Tennis / Thomas Bonk : The New Connors Easing Into Retirement

It was an amazing transformation. Even Jimmy Connors thought so.

Since he resigned as King Brat several years ago, Connors has emerged as a spokesman for a number of companies, which has not only added substantially to his income, but may also ease him into a post-tennis career.

Once, Connors wasn’t sure there was such a thing as a post-tennis career.

“I hate to say this, but youth is wasted on the young,” he said. “There was a time when I didn’t care if I ever represented anything because my main objective was to go win matches, to have the blinders on and think only of what I had to do to win Wimbledon, to win the Open, to win every tournament I ever got into.

“Then, along the way, I realized I’m in the people business anyway. So why not get involved with somebody when it’s good for both of us?”

Why not indeed? Last year, it is estimated that Connors made more than $2 million off his endorsements alone, associations with such companies as PaineWebber, Nestle, Sony and Xerox. According to Advertising Age, Connors has agreements with 12 companies.

Last year on the court, he earned $353,866, and finished ranked in the top 10, as he has every year since 1973.

However, Connors will be 37 in September and the latest computer rankings have him at No. 12. Even though he won two tournaments last year, Connors is down-shifting from tennis to a more businesslike gear.

He said he may play until he’s 40, but realizes that the time is fast approaching for him to choose his next career, possibly something with one of the corporations he represents.

“I’m kind of a free agent for what I want to do later,” he said. “So far, the beginning has been good. Now, I’ve come to the fork in the road. I’m going to have to find out what I’m really interested in. If I play until I’m 40, I’ve still got years left to occupy my time, which is my real life.

“I realize this is not work I’m doing. This is a game. I’m outside, it’s 90 degrees and I’m playing tennis, which I love. My whole life to age 37 has been a game. I also realize that the game will end some day and that real work is coming in the future. I’m not afraid of that.”

Connors has been guided by ProServ and his own company, Tennis Management Inc., in his hometown of Belleville, Ill. Connors’ agent at ProServ, Ivan Blumberg, and Connors’ brother, John, are his most trusted advisers. And he is moving from Santa Barbara to Connecticut to be closer to the center of his business interests, which range from electronics in Japan to securities in New York to frozen pork bellies on the commodities market in Chicago.

“I’m a three-piece-of-the-pie man now,” Connors said. “Not only do I have my tennis, which is one-third, but I have my business and I have my family. To balance those three and to make them all satisfactory is sometimes a tough thing.”

It might seem that so, too, would be the image of Connors helping sell a product. But Connors is apparently viewed as a perfect spokesman for the affluent target audience of those 35-50. Jack Green, a senior vice president at Converse, which has been associated with Connors since 1982, said the sporting goods company recently extended its contract with Connors until 1994.

“We know, obviously, he won’t be playing that long, but he’s got just the right kind of personality to be effective long after he’s stopped playing,” Green said.

Connors said, though, that there has been no mellowing effort by him.

“(I’m) the same in the way I play, but when I got married and when Patti and I had our children, that changed me,” he said. “I’ve calmed down a little bit. I’m older and I need my energies so I can’t get as excited and up-tight and out of control as I used to be.”

Certainly one thing unchanged about Connors is his hatred of losing--even when he was shown losing to a host of players in a PaineWebber television commercial.

“I might have changed a little bit, but I’m still not accepting the losses. Even that one.”

At 24, Lisa Bonder is probably too young to be thinking about retirement, but she is already phasing out her tennis career.

A favorite in Japan, where she won three tournaments, Bonder never quite made a home in the top 10, although she did get as high as No. 9 in 1984. Married to local furniture impresario Tom Kreiss and with a 3-month-old son, Taylor, Bonder is casting about for a new career, possibly as a television commentator.

“Tennis is the area of my expertise,” said Bonder, who did on-court interviews for Prime Ticket during the Virginia Slims of Indian Wells.

A seven-month slump? Mats Wilander has not won a tournament since October, but he is confident he can win the French Open, which begins May 29 at Roland Garros in Paris.

“I feel I have a good chance,” Wilander said. “The years I’ve done well at the French, I always played bad before. The French doesn’t worry me at all.”

Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe also regard Wilander as a serious contender on the clay courts.

“He’s in a difficult position, but it’s too early to write him off,” McEnroe told the Associated Press. “I think he’s going to be a big factor by the French.”

Lendl said he thinks Wilander ought to be one of the favorites at Roland Garros.

“You can never underestimate a guy like that, especially someone who’s won it three times,” he said. “All he has to do is win a few matches and get his confidence back.”

Tennis Notes

Henri Leconte has pulled out of the French Open because of a herniated disk. Leconte, 25, had surgery Friday morning and may be sidelined for at least three months. He got to the final of last year’s French Open before losing to Mats Wilander. He had a similar disk operation in 1987. . . . Another notable injured player, Thomas Muster of Austria, seems to be on the mend after a two-hour operation in Vienna to repair torn ligaments in his left knee. Muster, 21, was injured in a car accident after winning his semifinal match in Key Biscayne early this spring.

Martina Navratilova and Zina Garrison are the first two entries in the $300,000 Virginia Slims of Los Angeles, which will be played Aug. 7-13 at Manhattan Country Club. Navratilova, ranked No. 2 behind Steffi Graf, is a five-time winner here. She has won twice this year, at Sydney and Tokyo. Garrison, ranked sixth, has one tournament victory this year, the Virginia Slims of California.

There was a noteworthy reunion in Houston recently. Nineteen years after they made history by forming the first professional women’s tennis circuit, seven of the nine original players who founded the Virginia Slims tour were honored at the Virginia Slims of Houston. The women players decided to begin their own tour in 1970 at a time when tournament prize money was dominated by the men. The players were Billie Jean King, Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Peaches Bartkowicz, Judy Dalton, Val Ziegenfuss, Kristy Pigeon, Kerry Melville and Julie Heldman. All but Heldman and Melville attended the reunion, which was celebrated with an exhibition doubles tournament, won by Casals and King. Casals, 40, wore a dress designed by Ted Tinling, 79. Said the 45-year-old King: “She’s the only one who could still wear it.”