Rivalries in a sport just make the sport more emotional and closer to the heart, not only for the fans but also for the athletes. One cannot stay passive when two great rivals are facing each other. Tennis, mainly being an individual sports, treasures such rivalries. The iconic rivalry between Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe is one of them.

The players, whenever they met each other on the court, did not meet just as professionals but as competitors vying for the greatest glory the sport had to offer. Thus, there was an emotion attached to the rivalry which made the game more interesting. The extreme emotions created by such intense rivalry will inevitably spill out of the court, and this was particularly evident when Jimmy Connors made his harsh discontent for his opponent clear.

The iconic rivalry of John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors

Connors had already won four grand slam titles when McEnroe entered the tennis circuit. Both players had an aggressive style of play, and both never deviated from expressing their strong emotions. When the players met at the semi-finals of the SW19 in 1977, Connors came out victorious. However, that was in the beginning of their rivalry, as McEnroe gradually got the better of his compatriot, and ended up leading the rivalry by a 20-14 ratio. Moreover, McEnroe went close to equaling Connors’ total haul of Grand Slams, which was 8 compared to McEnroe’s seven.

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Such was the extent of their rivalry that Connors expressed his discontent for his rival openly. He said, “Mac is the one player I can watch limping around the court and feel good about saying ‘F**k that guy’.” Their rivalry began in 1977 with the victory of Connors and ended in 1991 with a victory for McEnroe.

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The players pushed each other to be better, and they never met each other before the semi-finals in grand slam events.

Other exemplary tennis rivalries

Tennis promotes legendary rivalries, where the players meet each other numerous times, pushing both players to give their best to win every point. The most famed among such rivalries will certainly be that of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. The two legendary players have met each other a whopping 80 times, out of which 60 times were in the finals of different tournaments. The rivalry ended in the favor of Navratilova by a ratio of 43-37.

Other than that, the current rivalry between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal is also iconic. The last time they met each other was in the quarter-finals of the French Open, where the Spaniard came out victorious. However, the H2H series between the two is in favor of the Serb by a ratio of 30-29.

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Such tennis rivalries certainly increase the popularity of the sport and tennis fans all around the world will be hoping the next generation will also continue to have such unique face-offs.