no. point should thirst for. a fox up next jimmy connors now folks in the history of the open tennis 1968 through now but the 2 years the guy who has won the most matches and the most torments in that open era is my next guess jimmy connors he never quit you had the slayer and he'll slay you right after this done a smaller plus one. hey folks welcome to dennis miller plus one cycle home week for may our schedules got thrown off by the coronavirus a little but my next guest and i hiked many mornings gotten to know each other over

the last year. old man on our morning and it's nice of him to join me i like it studies my dear friend now but for for most of you know almost one of the greatest tennis player i think jimmy was number one in the world for 160 consecutive weeks from 74 to 77 he still holds some major records for men's singles men's tournament on and over 1500 matches during the open era 8 grand slam championships 5 at the u.s. open to wimbledon one at the australian open one and off i don't think he made that schlep too much after that but the great jimmy carter is jim how are you my friend did as good to be with you in your right mind my mornings are a little cranky specially when we could go in through but the missile attacks we got to get back out there again. yeah you know as everybody schedules been a little thrown off who get back out there and i know i might not be pronouncing

the word correctly but will be cause retching k v e t c h i n g soon as possible jim now i know now you're playing a lot of golf and i don't quite know i don't golf as much as you say i don't know is that are the courses open what are you doing you know some some of the courses are open mostly the public courses. i play them on a cd country club denizen nets that's still closed but a lot of number of the private clubs around town are open for members only but you know with the public courses open the way i get on i try to play date to weaken 3 you know for me that's good enough now that i can work on my game as looks as i'd like to to. you know it actually spend the time in trying to get better so as opposed to doing that or playing i'd rather go out and see if i could shoot a decent score. talking to jimmy connors you know gem right before we came on today

i was reading an article by van morrison and bob dylan oddly enough i thought about morris and i thought of his famous g.-l. o.-r. i. think of your g l. you are one of the more competitive men i've ever met my life and i guess a lot of that comes from your beloved mother gloria tell me about her well certainly you know my mom gave me everything denison and you know i came from a small town in illinois and. you know i was lucky enough that my mom had a talent she loved tennis and was very good at it and from a young age taught my brother and i how to play but she was very competitive it in the wind when i 1st started it. i think that's the one thing that i picked up from her from the very beginning you know that you know to go out no matter what you do to be able to give it your all and to to if you're going to do it do it right and do it with you know the utmost pride in your performance and from the very

beginning there was nothing. like going out and competing for me even when i was you know 789 years old 'd to to put my game and and what what i was trying to learn on the line at that early age kind of helped me as i did as i got older 'd and started playing tennis you know on the professional level but my mom certainly and then her mom and in her dad who were also involved in my tennis career they instilled that in me i now if i didn't have it in me i don't know if it can be given to you so it has to be inside you you know to be able to come out but they certainly brought it out of me in a way that i didn't really even know and i think that's the the best thing that i had growing up is that you know my tennis and and my upbringing and everything was given to me on a basis of you know it just was part of it you know what it was no big deal it was

no extra curricular activities to do was just it just happened. you know jim just the fairing the fact that your mother was in that the tennis came to the degree she was in the the fifty's that was sort of anomalous wasn't it had that she befriended a lot of male pros along the way i think she was good friends with their eventual coach poncho and it just shows an intrepid spirit for back that doesn't. yeah you know back to back then certainly there was there was nothing about playing for a living so you really played it because you loved it and you wanted to try to get good at something it also gave my mom an opportunity to you know to spread her wings a little bit you know from a small town in illinois she you know was out teaching tennis at the beverly hills tennis club which is you know the eventual spot i went with poncho security which is you know quite you know quite crazy also but you know she she loved it in and

you know her or her best friends were pauline betts and surely frye and you know the major number 12345 players in the world and the women said also. be ric's you know in so many others that you know tennis back then you know was almost like an introductory you know to go into to get around and to make friends and and she was good at that and it ended up you know me going to see poncho security because of that. i know your beloved grandmother helped a lot too and you talked about your granddad you've told me hilarious stories about your granddad was off times responsible for your physical condition. i think you have to tell the jumping rope story because that always makes me less. who hold you know my my my grandpa was a was a boxer. so he you know he was into the training part of it and my my footwork was it was one of the i guess the main things that helped me to become

what i was that and and he was responsible for that and he was responsible really for my conditioning and and getting me ship so i could play those 4 or 5 hour matches and and he would give me the jump rope which was his favorite part of exercise and and he would just say ok go out and start jump in and so i just start jumping and. i think this is why you also put me on the o.c.d. path to do this but but he. would start talking to me and i'd be jumping in you know time would go by and you know a couple minutes here for 5 minutes and then and then he would all come in and start talking to me and try to you know disrupt my my my concentration on what i 2 was doing little did i know that when i missed i'd have to go back and start from the very beginning because he thought that that was such a important part of not only the conditioning part but the concentration part you

know to keep you going for you know 345 hour matches and but he was he was rough man and in you know i look back and you know he he won peace so many matches just because of that because i always thought that no matter how tired i was or are the like that the match was nothing if i grandpa was was there with a jump rope so it was it was an interesting interesting upbringing and i took that over throughout the course of my career when i love. back there and went out to came out to california and you know to further my game and i got older but my jumping rope never left me in no matter what my practice was r r r what i would do in between tournaments that jump rope was with me all the time and is certainly well. we're talking to one of the greatest tennis players ever live jimmy connors talking about his start and he referenced and i'll jump one square down the board here because i want to get to that when you have that

attention to detail jim when you have that focus on the growl it can lead to some sort of well you call you said it was o.c.d. and when we 1st talked about it i wasn't sure if you were speaking euphemistically but at some point it did began i remember you told me when you would bounce the service ball quite frankly that it began to. i don't know tell that story that fascinated me i think you're on center court at wimbledon and you were having trouble making that releasing the ball for the top you know everybody thinks that you know that's a joke but it's not it's you know it's a disease really and you know it in a wears on you. you know for me i didn't really know what it was at the very beginning because you know i go out and i felt like you know i just had to get the feel if i bounce the ball twice and it didn't feel right in that i had to bounce it 2 more times or 4 more times that you know was i even rod that day and in so when you know i was on this the record you're right it was it went wild and i just

couldn't get the feel you know for the way it ended you know landed in my hand or the way it hit the ground or whatever it and it just it just started wearing me out to the point where i know i think there bounce the ball at 26 times or something if i listen geez just get it out of your hand throw it up do something to you know to to get going here because. you know if it in in all through you know my my tennis career and it didn't come out really or maybe i didn't know what it was when i was younger but when i started playing in the pressure it was was there and in you know down a break in the 3rd or operate in the 3rd serving it out or whatever i started understanding something's not right here but then it was so ingrained in me that i couldn't let it pass that i couldn't get it out and i don't know once so once i got married me my wife and everything every time and my kids you know they're going to nothing already dad you know you've been out of the game for a long time well who are already going to recede do you have it or. does it live

the why is it was before death was but you know it's still it still raises its ugly head on occasion in but hey it's it was part of my life and you know whether i can get rid of it or not i'm trying on a daily basis but you know right now it's still still a little painful at times value have a little bit of a to jim to be honest i know a lot of people who have it you got to kind of figure out a workaround in your had i want to talk about the physics of your tennis game when i think back on you obviously i didn't know you that but now when i meet you you're hardly diminutive and you have less body fat than anybody i've ever met but i'm trying to think what you learned when you were young to be able to just hit the ball as hard as like henry aaron would swing at a baseball and keep it and what were the physics of your swing at the beginning and what the what the gloria and then poncho and still when you was it always hit back as hard as you can or tell me tell me the throwing in the swing. i think the one

thing that i learned more than anything from from the very beginning which is from my mom and my grandmother and then also a poncho was was timing you know i was in swimming extra hard at the ball but my timing you know was was you know what if i say so myself perfect you know and with especially with the racquet that i was using and you know it and to meet the ball into to play a. a different style of game i was taking the ball on the rise and beating the ball out front i mean even though i might not have gone to the debt which all the experts say you know congress never goes to the net you know but that's the experts and that dennis you know that you know i didn't really have to because my game was always a forward game i did play 6 or 7 feet behind the baseline and i played on the baseline or inside the baseline and even though it may be i didn't go to the net i didn't have to because i was always look at the forward and i was taught that from the

very beginning you know don't let the ball come to you you know now everybody knows that you know look at look at he's taken the ball on the rise well you know if it takes them that long to get on to something so you know time has passed well talk more to jimmy connors after the break it is an amazing career folks as we sit here today in the open tennis era the most match wins ever and the last tournament wins ever are that man on the split screen with me you've seen a lot of great players in the interim what it must be 45 years but still the most to this day in the open era amazing achievements we'll talk about it with my friend jimmy connors right after this on dennis miller plus want.

to. according to even fox news trying to his liking to the polls is this because joe biden is such a brilliant candidate or because the harpy consensus is that tend to make has been badly handled by the president still another. train is a populist in 2062 as he governed as one.

welcome back to dennis miller plus one we're joined by lottery and have to tell you jimmy looks the same as it did when it played. jimmy connors i'm thinking about that one year i believe that i looked it up and it's funny it's like pulling teeth with jimmy i want to talk about tennis and i came on stock about golf show me his notes were up for we talk about the world around us but all right i think that in the one year you played 101 matches or 199 of a my correct on that figure during the i think i think it was 99 out of 103. that was 1994 i had a spectacular year was my breakout year really won 3 grand slams the year and i think 15 other tournaments so it was it was a good start in. i was only able to play the the french state of year because i played tennis. kind of took away my opportunity to to win the grand slam but you

know listen that's. so many years ago now 45 years ago that there's a kind to let met let it go but but still occasionally like now it jumps into micro and i say what happens if i would of had an opportunity to play the french and and then go on to win the grand slam but you know you know there were if you firmly if a lot of things you know happened you know the who knows but. i had a great year that year in you know that kind of the sent me on my way. i'm trying to think that the surface over there and you've even told me when i watch it now the clay and the doll obviously that says kingdom roland garros but you told me back when you were playing it was beyond clay sort of like you're playing it on a mud puddle right it was so little bizarre it's not good at guarding. they they've

made a lot of the all the surfaces to be more or less the same the same speed the same bounce because most of the players play the same but. the french back back in the early years for you know when i was when i 1st started it was very heavy very thick. and also the balls tree torn balls were exceptionally heavy so it whether it fit my game or not i don't i don't really know i never got to the finals of the french after because the year that i was kept out of playing the french tennis i had a bad attitude didn't play for 67 years after that so what what what could have happened then who knows but it turned out to be one of my favorite tournaments because i'd like to get dirty you know going over there and you know play in against somebody in the 1st round that you never heard of because they were only

a play court specialist and let's just show up for you know 8 or 9 weeks during the course of the year but you'd be out there for 34 hours grinding out matches and on the heavy clay and you know i come out you know mike my shoes my socks my clothes just still the and that just made me feel good playing over there but in also to be honest the crowds. were very knowledgeable and then when i did return kind of enjoyed my style and so made for goods that you had come back out of i also think it suffered a t.k.o. there wants if i'm not mistaken that we're chatting you were playing chang and i think you told me that's the most dissipated you never got mana tennis court right . well i was. i was just come back after being off for a year and helping my wrist reconstructed and i was trying to get back in some some kind of shape resemblance of tournament shape that and i go and i play the french

and you know i could buy a couple matches that i even when one match in 5 sets and. go up against michael chang who was going for you know running down every ball and you know making you work until you die and and basically that's about what he did to me i was out there working and not. just one the force that i was down to says to one just one the foresaid and i kind of looked around and i'm going something just not right here you know a kind of didn't know you know kind of know where i was and i looked up to my friend who was there and i said you know what all these people to here now but i was so dehydrated in so you know exhausted in you know plus i you know run down every ball that i couldn't i was wearing thin and you know my back was sore and basically i mean for me to quit stop a match genesis you know not play the feel set you know something had to be wrong and i think you know at that time it was

a best thing that i did do because if i continued on it would have been it would have been pretty difficult to you know to try to recuperate out that. i look back at that match with fondness only because that kind of sent me on my way it gave me the feeling after being out for a year that you know i can get in there and i can grind it with the shank kids and if i get in a little bit better shape and you know work on my game a little bit more that something good might happen and you know come september something good did happen at the u.s. open. what an amazing run that was jimmy who i mean when i think back 1st off i love 1 living on the west coast the nighttime tarna months back east and because it always starts i don't even know when you've got on that night but it's usually after a night or something it seems to me i'm watching you climb the fence on the side of the court like 1 in the morning one of the most amazing runs ever all the way up through the semis tell me what's well you're there as they say are members of that

you must have been juiced or i don't mean that's the wrong term well jensen can say that now let's say they're right let's check. your must have been jab just up i was and. my michael coming back in this was to was to try to peak at the us open because it it it always has been my favorite event and you know my game kind of started coming into you know into order and i feel good about it you know i got into a 1st round match with not john mcenroe but his younger brother patrick and you know we played 5 sets until about 1 30 in the morning and i was get be 2 sets to love it or break into 3rd in something happened something turned around and and you know i got got more confidence and started playing better and ended up grinding that might match out in 5 sets and that kind of i said boy if i could get stuck into this tournament then you know hopefully something good could happen then and

certainly the crowds you know would be a great plus for me to have on my side you know no one that i'd miss the year before and you know my time was coming to an end i was 39 years old so you know i won that match in it's funny dennis after after the 1st hour and a half you know 3 quarters of the crowd left and you know when the match was over there was $60000.00 people there you know that you know so it was it was a good start to 2 a pretty exciting 11 12 'd days. you know in the rarified air of the major world class time as it is so much in the only listen to me i'm acting to say that i've talked to enough ton of suppliers a lot of people have great physical skills but so much of it's mental and if you get a toehold just the po hall you can really fight back but there you know when a guy's role limit. never overcome but all you need is a toehold that can turn right jim. so many things can change the momentum of

a match it all 'd and then you know i wasn't playing bad at the beginning of the tournament patrick at the 2 sets all of it all in you know i can't even tell you what it was you know could have been you know a call it could have been a noise from the crowd it could have been a fan saying something it could have been you know one lucky shot for me it but certainly you know it turned around the momentum of that match and once that momentum turned around and as you know that the rounds to come you know that grew on me also you know that that feeling of geez i had a great escape so that you know what can happen now you know something good's got to happen because i've been through my tough time you know so my game lifted a little bit i won a couple matches in in straight sets 3 straight sets and you know put me in a position of you know going into the middle weekend which you know which is labor day weekend and you know which was really one of my favorite couple days to play because my birthday fell on on one of those days and and just the crowd

participation and then the anxiousness of them to to to see who was getting into the 2nd week to have a real chance to win the tournament so it put me in a good position and you know got into one of the you know most watched tennis matches of all time i think against my friend eric christine and you know to this day look back at that is you know is one of my best matches ever. well tell you what there been so many over the years jimmy when i think back on that day at wimbledon against rosie one of the all playing great class acts and quite possibly the most beautiful want to have been present in my life the great cats are as well but that was about a spirit somebody can play tennis what you threw up against him that day well you know i felt that i was the new young gun coming up and it's 2021 years old and you know ken rosewall was 39 and i thought it was my turn and my opportunity to you

know to you know to break through and into when my my 1st wimbledon so i had to take advantage of it a little did i know dennis that you know 1819 years later that i was going to be in the same spot that he was at 39 going to played against these young guns that. you know the elite is much of a thrill as it was to still play at that time it was work you know to put forth that it to change your game and to change your habits and the way you worked at your tennessee that the amount of. practice and sacrifice and and everything not only on the board but also i had a family that i needed to to look after also so you know my mindset you know was if i'm with my family i'm isolating my tennis if i'm with my tennis or my sliding my family so it was a adjustment that you know i had to make is probably every. father has to make

somewhere along the line but but still you know what it was. i had to run like you know for me like no other scene or to play that long i never expected to play that long and and you know whether i had the the amount of success that. i should have had i deserved or maybe not enough i don't i don't know but those days are so long gone now for me but i do know one thing that i walked away when i stopped playing at that level i look back and i don't have one what if what if i had tried harder what if i did train harder wonder if i'd a sacrifice what it what because everybody around me my from my family to my career with my kids to my mother my grandmother my grandfather my my dad poncho you know the people that gave me at this opportunity to go out and do what i love which was play tennis and and to play for them like the time how do you repaid anybody for that i mean they weren't they're not looking for thanks you know they

they did it because they had it you know an investment in me also but it wasn't you know money you know what you know i've we talked about this before you know was that it was emotional and it was low and it was the care and and it was the opportunity to continue to do something that you had that i had so much passion for that they instilled in me also i mean there was no nobody love tennis either the playing of it or the watching it or the being around it more than the 2 people that they gave me this game which was you know my mom and poncho that they'd sit and talk to us with you forever or go and hit balls forever with you know and you know that that kind of got into me in a lot of ways but you know i i in the they're feeling towards tennis i wish i had that you know in it and still have that this is i had it when i was playing but they certainly gave me something that there was beyond special in my life and.

when i see about it i can tell you're still is connected to them today in their absences you above are aware that because you guys shared that bond and shared the love so it's a true blessing my friend jimmy they had to kill you i always tell you that that's like number but you add the kill that guy you had to put him on a shield and drag him off the court it was fun to watch and it is fun to be your friend my dear friend and we will see you on the trails. the great james scott connors as i remember but call and saying all those years ago yeah you gotta talk at your brother thanks for coming on the disability with us thank you. the world is driven by.

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