"I didn’t want to bump into Chris Evert" - When Jimmy Connors opened up about 'sneaking around' with new girlfriend after calling off wedding to Evert

Jimmy Connors once opened up about how his ex-fiancée Chris Evert influenced how he navigated his relationship with a new girlfriend. Connors disclosed that Evert's proximity created a difficult situation for him because he wanted to avoid any tension.

Evert and Connors were once considered tennis' golden couple, especially after they completed the "love double" by winning the singles titles at the 1974 Wimbledon Championships. However, the pair's tennis success ended up complicating their life as an engaged couple. In his 2013 memoir 'The Outsider,' Connors said that a relationship between two World No. 1s was fundamentally incompatible.

"You can’t have two number ones in a relationship. It’s just not going to work," Connors wrote.

With their wedding just weeks away, Jimmy Connors realized that he was feeling excluded from all major life decisions and questioned whether their married life would follow in the same vein. The former World No. 1 then called off his wedding to Chris Evert in a brief phone call.

"Our wedding date was November 8, just a few weeks away, but I felt left out of the big life-changing decisions that were being made by Chrissie. Our telephone conversations had become one-sided. This is what’s happening. This is the way it’s going to be. I started to wonder: If things were like this now, what was life going to be like when we were married?" he added.

In 1976, a year after his split with Chris Evert, Connors started dating former Miss World Marjorie Wallace. In a strange twist of fate, Wallace lived in the same apartment building as Evert, which created an awkward predicament for the American. Connors admitted that he and Wallace resorted to "sneaking around" because he wanted to avoid the uncomfortable possibility of running into his ex-fiancée.

"I also had a new girlfriend, who just happened to live in the same apartment building as Chrissie, right down the street from my place. That was . . . interesting. I still wanted to keep my private life private, so there was a lot of sneaking around. I really didn’t want to bump into Chrissie; it would have been awkward for both of us," he wrote.

"Chris Evert was treating me like some sort of househusband" - Jimmy Connors on the 'tension' in his relationship with fellow American

Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert - Source: Getty

In his memoir, Jimmy Connors also opened up about the strife in his relationship with Chris Evert. He revealed that the 18-time Grand Slam champion would get upset when he ate his lunch during her matches, even while he was cheering her on before taking the court himself.

Connors did not take kindly to being treated like a "househusband," admitting that there was a lot of rising tension in their relationship before they had even reached the altar.

"We were not even married yet and the tension was already building. I was in Chrissie’s corner, rooting for her, and she was treating me like some sort of, well, househusband. You know how it is, guys: You can’t do anything right. I needed to eat before my matches and I wanted to see her play," Connors wrote.

Furthermore, Jimmy Connors said that Chris Evert's "mood swings could drive anyone crazy" but acknowledged that she had to put up with his mercurial behavior as well. The eight-time Grand Slam champion has even confessed that it would've been a "mistake" for him to get married to Evert.