WHAT MADE JIMMY CONNORS GREAT?

Jimmy Connors was one of the most ferocious competitors in sport, any sport.  

Connors was phenomenally competitive in 3 important ways:

#1  He knew the strong and the weak areas of his game. With his strengths he would try for more, take chances and sometimes make mistakes, but never on his weaknesses. This makes for a difficult opponent because you're getting no free points, while he goes for big shots when he gets a ball on his stronger side.

#2  He played against an opponent better than anyone else in tennis. Because Jimmy read his opponents so well, he was able to control the momentum of a match by changing the the speed of play to suit the situation. He would also repeatedly go to successful patterns that were working for him during the match.

#3  Jimmy didn't play tennis to make friends. He got in your face and made it clear that if the match got ugly you were entering his world. He could be very intimidating.