@TennisPublisher
Why do the likes of Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray and other aging professional tennis players like Stan Wawrinka and Gael Monfils continue to put themselves through pain and suffering to continue squeeze a few drops more out of their careers?
Jimmy Connors, who played full-time on the pro tour from age 18 to 40, can relate and spoke of it earlier this year along with his son Brett Connors on the “Advantage Connors” podcast. Connors spoke of the competitive high that players just can’t get enough of and that cannot be replicated later elsewhere in life.
“Once it’s over, it’s over and there’ll never be another feeling like it the rest of your life,” said Connors. “I’ve been away from the regular tour since I’ve been 40, so that’s 30 years. I’ve been away from the senior tour since I’ve been 50. That’s 20 years. And I’ll search until I die for something to replace that and it will never happen. Will never happen.“
Prize money is still nice to collect, even if it is several hundred thousand less when on top of the game, but it is the intangible competitive highs – that all top-flight athletes have – that continue to push players like Nadal, Murray, Wawrinka, Monfils and Roger Federer at the end of his career. Venus Williams, still competing in the 43rd year of her life, is a prime example on the women’s side of the sport.
“The joy that you get from going out and competing and putting your reputation and your game and your attitude and just everything on the line every time, by yourself…The feeling is amazing,” said Connors. “A lot of players … and Rafa gets this. Novak gets it. Federer got it also, because once it’s over, it’s over. You can’t all of a sudden go play another Wimbledon when you’re 60. And so the passion that he has, saying, ‘I’m going to get everything I can get out of this game, and I’m going to put everything I can into it at the same time.’”
Connors spoke on the podcast in the context of Nadal, suffering through injury, in his loss to Mackie McDonald at the Australian Open. Nadal hasn’t played since and just underwent hip surgery that will keep him off the competitive court for at least five months.
“My heart beats for that, because I know just what it means to him and how much he loves it,” said Connors when discussing Nadal’s post-match comments after his loss to McDonald. “And you don’t find many guys who say, ‘I’m going to go out and grind it for five.’ Five what? Five hours? Yeah. Come on. And to me, that’s why we’ve talked from the very beginning. That’s why I can identify with him. I love that attitude. And he’s not afraid to say it. That’s what I like just as much, if not more than anything. He’s not afraid to say it.”
