Jimmy Connors on how tennis has changed over the years
Former American tennis player Jimmy Connors has mentioned a few changes he feels tennis has undergone since his playing days.
In the year 1972, Connors began his professional tennis career. Before retiring in 1996, he had won several trophies, including eight Grand Slams. He held the world’s No. 1 male ranking for an incredible 268 weeks.
After retiring, he continued to teach players like Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, and Eugenie Bouchard. He currently co-hosts the Advantage Connors podcast with his son Brett.
During a recent episode of the podcast, the American discussed how the dynamics of tennis as a sport have evolved. He emphasized the importance of money in encouraging major changes in the player’s behavior, saying:
“Money changes everything, [it] changes the attitude, and guys are now making big contracts before they even go out and win a tournament.” That affects everything, and it changes your attitude, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. If that is your goal, it could make you a friendlier guy.”
Connors remembered getting in trouble for speaking up about the difficulties he encountered as a tennis player in the late twentieth century.
“I made a comment one time, I said, ”I go out there, they’re trying to take the food out of my kid’s mouth”, and I got criticized for that, but I wasn’t fully wrong,” he said.
“You go out and play until you’re dead back in the old days. That’s the way I thought about it anyway, which is kind of my legacy, which I like,” Connors added.
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