US OPEN

September 7, 2003

Jimmy Connors

JIMMY CONNORS: Well, I mean, how can I sit up here and complain? I mean, coming back to a place that I spent many, many years, worked hard, long and hard to get here, to be able to put forth a career that warrants something like this. To be honored by the press and the fans here in New York, I guess that's about as good as it gets.

JIMMY CONNORS: The grass at Forest Hills or...

JIMMY CONNORS: Well, that's where I first started. That's really all I knew at the beginning. Growing up, seeing everything that went on at Forest Hills, the US Open was at Forest Hills, the grass and everything that that projected, to a young kid at the time, was what it was all about. I happened to be around at the right time when tennis outgrew that and they needed a place like Flushing Meadows to accommodate the fans who were really starting to take a great interest in the game. So to be able to come over here... But this was my atmosphere. I wasn't a country-clubber. I'm not saying that in a negative sense. I'm saying Forest Hills fit my personality; the fans fit my personality. But this area and everything about it was good for me.

JIMMY CONNORS: First time. I was here for a short time. Didn't go inside. I was busy outside. It certainly is a change from Louis Armstrong. It's massive inside. The fans seem to pack in and to want to be a part of everything about it. But the stadium and everything around it, they have a heck of a job; it's huge.

JIMMY CONNORS: Who said that? Well, I've been busy (laughter).

JIMMY CONNORS: Well, it's nice of you to ask. When I left here, I left here in '92. When I started the Senior Tour, for 35-and-over, which really took up an awful lot of my time. Played that through '99. Sold off my part of the Senior Tour. Really just spent my time around the house. I got reacquainted with my family. A lot of time had passed and days gone by that even with the Senior Tour, that took me away. And, basically I had enough. I burned myself out. Not with the tennis, but with everything that starting a business and doing what I had to do away from the court, finally took its toll on me. So I got away from it; spent a couple years away. Just recently, within the last eight, ten months, I've gotten back into doing a number of things. I started playing tennis again, which has been fun. Gotten involved in starting a youth education and mentoring program that looks like will start next year. I'm in some conversations with some corporate that they're gonna be a part of that and involved with a company whose mentoring program and business fits into my mentoring and education program. So I've really gotten, you know, back into tennis. Sort of playing a little bit. They've got a -- there's been some talk going around that there's a match that might happen in December between myself and Agassi and Sampras and McEnroe. Myself and McEnroe against Sampras and Agassi. I better get back into a little bit of shape just in case that happens.

JIMMY CONNORS: Well, I didn't for a long time, but lately I have. I've been watching more tennis. When I first left, back in the early '90s, I had to make a break from it. My years went not by days and dates, but by tournaments. So I had to really, you know, make a break so that my year wasn't prepared and surrounded by the US Open or Wimbledon or the French or any of the other tournaments that I would play. So I basically had to cut, cut away from it fully. Which was tough. It took a lot of time. My whole life, for 40-something years, was based on tennis and what I would do to prepare and to be a part of the actual playing of the game. The first year or two was a difficult time. But I slid into it nicely.

JIMMY CONNORS: (Laughing).

JIMMY CONNORS: I think it's more fun that, on occasion when they do show the matches on television, that my kids see it and see what I've done. That took an awful lot of energy. I don't have that kind of energy anymore to do. But when I look at that now and I look back, you know, I wondered two things - one, I must have been crazy to play five hours worth of tennis. I say that because, you know, now, I'm 51. Time passes. I look back and I say that, you know, something else was driving me to do something like that. To be able to have the kind of energy to produce everything else over and above that - you know, the fist pump or whatever you want - I mean, that was just added energy sapped from what I needed to produce at tennis. It was crazy.

JIMMY CONNORS: At least I know the result of that match now. That's a good thing.

JIMMY CONNORS: I think tennis missed a great opportunity not knowing my mom and not taking advantage of her abilities and her experience and her knowledge. You know, you could say a lot -- a lot of people could say that about their parents or coaches or whatever. She taught me. She had an easy pupil in me. I was her son. I was her friend. She was my coach. So, I mean, there was a lot of easy access to me. But she taught me a very simple game in a very simple time. The game that lasts; there was no frills in the game, in my game. It was straight back, straight through. The only thing I had to do was get movement involved in it to be able to get to the ball. Tennis might have benefitted a little by getting to know her a little better. That was okay because she was able to spend more time with me, which was better.

JIMMY CONNORS: I don't know what that was; I really don't, looking back. The tennis was something that, you know, luckily, that I just was drawn to. I loved it. I loved everything about it - the training, the exercise, the sacrifice. You name it, I liked it. But most of all, I liked coming out and performing and playing in front of 25,000 people. Now, on the other hand, there are people, press, whatever, out there that say that I needed that. No, I didn't need that. I needed the tennis. The tennis was what I was all about - my pride and performance. Everything else went along with it, you know, and was just added icing on the cake.

JIMMY CONNORS: Well, he's been out on the tour for a number of years. His experience, certainly, has entered into it. Three years worth of experience is huge at a young age. His abilities and his knowledge for playing big points now, it seems to me to be a lot different. He's not as overanxious at times. He's able to stay in there, to work the point a little bit more. But I came out yesterday and watched a few games. They all swing from the hip, every ball. I just sat up there and just said, "Is there ever any change of pace?" He's big, he's strong, he's powerful, he moves around the court well. His experience around the last couple of years has certainly come into play. I don't think you can ask any more than that.

JIMMY CONNORS: Well, his potential right now is the finals of the US Open, which is where he is, obviously, from his win yesterday, where he belongs. To come back from two sets down, matchpoint. If he's the athlete, the competitor and has the heart that I think he has, that's what you live for, you know, to be in a position like that, to turn it around and to come back. That's what the game's all about. It's okay. Anybody can go out and win 1 and 1 and walk off and say I played great or the other guy didn't have it today. To turn around a match like that and to show what you have beyond tennis... See, there are some occasions where tennis is almost secondary. It's what else is involved in you and what's inside you and what you can bring out that takes over and wins for you. And in a situation like that, like he was in yesterday, that's what it was all about.

JIMMY CONNORS: Well, no, not necessarily (smiling). No, I wouldn't of. Just to answer your question, everybody has their own personality and their own feelings about what tennis and what it should be and the way it should be played. Criticism is a part of everybody's success. And, you know, for him to have made a jump to the forefront like he has over the past two or three, four months, the tournaments that he's won, being in the finals of the US Open, criticism's all a part of that. It's the way you handle it that counts.

JIMMY CONNORS: No, I can't because I haven't been around long enough to really, you know, see and be a part of what's going on today. It would be unfair. I think that I have -- I've always felt that champions, champions from one era can transform into champions of any era. Certainly the game has changed now with the equipment and the way the guys have played. You know, they carry their trainers with them, their nutritionists, their managers. They all carry every opportunity along with them that can allow them and to push them to play better tennis - trainers and everything. Back then, a stretch was, you know, you go out, you move your finger a little bit, you say, "Come on, let's play. Serve them up." Now, the whole training habits, the kind of athletes they are certainly have improved. Along with the equipment and everything, it's really been just an added bonus to giving more players an opportunity to be better, be better than maybe normal. But obviously the talent has to be there, you know, to go out, perform and be the best. They just take advantage of their opportunities, which is great.

JIMMY CONNORS: We must be about the same age, then (smiling).

JIMMY CONNORS: I did say that, yes. The reason I did say that is no matter, you know, when you're in your youth and you're in your prime, things happen very easily and without thought. The older you get, you have to learn to adapt and to change and to be able to go about your business in a way that accomplishes your final goal. Now, experience is all a part of that - playing matches, being in situations, you know, living life and so forth. Even though I played later into my years, into my late 30s and 40, I had the experience. But, finally, it doesn't matter how much experience you have, your body just won't carry you. I remember talking to the great Pancho Gonzales when I was just a boy. I asked him, and he was in his 40s, I said, "What's the first thing that is going on you? Your eyes? You can't see?" He says, "No, my legs won't carry me." I'm a kid at 20 years old, I'm saying, "That will never happen to me." Guess what? It does.

JIMMY CONNORS: Certainly Pete, in his record and performance over the past 10 years or whatever, is outstanding. Especially his Grand Slam performance. 14 Grand Slams. I think that's the most ever. The way he's played and the way he's carried himself is certainly something he should be proud of. His rivalry with Agassi is what carried US tennis long after the likes of McEnroe and myself and guys have moved on, which, in turn, created the kind of interest in the game that kept it growing and kept it out there into the public so that you have 25,000 people at this tournament on a daily basis. So it's rivalries like that that are needed in this game, whether it's Agassi and Sampras, whether it's Roddick and James Blake. But, you know, in my opinion, US rivalries are important, important to the game. Especially important to the US Open. To have the opportunity to see their best. Now, to have great young players coming from all over the world certainly is just an added opportunity and advantage for every Grand Slam tournament. But for this tournament here, you know, this is where my heart lies now. You have to understand, I'm talking from here at the US Open. The US rivalries and the Agassi-Sampras rivalry has been a huge, huge part of everything that's happened here the last 10, 12 years.

JIMMY CONNORS: Tennis?

JIMMY CONNORS: Oh (laughter). Well, I must say I had a good time watching Agassi and Nalbandian yesterday. I was out here for a little bit and was able to watch. I went home, back to the city and watched the end of it on television and enjoyed it. I liked Roddick's performance. And Nalbandian also is one hell of a player. I also enjoyed the Capriati-Henin -- she's married now. I don't know her name, sorry. I enjoyed that match and the gutsy performance that she put up. I'm also happy and proud to see Capriati's resurgence into the game and the way she's played throughout the last couple years, coming back and getting back into the mix and into the top of the game.

JIMMY CONNORS: Well, certainly. I mean, from my standpoint. I mean, the confusion and everything about Louis Armstrong stadium is what fueled a lot of my performance, activity, success. I loved everything about that - you know, the planes flying over, the people walking around, the cell phones going off, people drinking beer in the front seat. I loved all of that. But that fit my personality. I mean, that was not -- that was never a bluff. That was something that I actually loved being a part of. But that was my whole upbringing. That was my beginning of tennis, you know, in a confused area and being able to, you know, set my sights on really what I wanted to do. Then once the point was over, to be able to break away from that, talk to the people, relax a little bit and then get back into that. A lot of people didn't like that. A lot of players don't like that. On the other hand, the fans were the ones that come out here, that pay their money to come watch tennis, and to really -- they're begging, begging, to get into it and to be a part of it and to be sucked into what's going down there on the court. You don't ask them to be quiet at a basketball game or football game or baseball game or a hockey game. So my career was spent on trying to make a tennis crowd into those fans, the team kind of fans.

JIMMY CONNORS: Well, I was successful at doing that. You know, this place made sounds unknown to tennis for me for a long time. I loved that. Do I miss that? I don't know if I'm quite that crazy anymore. I have left a lot of that behind. But to say I don't miss it, I'd be lying to you. I do miss it. The problem is I can't perform like that anymore so it was time to move on.

JIMMY CONNORS: Well, I'll answer the second one first - no. I have no regrets. As far as performance, as far as the way I played, as far as my career in any way, no, I don't. Because if I look back and regret one thing, I'd probably regret two or three things and I just don't have time for that. Especially now. It's too late. It's documented. You guys did that for me. It's all out there. Even today, I took responsibility for it then, I'll take responsibility for it now.

JIMMY CONNORS: My greatest day was the day I left here. The reason I say that is because I didn't leave anything out, especially at this tournament. When I walked out of here, I left DNA out there on that court. I say that with pride. In walking away, in not playing here anymore, it was the toughest thing I ever did. I mean, I made my reputation here, really -- no, I didn't make my reputation; this place made my reputation. I just happened to be along for the ride and part of it. To have walked away from here and been able to look back and to say that everything that I did here was -- I was able to just give everything that I ever had every time I walked out there, that was my best one, best day.

JIMMY CONNORS: You're right. They did take to a lot of guys back in my day. Reason being, the personality on and off the court, they all had their own styles on the court. Nobody played like Vilas; nobody played like Nastase; Nobody played like Panatta; nobody played like Orantes. Then off the court, they all had their own thrills, too, that were worthy and garnered some attention. Not that they don't today. It was a different time because television was new and really that was a huge push for tennis. So tennis players were a bit unique. You just didn't walk down the street and say, "Oh, there's Connors; there's Nastase." You'd walk down the street, a head would turn. The people really didn't know because we weren't out there quite enough. Then, next thing you know, the roles started coming and television is such a big part of that, then tennis' popularity grew and everything - which was a huge part of it. But the rivalries that you're talking about, even with the young kids today, with Roddick and Blake and Nalbandian and Ferrero and Lleyton Hewitt and everything, the important thing, you know, from my standpoint is - from an American's standpoint - is that one of the Americans are around. They can play anybody. One of the Americans, if they're around and they're performing and they're playing up to the standard necessary to carry the game - you know, like Roddick is, like Agassi has done, and maybe will continue to do if he continues to play - that's a big part of it, from my standpoint, from this tournament's standpoint. And, selfishly, I want to see, you know, 20 more Americans come up to take the place of Agassi, Sampras, Courier and those guys. It's time. It's time for them to start stepping up and taking their place in the game. So I'm looking forward to that.

JIMMY CONNORS: Well, my daughter's here. She just graduated high school. 18 years old. Took the summer off, gonna take the first semester off, work. She's got a job when she gets back home, when we get back home. She starts that and starts college in January. Our son Brett is working and finishing up his schooling out in Santa Barbara, which is where we spend most of our time, all of our time now. Brett's 24, daughter, 18. Everybody's doing fine, so... Can't ask for any more than that.