Connors Quietly Defeats McEnroe

Theater of the absurd or a tennis match? It’s always a little bit of both when John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors get together. McEnroe provided most of the theatrics, but Connors provided the better tennis and defeated an ornery McEnroe, 6-4, 6-4, Sunday in the finals of The Challenge in front of 4,444 fans at the Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach.

The Challenge title was Connors’ third in four years on the senior tour. The loss was McEnroe’s fourth consecutive in the finals of The Challenge.

Connors forced McEnroe to stay on the baseline most of the day by keeping the ball deep. But it was one of McEnroe’s deep balls that sparked a tirade. With Connors leading, 5-4, in the first set and the game score at deuce, McEnroe floated a backhand slice toward the baseline. When the linesman made a late out call, McEnroe exploded.

He argued the call with chair umpire Joe Wolf for a few minutes. Finally, Connors decided he had seen enough. Connors told McEnroe he could have the next two points and the game. He tossed the balls down to McEnroe so he could begin serving at 5-5.

McEnroe was ready to take Connors’ charity, but Wolf decided he couldn’t go along with it. Connors decided to even up the calls by hitting both his serves out of the stadium--getting the score back to deuce.

Connors eventually won the game, the set and the crowd.

“It was sort of embarrassing me on purpose,” McEnroe said. “It was Jimmy at his best. The crowd falls for that. They make it look like I’m the one who’s the bad guy. It’s typical. It’ going to happen again as long as we play. People don’t get it.”

In the second set, Connors gave another point to McEnroe on a questionable line call. He also agreed to replay a point that Connors originally won.

But not even Connors’ generosity Sunday could save McEnroe. Connors trailed, 4-2, in the second set, but came back to take the last four games. McEnroe’s downfall started in the seventh game of the second set when he missed an easy overhead to give Connors a service break.

“I just completely butchered that shot,” McEnroe said. “I basically choked. You just can’t afford to miss shots like that.”

Especially when Connors was playing as well as he did 10 years ago.

“I hit a lot of balls that I felt were pretty effective shots,” McEnroe said. “A lot of players would have had trouble with them, but he handled them well.

“Jimmy plays very well against me. The guy’s an incredible competitor. I did not play badly. It’s because of his high level I got a little tentative. I felt like it was mine if I could have pulled out that second set.”

For his trouble, Connors collects $150,000. McEnroe takes home $100,000. Connors’ title was his 31st on the Nuveen Seniors Tour. But at 45, Connors is beginning to think about retiring.

“It’s a lot of fun, but it’s mighty painful I must say,” Connors said. “And I’m not really enjoying the pain so much now.”

But for now, beating Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, two of the greatest names in tennis, is enough to keep him going.

“Obviously, we still care,” Connors said. “Maybe too much now at this age. I played pretty well today. It’s amazing what playing McEnroe and Borg does for my game. We’ve always brought out the best in each other for 25 years.”

In the third-place match, Borg defeated Yannick Noah, 5-7, 6-3, and 10-8 in a champions tiebreaker that decided the third set. Borg wins $50,000 and Noah $25,000.