Jimmy Connors, who provided the best theater in tennis, wishes his sport wasn’t played to reverent, theatrical silence.
“The fans are … begging to get into it and to be a part of it and to be sucked into what’s going on down there on the court,” said the native of Belleville, Ill. “You don’t ask them to be quiet at a basketball or football or baseball or hockey game. My career was spent trying to make a tennis crowd into those fans, the team kind of fans.”
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Connors, who at 51 still retains his fierce leprechaun’s aura, returned to Flushing Meadows last weekend for a ceremony honoring previous U.S. Open champions. It was his first visit since his retirement in 1992. Four years ago, he sold his share of the senior tour he founded and took a break from tennis.
He still misses performing in what he calls the “confusion” of Louis Armstrong Stadium.”I left DNA out there on that court,” Connors said. “This place made my reputation. I loved everything about that–the planes flying over, the people walking around, the cell phones going off, people drinking beer in the front seats. That fit my personality. “This place made sounds unknown to tennis for me for a long time. I loved that.”