The tactical change Arthur Ashe made to upset Jimmy Connors at Wimbledon 50 years ago

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Jimmy Connors was the heavy favorite to defend his Wimbledon title in 1975...

After winning in 1974, Connors returned to the All-England Club as the number-one seed in 1975.

The American didn’t drop a set en route to the final, taking down John Lloyd, Vijay Amritraj, Mark Cox, Phil Dent, Raul Ramirez, and Roscoe Tanner with ease.

Standing between Connors and a second consecutive Wimbledon title was his fellow American, and number-six seed, Arthur Ashe.

Appearing on ‘The Dick Cavett Show‘ in 1980, Ashe recalled how he stunned Connors to win the title five years earlier.

Arthur Ashe changed his tactics completely to beat Jimmy Connors in the Wimbledon final

Ashe paid close attention to Connors’ semifinal match, as he devised a game plan for their title showdown.

“Basically, Jimmy Connors really has only one weak spot, and that’s his low forehand passing shot or approach shot, and that, coupled with the harder you hit the ball, the better he likes it, and I tried to play upon those two things,” he said.

“You want to hit the ball with no pace, and secondly, you want the ball to take as funny a bounce as possible when it hits the grass; you don’t want to hit anything flat.

“Roscoe [Tanner] had played Jimmy in the semifinals two days before, and I watched that because I had just finished my match.

“I had never seen Roscoe serve better. He got about 60% of his first serves in, and he lost in about an hour and 20 minutes.

• 1975 Wimbledon SF – [1] Jimmy Connors defeated [11] Roscoe Tanner, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4

“And he had not lost a set till the finals, so I thought to myself, I can’t serve hard, or play the way I normally play.”

Making the necessary adjustments, Ashe produced one of the all-time great Wimbledon upsets, beating the defending champion in four sets.

• 1975 Wimbledon F – [6] Arthur Ashe defeated [1] Jimmy Connors, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4

“So I hit the ball down the middle with a lot of underspin, served wide to both sides, he has a two-handed backhand, and it makes him really stretch,” he said.

“So you serve wide on the forehand side, serve wide on the backhand side, to take him off court, and the rest of the time you hit the ball right down the middle, so you don’t give him many angles.”

Capping off an incredible campaign with a win over Connors, Ashe picked up the third and final Grand Slam title of his professional career.

Arthur Ashe’s route to the 1975 Wimbledon title

Ashe never won another major title after Wimbledon in 1975 and retired from tennis in 1980.

He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame five years after retiring, before passing away in 1993, aged 49.

Ashe will forever be remembered not just for his excellent skills on the court but for his work off the court aswell, earning himself legendary status in more ways than one.

Did Jimmy Connors ever win another Wimbledon title?

Connors’ defeat to Ashe triggered a run of heartbreaking losses at SW19.

Between 1975 and 1981, Connors lost one quarterfinal, three semifinals, and three finals.

• 1975 Wimbledon – Jimmy Connors lost in F to Arthur Ashe
• 1976 Wimbledon – Jimmy Connors lost in QF to Roscoe Tanner
• 1977 Wimbledon – Jimmy Connors lost in F to Bjorn Borg
• 1978 Wimbledon – Jimmy Connors lost in F to Bjorn Borg
• 1979 Wimbledon – Jimmy Connors lost in SF to Bjorn Borg
• 1980 Wimbledon – Jimmy Connors lost in SF to John McEnroe
• 1981 Wimbledon – Jimmy Connors lost in SF to Bjorn Borg

Finally getting over the line, Connors won his second Wimbledon title in 1982, beating his great rival, John McEnroe, in the final.

He returned to the final two years later, but came up short against McEnroe on that occasion.

Connors retired in 1996 as an eight-time Grand Slam champion and one of the best American players of all time.