When a brash young American named Jimmy Connors demolished Australia's Ken Rosewall in the 1974 Wimbledon final, there was only polite applause. The 5' 10" American with the Prince Valiant haircut won the crown, but his behavior won him the reputation of "tennis' bad boy". And when he defeated Rosewall in just 68 minutes in the final match of the 1974 U.S. Nationals, at Forest Hills, the story was the same. Jimmy Connors, the left-hander with a two- fisted backhand that never missed, was the most unpopular champion ever.

From the first moment Connors was led onto a tennis court by his mother, at the age of 2 1/2, he was hooked on the sport. Jimmy gave everything to tennis, as his successes in age-group competition proved. Then, when he was 17, he went to California to polish his game under coach Pancho Segura.

In 1970, Jimmy really began to make his mark, winning the Junior National Hardcourt and Claycourt titles, and being named to the U.S. Davis Cup Team. That same year he entered UCLA and went on to become the first freshman ever to win the NCAA tennis crown. He turned pro early in 1972, with independent promoter Bill Riordan as his manager. Jimmy's legal battles with the tennis establishment, coupled with his "psych" tactics against opponents and his baiting of fans and officials, often overshadowed his court brilliance. He could neutralize any serve, his groundstrokes were low line drives to the corners, his cross-court backhands were murder, and he treated every match as a war.

He dominated tennis in 1974 and 1975, taking the 1974 Wimbledon and Forest Hills, smashing Rod Laver in a $100,000 winner-take-all match in February 1975, and John Newcombe in a $250,000 match that April. And in 1976, ranked number one in the world, Connors downed Bjorn Borg to take Forest Hills again and become one of the all-time kings of the court.

JIMMY CONNORS Born Sep. 2, 1952, in Belleville, III.

AWARDS AND RECORDS
Wimbledon champion, 1974
U.S. Nationals champion, 1974, 1976

Photo: The famous two-fisted backhand in action