Jimmy Connors' Magical US Open

Jimmy Connors

This past Monday was Labor Day, and I wanted to watch the US Open in the afternoon.  Alas, there was a long rain delay in Flushing Meadows.  Instead, viewers were treated to Jimmy Connors' amazing run in 1991. He won electrifying matches against Patrick McEnroe (1st round), Aaron Krickstein (4th round), and Paul Haarhuis (5th round).

As Mary Carillo put it so well, "Jimmy made all of us watching him part of his act. He had the uncanny ability to make you feel as though you could, merely as a spectator, conspire with him to win the match he was playing."

Reference:  Twenty years later, Connors' 1991 Open run remains awe-inspiring.

Connor's unbelievable rally against Haarhuis in the 5th round. Four desperate, defensive lobs in the match, before finally nailing down the break point!

Jimmy Connors, pumped

Connors, giving the chair umpire, some love (not):

"Bullcrap!" Connors yelled at Littlefield after he'd overruled a call in Krickstein's favor during the second-set tiebreaker. "Get out of the chair. Get your ass out of the chair! You're a bum! I'm out here playing my butt off at 39 years old and you're doing that?" 

At one point in the fourth set: "Kiss me before you do anything! Just kiss me!"

Connors ultimately fell short of the US Open title that year, losing in straight sets to Jim Courier in the Semi-Finals.  You could say, "His luck had run out" or "Age finally caught up to him."  

I say, instead, that his magic had done its job.  He had fulfilled his purpose, that of a 39-year old who, in basketball parlance, can definitely ball.  

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD