He turned professional in 1972 and won his first tournament, the Jacksonville Open. Connors was acquiring a reputation as a maverick in 1972 when he refused to join the newly formed
Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the union that was embraced by most male professional players, in order to play in and dominate a series of smaller tournaments organized by Bill Riordan, his manager. However, Connors played in other tournaments and won the
1973 U.S. Pro Singles, his first significant title, toppling
Arthur Ashe in a five-set final, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 3–6, 6–2.
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).
[6][7] 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. 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 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 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 ATP and most tennis authorities ranked Borg or Vilas No. 1 with Connors rated as No. 3.
In 1978, Borg defeated Connors in the Wimbledon final, but Connors defeated Borg at the US Open plus won the U.S. Pro Indoor. While he retained the ATP No. 1 ranking at the end of the year, the ATP and most tennis authorities rated Borg as the player of the year.
Connors reached the ATP world No. 1 ranking on July 29, 1974 and held it for 160 consecutive weeks, a record until it was surpassed by
Roger Federer on February 26, 2007. He was the ATP year-end no. 1 player from 1974 through 1978 and held the No. 1 ranking for a total of 268 weeks during his career.
In 1979 through 1981, Connors generally reached the semi-finals of the three top Grand Slam events and the Masters each year, but he did win the WCT Finals in 1980. He was generally ranked third in the world those years.
In 1982 Connors experienced a resurgence as he defeated John McEnroe to win Wimbledon and Ivan Lendl to win the US Open after which he reclaimed the ATP No. 1 ranking. He also reached the semi-final of the Masters Cup and won 5 other tournaments. After trading the No. 1 ranking with back and forth with McEnroe, he finished the year ranked No. 2, but he was named player of the year by the ATP and most other authorities due to his victories at Wimbledon and the US Open.
In 1983 Connors, McEnroe and Lendl traded the No. 1 ranking several times with Connors winning the US Open for a record fifth time and finishing the year as the No. 3 ranked player.
