Jimmy Connors

**^{A now golden moment to be sure. Who’s}**
**^{shaking hands here and why?}**

Sometime today, the All English Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club will crown its 2025 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Champion. And, for the 50th consecutive year, it will not be a black man.

On July 5, 1975, American Arthur Ashe became the first and to the moment, only, man of color to win this prestigious tournament.

Ashe defeated top seed and defending champion, Jimmy Connors, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, and 6-4, to claim the final of his three Grand Slam singles titles (also the U.S. Open, 1968, and Australian Open, 1970).

Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe — **^{Jimmy Connors, left, shakes Arthur Ashe’s hand following Ashe’s 1975 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Championship. (Photo from Mirropix/Getty Images).}**

The photo for this week’s Fan Teaser was captured at the net following Ashe’s victory. It was the first all-American men’s final since 1947.

As defending champion and nearly 10 years younger than Ashe, Connors was a heavy favorite. In fact, he’d never lost to Ashe in their prior head-to-head meetings and Connors had not lost a set in any of his six Wimbledon matches leading up to the final. Tennis observers have long said Ashe played an almost perfect match from a tactical perspective.

Additionally, there was bad blood between the two players. Connors was embroiled in a $10 million “restraint of trade” lawsuit against the American Tennis Professionals (ATP) – of which Ashe was president at the time – for its refusal to allow him to participate in the 1974 French Open as a contracted member of the World Team Tennis organization. Adding more fuel to the fire, Connors filed a $5 million libel suit against Ashe two days before Wimbledon began. The libel suit was for comments Ashe had written to ATP members in his role as president criticizing Connors’ derogatory comments toward Davis Cup Captain Dennis Ralston as well as Connors’ “unpatriotic boycott” of Davis Cup after he was not selected for the team in 1972. In the video highlights of their 1975 finals’ match below, you’ll notice Ashe wore red, white, and blue wrist bands as well as his USA Davis Cup warm up as a not-so-subtle rebuke of Connors.

^{Highlights from the Arthur Ashe-Jimmy Connors 1975 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Championship.}

^{A look back at the importance of Arthur Ashe.}

Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.

**^{While the celebratory fist pump has probably been around since}**
**^{basketball shorts were made of silk and had belt buckles, this guy}**
**^{took it to a whole other level.}**

A happy early 71st birthday to one of America’s male tennis legends – Jimmy Connors. Connors’ birthday is September 2nd and he’ll no doubt cast a glance at the proceedings in Flushing Meadows, NY, as the U.S. Open will be closing in on its second week of action.

The image for this week’s Fan Teaser is taken from his improbable 1991 U.S. Open run when, as a 39-year-old, he was admitted as a wildcard entrant and then progressed to the semifinals where he was ousted by Jim Courier. At the bottom, today, is video of an epic point in his quarterfinal matchup with Paul Haaruis.

Fun fact we didn’t know until doing some Connors’ research, he only played in two Australian Opens (1974, winner, and 1975, runner-up) as it was not common until the mid-1980s for high-ranked non-Aussies to travel to Melbourne for the tournament.

**^{Jimmy Connors knew how to play to the crowd (and pump himself up) and frequently deployed the fist pump to do both.}**

^{Connors breaks Paul Haaruis during the 1991 U.S. Open.}

Just to review, The Fan Teaser comes courtesy of longtime buddy, Pat Schutte. The cropped photo below and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.

The Sports Fan Project

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