pc1
G.O.A.T.
I've been watching some old videos of Jimmy Connors recently and it amazes me even now how purely he hits the ball, how beautiful his preparation was and the power, consistency and depth of his shots.
In a way I often think Connors is very underrated. The man won 140 plus tournaments in his career and many majors. That's more total tournaments won than Nadal, Federer and Djokovic combined to put it in perspective. And yes I know Connors "officially" won 109 tournaments in his career but the ATP doesn't count many WCT tournaments and other tournaments he won in his career. He played at a very strong level up to a very late age in tennis. He is arguably the best pure ball striker in the history of tennis with super mobility and he is also arguably the greatest service returner in the history of tennis. He also had arguably the greatest backhand in history.
One of the reasons I think he is underrated is his relatively small majors total considering how great he was. One of the reasons is that I believe some of the majors were not as important as it is considered today. He didn't played the Australian and the French for many of his prime years but he won tournaments that essentially were majors like the WCT championship and the Year End Masters tournament.
Connors won about 82% of his matches for his career. That's incredible considering how many years he played past his best years. He was number one in the world for five years in a row plus he was top ten in the world from 1973 to 1978. He won over 90% of his matches over a five year span and if you don't think that's impressive, Pete Sampras never won 90% of his matches in any ONE year.
Connors also played in an extremely competitive time, against older legends like Rosewall, Newcombe, Ashe, Smith and Nastase. He played younger legends like Borg, McEnroe, Lendl, Cash, Edberg, Wilander, Agassi and even Sampras.
Do I think Connors is the greatest ever? No I do not but he is one of the few who has a record that you can at least argue reasonably that he is the greatest ever.
Please discuss.
In a way I often think Connors is very underrated. The man won 140 plus tournaments in his career and many majors. That's more total tournaments won than Nadal, Federer and Djokovic combined to put it in perspective. And yes I know Connors "officially" won 109 tournaments in his career but the ATP doesn't count many WCT tournaments and other tournaments he won in his career. He played at a very strong level up to a very late age in tennis. He is arguably the best pure ball striker in the history of tennis with super mobility and he is also arguably the greatest service returner in the history of tennis. He also had arguably the greatest backhand in history.
One of the reasons I think he is underrated is his relatively small majors total considering how great he was. One of the reasons is that I believe some of the majors were not as important as it is considered today. He didn't played the Australian and the French for many of his prime years but he won tournaments that essentially were majors like the WCT championship and the Year End Masters tournament.
Connors won about 82% of his matches for his career. That's incredible considering how many years he played past his best years. He was number one in the world for five years in a row plus he was top ten in the world from 1973 to 1978. He won over 90% of his matches over a five year span and if you don't think that's impressive, Pete Sampras never won 90% of his matches in any ONE year.
Connors also played in an extremely competitive time, against older legends like Rosewall, Newcombe, Ashe, Smith and Nastase. He played younger legends like Borg, McEnroe, Lendl, Cash, Edberg, Wilander, Agassi and even Sampras.
Do I think Connors is the greatest ever? No I do not but he is one of the few who has a record that you can at least argue reasonably that he is the greatest ever.
Please discuss.
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