Drob
Hall of Fame
Connors and Ashe (individually and as head of the ATP) were involved in various lawsuits against each other during the 70s litigation period in tennis. I still don’t think when it all passed there was any great animosity between them other than Connors had a beef with the entire tourbut you’d have to ask Connors.
You both could be right. But there was a major lawsuit and Ashe was the named individual defendant. Then Ashe said Jimmy was "unpatriotic" for not playing Davis Cup. (I actually remember this, but see p. 219 of "The Outsider).
You read "Days of Grace" by Ashe and it is clear that after Arthur retired, he and Jimmy got on better. But Ashe also recounts how Jimmy treated him alternatingly as a non-entity or as the cause of Jimmy struggles during the couple of Davis Cup ties he played with Arthur as his captain. Reading "The Outsider" I get the impression that Jimmy had very little respect for Arthur. Sill, this is not the same as a rivalry of spite and there are probably better choices to make the list..
"Arthur Ashe later wrote that whenever he walked past me during Wimbledon in 1974 he wanted to smack me in the mouth. Oh, Arthur, settle down" - The Outsider, p. 165 (Kindle ed)
"Ashe didn't like me . . . Well, that speaks volumes, doesn't i? All he had to do was come up and talk to me face to face, man to man, but he chose not to." pp 223-24
(On Davis Cup) "The captain, Arthur Ashe, didn't help matter by ignoring us and letting our issues fester . . . When Ashe finally showed up . . . with my racquet I wrote **** OFF ARTIE in the clay. pp 401, 404.
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