‘Never Put the Pressure’ – Tennis Legend Jimmy Connors Reveals a Crucial Advice for Parents of Children in Sports

The period during the 80s and the 90s saw many players achieving the status of legends in tennis. From Martina Navratilova to John McEnroe, fans were fortunate to watch these players in action. Amongst them was the American tennis legend, Jimmy Connors.

During his illustrious career, Connors won laurels all across the globe. Further, he went on to win an astonishing eight Grand Slam titles, including five US Open titles. He once had a piece of advice for the parents of children in sports.

Jimmy Connors gives some words of wisdom

During one of the episodes of ‘Today’s Paige’, Connors was asked what advice would he like to give to the parents who had their children in sports. Talking about this, he said, “Well I mean, I’ve never put the pressure on my kids to play tennis, they were around it, they knew what it was like, they knew about it, they have a game if they want to go and to enjoy it but I never put that pressure on them.”

Further, he added, “I think especially in the sports world, parents can be the ones who want it more than their kids sometimes and that’s a tough job for the kids to live up to, you know.”

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Talking about the pressure on children and their parents, Connors said, “The parents sacrifice everything they pick up and move from Russia or they move from you know, to come to the States to learn the game and sell everything and put you know, there’s only you know, a small percentage that are really going to make it you know, and that’s an awful, a lot of pressure to put on young kids to have to live up to that for their parents.” 

“So you know, what would I say, I would say that the parents should try to enjoy the game as much as they want their kids to enjoy it.”

Connors’ intriguing rivalry with John McEnroe

During their illustrious careers, McEnroe and Connors played some of the greatest matches against each other. They faced off against each other on 34 occasions. However, McEnroe dominated the rivalry against Connors, winning on 20 of these occasions.

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After ending his playing career, Connors tried his end at coaching. He even worked with the likes of Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova although these stints didn’t last long.