Roger Federer would have to win another 48 tournaments to usurp the record collection of titles owned by Jimmy Connors, which offers a vivid impression of what it took to be the combative American.
In his first 11 appearances at Wimbledon, the left-hander reached the quarter-finals at the very least. No one won more often or left fewer stones unturned in the pursuit of success.
Connors cuts a puckish figure as he attends the championships as a member of the United States’s Tennis Channel commentary team, smartly suited with those fiery eyes burning behind Sven-Göran Eriksson-style glasses. Shake the great champion’s hand, engage for a few minutes and it does not take long for the memories of all those fire-and-brimstone matches to come flooding back.
As Britain is becoming all hot and bothered about Andy Murray reaching a third consecutive place in the last eight of the men’s singles, Connors’s 11 straight from 1972 until 1982 is a potent reminder of what competition meant to him. The 57-year-old has played tennis every day for the past six weeks now that his hip is better and as someone who never minced his words — and used to scare a young writer rigid — one asks about Murray’s prospects with a degree of trepidation.
“It is about more than just tennis for him now,” the eight-times grand-slam champion said. “It is about not getting caught up in the swirl that is all around. Tennis is the easy bit and there are times when I’d like to see him play as if he enjoyed it a bit more, getting involved with the kind of attitude that will get the crowd right on his side. He has to show the people what this means to him and enjoy the process.
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“When you get to this stage, you have to stay true to yourself. Borg couldn’t be like Nastase, I couldn’t be like McEnroe and Andy can’t try to be something that he isn’t. I suppose there is going to be more attention on him now the World Cup is over for England but when he is out on the court, that means nothing, or it shouldn’t.
“I didn’t turn on the television or read the newspapers when I was playing because I knew the kind of stuff someone like you would be saying and I couldn’t be distracted. Of course you want him to win, the sense of it is everywhere, but I wanted to win for me and that has to be his approach. This is not a bad way to live and he must embrace that as well.”
There is a subtle likeness between Connors and Murray in that it was Gloria, his mother, whom “Jimbo” relied upon for direction and inner strength, and Murray’s mother, Judy, has been the driving force behind his career. Gloria passed away three years ago and Chris Evert, once Connors’s fiancée, said at the time: “Gloria wasn’t pushy when it came to tennis, not like the fathers of some of the girls now. She just wanted Jimmy to be happy. He put enough pressure on himself.”
The similarities are remarkable.
Perhaps Murray can find the requisite inner self today to quell the challenge of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No 10 seed from France, who has consistently found that grass courts give him succour. Whether this year’s Australian Open semi-finalist will walk off Centre Court with a similar emotion remains to be seen. Murray is favoured, but he knows he will have to retain his focus through some torrid patches if Tsonga’s forehand — with which he has sought to be a touch more conservative — hits its spots.
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Murray concurs with Connors that, regardless of events in South Africa, he does not need to change a thing in his approach because the strengths that have taken him to the last eight — pride, focus, mastery of technique and situation, confidence in his game — are the ones that will take him farther. The more newsprint devoted to his exploits and a broader base of awareness and support in the country will make not a jot of difference.
“The pressure is there from the first round to the last, regardless of whether England are in the World Cup,” he said. “Once the tournament starts, I get into the same routine. I came in and practised for an hour yesterday, relaxed and worked with the physio [Andy Ireland]. The pressure becomes totally irrelevant. People make too much of the pressures of playing at Wimbledon. If you look at Tim Henman, he played his best tennis here throughout the years, without question.
“At the start of the event there are nerves and that little bit of pressure that you need to get over. The first match you can start a little bit slowly but once you get through it, you enjoy it. You have the home support, it makes you play a lot better.
“Pressure is not a valid excuse when you are playing at the highest level of sport. I am not scared of the situation. I am not scared of who I am playing. Yeah, you are excited and it is great to be out on a court like that when the support is with you. It is a place where you learn to be very comfortable.”
Although Rafael Nadal, the world No 1, against Robin Söderling — a repeat of the French Open final — is the pick of the quarter-finals, the pair will have to make do with No 1 Court as the venue. It was a tough choice for the committee and if it may have made an error this time, Federer would have been a touch miffed not to be accorded the prime slot on “his” court.
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After his first-round scare against Alejandro Falla, of Colombia, the Swiss has been proficiency personified. Tomas Berdych, of the Czech Republic, stands in his path today, a player good enough to have reached his first grand-slam semi-final in Paris a month ago but surely not able to resist the great man today. If there is to be an upset, Söderling is the man whom one senses will provide it.