"Everybody else had their dad, I’m the only world champion to be taught by a woman" - When Jimmy Connors gushed about his relationship with mom Gloria

Jimmy Connors had a strong bond with his mother, Gloria, and once praised her for helping him become a world champion. He noted how rare it was at the time for a mother to coach her son, as most players were trained by their fathers.

Gloria taught Jimmy the fundamentals of the game from a very young age. She was known for her strict coaching methods and for encouraging her son to develop a mental toughness that contributed to his success.

Her guidance was instrumental in shaping Connors into one of the most successful and charismatic tennis players of his time and helped him win eight Grand Slam singles titles and hold the World No. 1 ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks.

In a 1980 interview with Rolling Stone, Jimmy Connors expressed pride in being coached by his mother, saying:

"Well, everybody else had their dad. I’m the only world champion ever to be taught by a woman."

The American added:

"My mom had a difficult role. Number one, because she was my mom, and number two, because she was my coach. And she’s been condemned for years and years for that."

"What a lot of people don’t understand is that she – along with me – can separate the two, the mom and the coach. But the people on the outside couldn’t. My mom knows my game so well I can talk to her on the telephone and she can help," he continued.

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Jimmy Connors on his mother Gloria coaching him: "My mom took a lot of criticism for that"

Jimmy Connors pictured at the One 805 Kick Ash Bash | Image Source: Getty

Jimmy Connors has always credited his mother, Gloria, and his grandmother, who was a tennis champion in their native East St. Louis in the 1930s, for his success in the sport.

He reiterated this sentiment in an episode of his podcast, 'Advantage Connors,' in December 2023, during a conversation with his longtime friend, Casey DeFranco.

"I would have never known about the game if it wasn't for my mom and my grandmother from a little town in Illinois, where, which is pretty extraordinary, tennis wasn't it back then," he said (at 37:34).

The American also mentioned how his mother faced significant criticism but never wavered in her support for him.

"To beat men. Exactly. It's interesting that you say that, Casey, because my mom took a lot of criticism for that," Jimmy Connors said.

"But that never really took away from her the feeling about wanting me to be a part of the game and try to get better. And, who knows where that was going to take anybody. There was no money back then. ‘What am I going to do? Go win the US Open and get a handshake?'" he added.

Gloria Connors died at 82 on January 8, 2007, at her home in Belleville, reportedly due to natural causes.