John McEnroe once said what Jimmy Connors did the first time they ever met which ‘blew his mind’

Follow us on Google Discover

John McEnroe recalled when he met Jimmy Connors for the first time which he will never forget.

The three-time Wimbledon champion enjoyed some special rivalries throughout the course of his glittering career.

His matches against Bjorn Borg live long in the memory of many tennis fans and it set the tone for many of the great rivalries seen in tennis over the past 40 years.

One of McEnroe’s most fiercest opponents was Jimmy Connors, who he engaged in one of the rivalries in the 1970s and 1980s.

John McEnroe describes what happened when he first met Jimmy Connors

For several years John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors battled at the top of men’s tennis.

They contested high-profile matches at Grand Slams and the pair usually brought the best out of each other.

McEnroe was always determined to secure victories against his compatriot, especially after what happened when they met each other for the first time, which left him stunned.

“When I met Jimmy Connors, I hadn’t even met him when I was about to play and he blew me off like I was a piece of nothing. And that blew my mind,” McEnroe told GQ UK in July 2022.

“He just totally dismissed me, which totally got in my head obviously, which is probably what he wanted. ‘I’m not going to let this kid think he has a chance to win.’ I was already so nervous to begin with that I felt like I lost the first set.

“Head games are part of the whole thing. Psych someone out in the locker room or whatever. You could have enough space nowadays where there’s no people around. I didn’t have my coach with me.”

What is John McEnroe’s head-to-head record against Jimmy Connors?

McEnroe played Connors 34 times between 1977 and 1991.

Their first meeting came in the Wimbledon semi-final, one of the biggest matches in tennis.

Connors’ mind games worked in his favour as he secured a 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-4 victory to reach the championship match which he lost to Bjorn Borg.

Connors in fact won six of his first seven matches against McEnroe, but the younger American soon turned the tables.

From 1983 to 1986, McEnroe won 11 straight matches against Connors, which included the 1984 Wimbledon final, which McEnroe comprehensively won 6-1 6-1 6-2.

McEnroe won 20 of his 34 matches against Connors, as he would have the last laugh after his first awkward meeting with Connors.