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American James Scott “Jimmy” Connors held the top ranking for 160 consecutive weeks from July 29, 1974 through August 29, 1977 and an additional eight times during his career (a total of 268 weeks). He won eight Grand Slam singles titles (five of them at the U.S. Open) and two Grand Slam doubles titles (one at Wimbledon, one at the U.S. Open) with Ilie Nastase. He was also the mixed doubles runner-up with Chris Evert at the 1974 US Open.

He is considered to be one of the top male tennis players of all time. Also as  former coach of Andy Roddick, he helped the young American become the winner of the 2003 U.S. Open.

Turning pro in 1972, Connors won his first title that year at Jacksonville, FL.  Known for his fiery temperament Connors played more tournaments (401) and won more matches than any other male pro, 1,337-285 (.824), and, in fact, has never officially retired.

He has excelled at the the U.S. Open winning five championships, an open era record shared with Pete Sampras, but Connors was singular in winning on all three surfaces: grass (1974) and clay (1976) at Forest Hills, and hard (1978, 1982 and 1983) at Flushing Meadow. Connors is, therefore, one of only three men (Mats Wilander and Andre Agassi are the others) to have won a Grand Slam singles title on grass, hard, and clay courts.

Beginning in 1974, Connors played in five successive U.S. Open finals, the first man to do so since Bill Tilden between 1918 and 1925. Connors was beaten by Manolo Orantes in the 1975 finals and by Guillermo Vilas in 1977.

Connors was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1998 and by the time he finished his career his  total of eight singles majors was second only to Bill Tilden’s 10 among American men, and tied with Fred Perry, Ke Rosewall, Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras for fourth on the all-time roll.