"Jimmy's reaction to my words was broadcast from a huge bully pulpit"- When Pete Sampras revealed Jimmy Connors' response to 1991 US Open comments
Jimmy Connors once criticized Pete Sampras for his comments after losing his quarterfinal at the 1991 US Open.
Sampras entered the tournament as the defending champion but was ousted in the last eight by eventual runner-up Jim Courier. The then-20-year-old said in his post-match press conference that he felt the "monkey is off my back."
Sampras wrote in his book "A Champion's Mind" that Jimmy Connors, who was having a mesmerizing run at the 1991 US Open, criticized his comments.
Connors said that while he was still working hard despite being nearly 40, the younger players were happy to lose.
"One guy who called me out was Jimmy Connors, who was still in New York because he was in the midst of that great late-career run that captured the imagination of the entire nation. That was both good and bad luck for me. Jimmy’s heroics had become the main story of the Open, so that took the heat off me," Sampras wrote.
"On the other hand, Jimmy’s own reaction to my words was broadcast from a huge bully pulpit. In a good example of standard-issue Connors self-promotion, he said, 'Here I am almost forty years old and busting my hump and these young guys are happy to be losing. I don’t know about these young kids anymore...'," he added.
Jimmy Connors, who entered the tournament as a wildcard, reached the semifinals of the 1991 US Open before losing to Jim Courier in straight sets.
"Jimmy was never close to his peers" - Pete Sampras
Pete Sampras also wrote in his book that Jimmy Connors was never close to his colleagues and saw everyone as his competitor. He stated that Connors' views on his comments gave the incident a "life of its own", as it became more about the veteran's opinions than what Sampras said at the 1991 US Open.
"Jimmy was never close to his peers; he saw everyone on the planet as his competitor, and he was on his way out of the game, clinging to the last rays of glory. I was fine with that; his clinging didn’t bother me," Pete Sampras wrote.
"Jimmy’s comment added fuel to the fire, and the incident took on a life of its own. The story was no longer just about what happened at the Open and what I said about it, it was about what Jimmy Connors had said, and then it became about how I felt about what Connors had said, and so forth," he added.