Eighteen-year-old John McEnroe had never played Jimmy Connors—or even met him—when his unlikely run at Wimbledon put him up against the top-ranked tennis player in the world in the 1977 semifinals. Connors, 24, had held the top ranking for nearly three years and ended McEnroe’s run in four sets. But McEnroe was rising fast. In 1980, he defeated Connors to win the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships in Memphis, earning enough ranking points to pass Björn Borg and become the world’s top-ranked player for the first time.
Connors had dominated their early matches, but over the course of their 14-year rivalry, McEnroe turned things around and ultimately won 20 of their 34 matches. Despite the friction between them, the two had quite a bit in common. Both were American, left-handed and of Irish heritage, and both were notorious for arguing calls. Connors later said, “McEnroe, he was me, I was him,” and described their rivalry as “fire and fire.” Time to turn up the heat and vote for your favourite.
