MCENROE vs CONNORS

It was hate at first sight when Connors, who had reigned with Bjorn Borg for most of the 1970s, confronted McEnroe, an equally fiery Irish-American. Proud and pugnacious Connors resented the outrageously talented punk who would take attention, money and titles from him. Mac resented the lack of respect he received from Connors. In the 1979 Grand Prix Masters, Connors dismissively predicted, “Remember he’s still a young boy. McEnroe will be good practice for me,” before McEnroe upset him, 7-5, 3-0, retired, to signal the changing of the guard. “That f***face McEnroe” was how Connors described his archrival. The younger (by six years) McEnroe came out on top, 20-13, in their often-controversial head-to-head, although Connors led 8-7 in Grand Slam singles titles. Their verbal volleys were even, though, and always entertaining.

When McEnroe hectored officials during their 1980 Wimbledon semifinal, Connors blasted, “My son is better behaved than you. I’ll bring him to play you.” McEnroe confided: “There were times on court when I wanted to beat Connors so bad, I felt I could easily strangle him.” By 1984, an aging Connors had somewhat mellowed, winning over crowds with quips instead of alienating them with vulgarity, while irascible McEnroe was the bad actor that fans loved to hate. “I don’t know that I changed all that much. They just found somebody worse,” was Connors’s memorable zinger. But McEnroe wasn’t buying the nice-guy image Connors cultivated late in his career and fired back: “I don’t think I could ever be that phony.”