: “There’s no replacing the feeling, no replacing the applause and everything that goes along with that.” And boy did he try, he laughs. “I kept trying to find something that could create a little more excitement – even if it was just three seconds’ worth, but there was nothing. When you can’t sell out places any more, you can’t win Wimbledon or the US Open any more…” He looks down at the hands folded in his lap.

“What do you do?” He plays golf, swims and tries to play a little tennis every day, but after three hip operations “it’s more standing than playing; titanium doesn’t move so well.” I ask whether he feels that he’s mellowed – and he doesn’t like it. “I prefer 'matured’.” Has he still got the rage? “I do,” he smiles. “I control it a little better now, but it’s still there.” 'The Outsider: A Memoir’ by Jimmy Connors (Bantam Press, £14.99), is available from Telegraph Books at £12.99, plus £1.35 p&p. Call 0844 871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk BBC SPORT | Tennis | US Open | Golden memories for Connors Tuesday, 11 February, 2003, 23:33 GMT Golden memories for Connors Connors thrived under New York's bright lights By Sophie Brown BBC Sport Online It seems apt that tennis legend Jimmy Connors should celebrate the milestone of turning 50 during the US Open.

For the last Grand Slam of the season was the most successful of the four Majors for Connors during his 20-year career. He took the title five times and is the only player to have won it on three different surfaces - grass, clay and hardcourt. Jimmy Connors factfile Born: 2 Sept, 1952 in Bellville, Illinois Titles won: 109 US Op 74, 76, 78, 82, 83 Career earnings: $8.6m In 1991, it was the scene of his inspired run to the semi-finals at the age of 39. Furthermore, if you had to pick the Grand Slam event that most personifies Connors, it would have to be the US Open. You would equate him neither with the laidback charm of the Australian Open nor the proud sophistication of Roland Garros. You would certainly not think of him in terms of the quaint gentility of Wimbledon. No, it would have to be the brash, electric and gladiatorial atmosphere of Flushing Meadows.

The noise of overhead aircraft and the heckling, restless crowds of the biggest tennis stadium in the world have daunted many players - but not Connors. He was the master at playing the crowd, whipping up a frenzied atmosphere and then feeding off it to blow his opponent off court. Connors was the ultimate scrapper, the man who never gave up, the player whose game involved a no-holds-barred onslaught on his opponent. His desire to win - and hatred of losing - drove him on to claim a record 109 titles. Connors always gave his all on court Like John McEnroe, another great left-hander of his era, Connors was a rebel who had little on-court respect for officialdom. But McEnroe's delicate touch and sublime shot-making won him admirers among purists. There was little beauty about Connors' game, which involved outslugging his opponent, his double-fisted backhand being a particular trademark. Yet it was effective and made him one of the most consistent players on the tour and as reliable as the pudding-bowl haircut, another "Jimbo" trait. Two more of his trademarks were also abhorrent to tennis purists.

The first was his non-wooden racket, the second his grunt - both were almost his exclusive property when he joined the circuit but had been adopted by many rivals by the time he quit the game. While most of his contemporaries came from privileged backgrounds, Connors was taught to play tennis by his mother on public courts near his home in Illinois. Just as he began as an outsider, so he remained one throughout his career and beyond. Some admired him for his refusal to court favour and his insistence on being his own man but sometimes his churlish stubbornness did him no favours. He refused to take part in the parade of champions to celebrate 100 years of Wimbledon in 1977, instead practising on an outside court, and spurned a similar celebration in the Millennium year. When he was elected to tennis' Hall of Fame, he sent his manager along to accept the award. From metal racquets to metal clubs While many of his contemporaries have made new careers for themselves in the commentary box, Connors - some fleeting appearances on the senior circuit aside - has turned his back on the sport. These days he is more likely to be found playing golf near his home in California.

But although he is just a memory on the tennis circuit, 2001 US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt appears to be from the same mould. The Australian baseliner relishes a scrap and has intense mental focus and an overwhelming fist-pumping desire to win - all straight from Connors' locker. Like Connors, Hewitt is open about the fact that he is on court to win, not to make friends. And just as Hewitt is dating top women's player Kim Clijsters, so Connors once delighted the tabloids with his engagement to Chris Evert. The match of the street fighter with the girl next door was never going to last, unlike Connors' career, which spanned a 20-year period. And it was two decades of giving it everything he had, win or lose. Connors celebrated his 40th birthday by winning a first round match at the 1992 US Open. He may not be doing that on his 50th but he is unlikely ever to be forgotten by the New York crowd.

Review the action Genie Bouchard hoping Jimmy Connors can revive her career – Metro Tennis fans and reporters were abuzz on the Internet last week when pictures surfaced of the 62-year-old Connnors working with the 21-year-old Bouchard at both the West Side Tennis Club and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. "We're just friends," Connors told The New York Times. Connors, of course, won the Open on all three surfaces -- hardcourts, clay and grass -- and made a memorable run to the semifinals in 1991 at 39. He captured eight Grand Slam titles and is regarded as one of the fiercest competitors of all time. Still, his coaching track record isn't exactly stellar. Connors previously coached Andy Roddick for almost two years and then had an ill-fated partnership with Maria Sharapova that lasted just one match in 2013. RELATED LINK: US Open worth checking out, whether you're a tennis fan or not “Working this week with Jimmy has really given me a different side of things, like a different point of view,” Bouchard said. “He’s very energetic.

He’s kind of lifted my spirits a little bit. He believes in me. He helped me kind of believe in myself more and regain that confidence.” It made sense for Bouchard to seek him out, even if it's not a full-fledged coaching commitment as of yet. After reaching the Wimbledon final and two other Grand Slam semifinals in 2014, the blonde bombshell was hailed as the next big thing in tennis and drew comparisons to the iconic Sharapova. RELATED LINK: Roger Federer says he still has what it takes to win Yet her success was short-lived. The Canadian is just 4-15 since the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, in March. Last week in New Haven she was blown out by Roberta Vinci, 6-1, 6-0. Yet Bouchard earned a much-needed victory on Monday at the Open when she knocked out American Alison Riske, 6-4, 6-3, before a pro-Genie capacity crowd on the intimate Court 17. At least one fan yelled, "I love you, Genie," while others repeatedly snapped her picture.

During her struggles, she felt the press turned on her and she was given a crash course in the realities of life on the pro tennis tour. "I've learned the media, they always want to write a story," she said. "They always need a headline. I try not to take it personally. You know, I don't think I deserved all the stuff I got. You know, at the same time it's their job, it's your jobs, and I respect that." Bouchard said it's important to focus on herself and remain positive. RELATED: Jeremy Sisto plays a tempermental tennis player in 'Break Point' "I'm a good tennis player," she said. "I have the skill. I have everything I need. Just no matter what keep working, keep my head up, keep my spirits up, keep that belief no matter what people say. It can be hard at times when you hear so many negative things. "If I think that about myself, my inner team truly believes in me as well. That helps. That is what is helping me get through." If she can get through to the Round of 16, Connors will be back at the Open, the site of his previous glories.

In the meantime, Bouchard checks in with him on the phone to get pointers and inspiration. "He is [coming back] but only next Sunday," Bouchard said with a smile. "So I have to do well to see him again." Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter @AdamZagoria for updates throughout the U.S. Open. Related Links ESPN.com: Connors conquered with intensity Connors conquered with intensity By Larry Schwartz Special to ESPN.com He was raised by women to conquer men, and that's exactly what Jimmy Connors did. He conquered them, as he had been taught by his mother and grandmother, on the tennis courts. Connors won five United States Open titles, and he is the only player to win this Grand Slam event on three different surfaces. He won two Wimbledons and one Australian Open. For five consecutive years in the 1970s, the left-handed dynamo was ranked No. 1 at the end of the year. He is the all-time leader in pro singles titles with 109 and matches won at the U.S. Open (98) and Wimbledon (84).

When Jimmy Connors got on a roll, such as the one he rode at the 1991 U.S. Open, he let the crowd know and then fed off of its emotional response. How's that for conquering? His biggest weapons were an indomitable spirit, a two-handed backhand and the best service return in the game. It is difficult to say which was more instrumental in Connors becoming a champion. He was born Sept. 2, 1952 in Belleville, Ill., just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. He was raised to be a tennis player by his mother, a teaching pro named Gloria Thompson Connors, and "Two Mom," grandmother Bertha Thompson. He started playing as a toddler. "My mother rolled balls to me, and I swung at them," Connors said. "I held the racquet with both hands because that was the only way I could lift it." Though smaller than most of his competitors, Connors didn't let it bother him, making up for a lack of size with determination. He played in his first U.S. Championship, the boys 11-and under division, when he was just 8 years old.

After winning the NCAA singles title as a UCLA freshman in 1971, he turned pro the next year and won six tournaments on tour. He won 11 more in 1973, a year that ended with him ranked third in the world. Then in 1974, the 5-foot-10, 155-pounder really began dominating, winning 15 tournaments. More significantly, he won three quarters of the Grand Slam: He won the Australian Open in his first crack down under (he would play this tournament only once more) and then captured Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. In the latter two tournaments, he beat Ken Rosewall in the finals, limiting the aging Australian legend to an astounding six game victories in six sets. Connors was denied a shot at the Grand Slam because he was banned from the French Open that year after signing to play in World Team Tennis. Because the Association of Tennis Pros (which Connors refused to join) and the French officials opposed WTT, entries of WTT players were refused. During the year, the world's No. 1 male player was involved in a storybook romance with the No. 1 female player, Chris Evert.

The relationship between the Wimbledon champions was hot and heavy before eventually cooling. Each later married someone else. ZONE POLL Previous poll results While tennis fans enjoyed Connors' gritty style and his never-say-die attitude, they often were shocked by his antics. His sometimes vulgar on-court behavior -- like giving the finger to a linesman after disagreeing with a call -- did not help his approval rating. During the early part of his career, Connors frequently argued with umpires, linesmen, the players union, Davis Cup officials and other players. He was even booed at Wimbledon -- a rare show of disapproval there -- for snubbing the Parade of Champions on the first day of the Centenary in 1977. Though No. 1 for 263 weeks in the '70s, he didn't win another Wimbledon that decade. Three times he lost in the finals, to Arthur Ashe in 1975 and to Bjorn Borg in 1977 and 1978. The 1977 defeat to Borg was an exceptional match, with Connors rallying from 0-4 in the fifth set to tie before the Swede won the final two games.

It wasn't until 1982 that Connors would win his second title on the Wimbledon grass. Three points from losing to John McEnroe in a fourth-set tiebreaker, Connors came back to win the tie-breaker and then took the fifth set 6-4. Overall, though, Connors had a losing record (13-20) against McEnroe, who rose to prominence after Connors peaked. But just as Connors had shining moments against McEnroe, so did he have important triumphs against Borg and Ivan Lendl, two other No. 1 players he had losing records against. Though 7-10 against Borg and 13-22 against Lendl, he beat each twice in the finals of his favorite tournament, the U.S. Open. He whipped Borg in four sets, including a breath-taking 11-9 third-set tiebreaker, in the final on the clay of Forest Hills in 1976, and routed the Swede in straight sets on the hard court to take the first tournament at Flushing Meadow in 1978.

These victories enabled Connors to become the only player to win the Open on three different surfaces (the 1974 victory came on grass). In 1982 and 1983, Connors won four-set finals against Lendl at Flushing Meadow. But perhaps Connors' finest performance at the U.S. Open was in 1991, when he celebrated his 39th birthday. It certainly was his most popular. By now, an older Connors had toned down his vulgarity, though not his competitive spirit. And the fans were enthralled by the way he gutted out one victory after another against much younger opponents. In 1990, he had played only three matches (0-3) because of a wrist injury and surgery. By the end of the year, his ranking had fallen from 14th to a tie for 936th. By the 1991 Open, he was No. 174 and needed a wild card to get into the tournament. In the first round, he faced McEnroe . but younger brother Patrick this time, not John.

Connors trailed two sets and 3-0 in the third set in the evening encounter. But then began the stuff of legends. At 1:35 in the morning, after 4 hours and 18 minutes of play, Connors walked off the court a winner, having taken the fifth set 6-4. Next came straight-set victories over Michiel Schapers and 10th-seeded Karel Novacek. On Sept. 2, Connors gave himself a wonderful 39th birthday present. He lost two of the first three sets to Aaron Krickstein before tying the match. Krickstein went ahead 5-2 in the fifth. But with the crowd cheering wildly and Connors pumping his arms after winning shots, he roared back and won in a tiebreaker. The place went crazy. Reports said some fans paid scalpers as much as $500 to see his quarterfinal match against Paul Haarhuis. They weren't cheated. From a set and a break down, Connors rallied to win the final three sets as again the crowd shrieked its delight on his winning points. At 39, he was, incredibly, in the final four.

Unfortunately, the magic was gone in the semifinals, as Jim Courier won in straight sets. Still, although Stefan Edberg won the tournament, it was Connors' Open in the public's view. Connors, who won $8,641,040 in official earnings, wound down his playing on tour in 1993. That year, he started his own tour for players 35 and over, and with his will as strong as ever, he has dominated play there as well. On July 11, 1998, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Connors has no apologies, for his career or book FacebookEmail Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest Connors has no apologies, for his career or book During his playing days Jimmy Connors was never one for pulling punches, and even though the American tennis icon is now in the business of writing books, his pugilistic side is still front and center.

Post to Facebook Connors has no apologies, for his career or book During his playing days Jimmy Connors was never one for pulling punches, and even though the American tennis icon is now in the business of writing books, his pugilistic side is still front and center. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: CancelSend A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. 10 To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs Connors has no apologies, for his career or book Chris Oddo, Special for USA TODAY Sports Published 8:03 a.m. ET May 13, 2013 | Updated 6:08 p.m. ET May 13, 2013 Jimmy Connors, shown here at the U.S. Open in 2012, speaks his mind in a controversial book that arrives in bookstores this week.

(Photo: Dan Istitene, Getty Images) Story Highlights Jimmy Connors shows the same in-your-face personality in his new book that he showed as a player "I've got scars on the outside and scars on the inside" Connors' book 'The Outsider' arrives in stores this week During his playing days Jimmy Connors was never one for pulling punches, and even though the American tennis icon is now in the business of writing books, his pugilistic side is still front and center. Connors' controversial memoir The Outsider, which will be released this week, is written with the same tough-as-nails edginess that defined the eight-time Grand Slam winner during 2½ decades of hair-raising, in-your-face tennis. As it turns out, the man who won more titles (109) and compiled more wins (1,237) than any other male player in tennis history can also spin an entertaining tale.

The 401-page romp takes readers on a roller-coaster ride from Connors' formative years through an era of professional tennis in the 1970s that was part circus, part wild west and part gladiator pit, but always it reinforces the notion that Connors was a man who loved tennis and wanted desperately to win at all costs. Now 60, Connors freely admits that he misses the big stage. "There's no doubt," he told USA TODAY Sports in a phone interview last week. "To have been able to play at the level that I was able to play at and to go through all of that for such a long period of time, to all of the sudden wake up one day and not have that is a bit of shock." Always eager to leave the tennis court awash in his own blood, sweat and tears, Connors has approached his first book with the same vitality, choosing to unearth personal demons, lurid infidelities and old secrets for all the world to read. He writes of his own struggles with a gambling addiction and obsessive compulsive disorder.

He airs out intimate details of his romance with Chris Evert, which ended with a terminated pregnancy, and vilifies legends Arthur Ashe and Andre Agassi, all the while being unafraid to take a self-deprecating tone. And, true to form, he makes no apologies. "Tennis gave Agassi everything — his fame, his money, his reputation, even his current wife — and he went on to knock it in his book," writes Connors. Connors and Ashe had a strained relationship, which Connors attributed to Ashe's resentment of all the money he was making on non-sanctioned challenge matches at the time. These matches diminished the prestige of the ATP tour in Ashe's view, and Ashe also had a beef with Connors' lack of enthusiasm for Davis Cup competition. "All he had to do was come up and talk to me face to face, man to man, but he chose not to," Connors writes of the time that Ashe left a note in his locker at Wimbledon outlining his views. "It annoyed me, but not so much as when he walked out on Centre Court wearing his Davis Cup jacket, with U.S.A.

emblazoned across his chest." But these quips and quarrels pale in comparison to the startling revelation that Chris Evert had become pregnant during her much publicized relationship with Connors in 1974. The fallout ended up breaking up their engagement. "That was a part of my life, and a very big part of my life at the time," he said of his relationship with Evert. "It was not labored on and it was said as a matter of fact." (Photo: File) "All these questions come up," says Tennis Channel commentator Justin Gimelstob, on what might have spurred Connors to dredge up some sensitive issues from his past. "What's his motivation? Why? Nobody could truly know those, it's just people speculating. At the end of the day he knows why he did what he did, and why he does what he does." Connors believes he owed it to his readers to give them everything he had. "People, when they watched me play tennis, saw what I was able to give them, and that's what I tried to do with the book," he said.

"I guess it would have been very easy to sit down and just write only the good things, right?" If Connors had chosen to write only the good things, there would have been no shortage of material to draw from. Trained by his mother Gloria and his grandmother, affectionately called "Two-Mom," the Belleville, Ill., native embarked on a wild ride that eventually landed him in southern California where his mother would deliver him to the venerable touring pro Pancho Segura, one of the top male pros in the 1950's, for further priming. When asked what he saw in him, Segura told Connors, "I loved your pride. You were born to be a champion." Connors, 5-9 and 155 pounds, didn't cut an intimidating figure, but his tenacity more than made up for anything that he might have lacked in size. "The guy personified leaving it all on the court," says Gimelstob, who credits Connors with inspiring his love for tennis when he was a youth. "He symbolized maximizing effort and getting every ounce of talent out of your body.

He was the ultimate competitor." "You felt like he gave you such a gigantic effort every time he stepped on the court," says Steve Flink, a notable tennis historian and author. "He was a singularly compelling player." He was ornery, too. Defiant, anti-establishment and obstinate, Connors clashed with tennis' powers that be, turning fans and fellow players against him at the beginning of his career. "That was more or less my upbringing," Connors told USA TODAY Sports. "It was well documented that it was me and my mom and my family against the world." It didn't help that he was aligned with a salty promoter by the name of Bill Riordan who brought lawsuits against ATP bigwigs and created an air of contempt around Connors even as he took his place at the pinnacle of the sport in 1974. "I was simply in the middle of a nasty power struggle and being cast as the villain," Connors writes in his memoir. "Well, screw you, I'll use the aggravation to motivate myself." It would take a while, but eventually Connors would shed some of his defiance and let the crowds join him in his no-holds-barred quest for glory.

"What he learned to do over time was to enjoy himself more and he didn't have to stop being who he was but he could find a way to win the fans over," Flink says. "He found a way to embrace them." But Connors never dropped the ferocity that made him such a terror to play against. Nor did he ever let go of his belief that tennis was meant to be a form of entertainment as much as it was meant to be a competition. "The fans that came to watch us play, they weren't there just to see the tennis," he says. "We had to be the fight on the hockey arena, we had to be the walk-off home run in the seventh game of the World Series, we had to be the 100-yard kickoff return on the gridiron. We had to do that to get those sports fans to come in and be a part of us." Bad behavior was what the fans craved in those days, and the marquee players of that era — Ile Nastase, John McEnroe and Connors, to name a few — gave them what they wanted. Crotch-grabbing, bird-flipping, name-calling, in a time before political correctness and smartphones, anything went.

"What we were able to do and get by with, I don't know if that would be acceptable today," Connors says. "It was a wild west show back when we were playing, and shooting from the hip and the lip wasn't a bad thing." It may not have been a bad thing for Connors and other greats at the top of the tennis food chain, but for players looking to make their mark, it could be tricky. "Sometimes they were above the game," says ESPN commentator Brad Gilbert, a former pro. "Jimmy could bring the crowd into it. It took a lot to beat him tennis-wise, let alone he could get away with a lot more than any of the players can today." Connors would whip the crowd into a frenzy one last time when he reached the U.S. Open semifinals in 1991 at the age of 39, an age when all of his contemporaries had been long retired. Connors remembers those two weeks as the best of his career. "Being able to play that kind of tennis at 39 was pretty spectacular," he says. "I'd spent my whole career trying to get the fans involved like that and to get that kind of a reaction.

We always had the tennis fan. But the real sports fan coming in and being a part of what we were doing, that was the best ever." In the stands for every one of Connors' matches that year in New York, Gimelstob remembers it well. "You felt his will," he said. "Tennis is a blood sport, and he personified that." "Connors was regarded differently and his image changed," Flink says. "He had learned to enjoy the public arena more than he ever had and he found a way to not have to play against the crowds but to play for them. That was the key, now he played for them, and now he didn't see them as enemies any more either. He realized that he could win them over and that they could help him." More than 20 years later, Connors has elected to share the inside stories of a life spent in the tennis trenches with those fans who helped him take his tennis to the highest level.

From first-hand accounts of his intense rivalry with John McEnroe ("Mac is the one player I can watch limping around the court and feel good about saying 'F--- that guy.' ") to placing big wagers on himself to win Wimbledon at a London betting house, it's all there in black and white. Connors has turned back the clock and come out swinging, using words on the printed page like weapons, deploying them in the same fashion that he used to deploy his legendary two-handed backhand. With Connors, there is only one endgame. He plays to win, and he knows we want to see him lay it on the line. "Playing in front of 25,000 people and millions more on television, and performing and doing what I worked so hard to try to accomplish was, in my opinion, the ultimate," Connors says. "Do I miss it? Of course I do. I've got scars on the outside and scars on the inside, but it's been 60 years of good living." Follow Chris Oddo on Twitter, @TheFanChild .

Question: How many times did tennis legend Jimmy Connors win the US Open in the 1970s?
Answer: Three