How Jimmy Connors’ 1974 US Open Title Run Transformed Tennis

By Raymond Lee | Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Photo credit: Focus on Sport/Getty

NEW YORK—Tennis is a timeless sport.

From the very beginning there have been legendary players like Fred Perry, Big Bill Tilden, Ellsworth Vines, Jack Kramer, Pancho Gonzalez and Rod Laver.

All of these champions were super players but eventually they, and the opponents who were their rivals will have seen their time to be replaced by other great players.

When Open Era tennis began in 1968 there was a group of legendary players that made up
the ruling class. They were Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Arthur Ashe, Pancho Gonzalez,
John Newcombe and Tony Roche among others. These champions dominated the tennis scene during the early Open Era and won virtually all of the top tournaments.

The 1973 US Open was won by the great Aussie serve-and-volleyer John Newcombe, who worked his way into peak form during the tournament. Newcombe’s game was ideal for the torn-up grass of the old West Side Tennis where the US Open was played on turf rather than today’s blue hard courts. Newk had a huge serve, perhaps the best combination of first and second serve in the game with some of the best first volleys in history. His forehand was perhaps the best in the game. The volley was fantastic, particularly his forehand volley. His backhand was a solid stroke but admittedly not great stroke with an excellent lob off that side.

One of the top contenders in the 1973 US Open was this young lefty player from the United States, a young man named James Scott Connors but more commonly known as Jimmy Connors.

The feisty Connors was in fine form during the tournament, crushing among others, Tom Okker, a gifted player who was one of the best in the world in straight sets. So little did the observers know at the time that one of the greatest serve and volleyers of all time in John Newcombe would be facing perhaps the greatest returner of all time in Jimmy Connors. This quarterfinal match possibly was the equivalent of the final with the two best players in the tournament.

The match, while won in straight sets by Newcombe 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 was far closer than some may think. Tiebreakers in those days was the first to 5 points and the player did not have to win by 2 points. Newcombe won both tiebreakers 5 points to 4. If Connors won both points he would have been ahead by 2 sets to 1. 

Newcombe went on to defeat Ken Rosewall in the semifinals and Jan Kodes in the finals to win the 1973 US Open.

I’m of the opinion that if Connors defeated Newcombe that day, he would have won the 1973 US Open. Connors was playing at or near his 1974 levels. We know now in retrospect that Connors’ game was perhaps too tough for Ken Rosewall to handle. 

Kodes never defeated Connors. He lost all 6 matches they played although Kodes did take Connors to 5 sets at the1974 Wimbledon so defeating Kodes in 1973 wasn’t a given either. 

Still if Connors found a way to defeat Newcombe in the quarters in 1973 I believe he probably would have won the US Open.

I make it sound so easy to defeat Newcombe in peak form on grass when in actuality it’s an unbelievably tough task. I believe Connors in 1973 was more than capable of doing it. Still, for the final major in 1973, the old guard in John Newcombe still ruled. 

The next year however, it was different. 

While it is true that Connors already won two majors that year in 1974 in the Australian and Wimbledon, the Australian did not have the great field that some of the other majors had. Many also thought the Connors’ opponent in the Wimbledon final, Ken Rosewall was exhausted from his effort to defeat Stan Smith in the semifinal. This in many people’s minds accounted for Rosewall’s one sided loss to Connors. So in experts and fan’s minds, Connors was perhaps not at the absolute top yet. 

Newcombe, for the first half of 1974, was considered to be the top player in the world. In those days the WCT Championship was one of the most important tournaments in the world and essentially a major tournament. Newcombe won the WCT Championship in 1974 over a young Bjorn Borg

So Newcombe was top seed at the 1974 Wimbledon with Nastase second and Connors only the third seed. The fourth seed was Stan Smith and the fifth seed was another great young player named Bjorn Borg. Rounding out the top ten seeds were in order, the defending champion Jan Kodes, the gifted player Tom Okker, Arthur Ashe, the legendary Ken Rosewall and Alex Metreveli.

Rosewall defeated Newcombe in the quarterfinals and recovered from a two set deficit to defeat Stan Smith in five sets. 

Connors defeated Jan Kodes in a tough battle in five sets, the tough Dick Stockton in four sets to reach his first Wimbledon final.

Connors crushed Rosewall 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 to easily win his first Wimbledon. While everyone knew Connors was a superb player, there were some doubts whether the crushing score was simply because Rosewall was exhausted from defeating Newcombe and later Smith in five sets.

The 1974 US Open was the last one played on grass. It was played at the legendary West Side Tennis Club which incidentally is still around today.

Connors of course was the top seed with Newcombe second.  The rest of the top ten seeds in order were Stan Smith, Bjorn Borg, Ken Rosewall, Tom Okker, Nastase, Ashe, Vilas and Manuel Orantes, the gifted touch left hander. It was a combination of the old-time established players in Rosewall, Smith, Ashe, Okker and Newcombe with the new upcoming stars of the sport in Connors, Borg and Vilas. 

Orantes was still very young at age 25 during the 1974 US Open so I’m not sure if you could call him part of the established old guard. Nastase, well, he was Nastase.

The semifinals had Jimmy Connors, possibly the greatest returner of all time against Roscoe Tanner, one of the most powerful servers of all time. Connors defeated Tanner in a close three set match 7-6 7-6 6-4. Tanner had upset the former US Open and Wimbledon champion Stan Smith in the quarterfinals in four sets. 

The other match was between two Aussie legends in Ken Rosewall, also called by some the greatest returner ever versus John Newcombe, perhaps the best overall server in tennis at the time. Rosewall upset Newcombe in four sets to reach the final and a rematch with Jimmy Connors, who defeated him in the Wimbledon final.

The matchup, as we know today over 50 years later was a really bad one for Rosewall. While Rosewall, for most of his career, had possibly the best return, backhand and overall groundstrokes, he was now surpassed by his opponent in the final in those categories imo. Connors also could attack Rosewall’s serve in a way no one else could at that time.

Many thought the match would be closer than the Wimbledon final that year and understandably so. Rosewall was a legend. Who could crush him like that, even though he was 39 about to turn 40 in November?

The problem was that Connors hit with such power and depth that Rosewall could not approach the net. Connors’ serve, while not overpowering, was excellent for the bad worn-out grass of the West Side Tennis Club because you never knew where the ball was going to go when it hit the bad patches. And there a lot of bad patches on that grass.

It was a total annihilation. Connors won by a score of 6-1 6-0 6-1. Even when Rosewall hit a great shot it seemed that Connors would answer with a better one.

I often think of this match as sort of a changing of the guard in tennis. Most of the tennis world, even in 1974, were changing to har tru or clay type surfaces. The 1975 US Open would be played on har tru, which some call American green clay. 

Yes I understand the old guard in Newk and Ashe still had something to say in 1975 in winning the Australian and Wimbledon but I still feel Connors was the first to break through for the younger players. Eventually players like Borg, Vilas, Ramirez, Orantes, Solomon and Dibbs who were top clay court players would make their way in the final rounds of top tournaments. 

Jimmy Connors announced the coming of the new generation in tennis in a resounding way. The US Open would never be the same as Connors transformed the return of serve into an offensive shot.