"I wonder why all the women I broke up with took the news so easily" - When Jimmy Connors candidly looked back on the end of his romantic relationship

Jimmy Connors once candidly reflected on the way his romantic relationships tended to come to an end. The American made the introspective admission while recalling his breakup with a former girlfriend.

Connors was in a high-profile relationship with Chris Evert when they both clinched the singles titles at the 1974 Wimbledon Championships. They were even engaged to be married, but they never made it to the altar because Connors called off their wedding in 1975.

In his 2013 memoir 'The Outsider,' Jimmy Connors revealed that he started dating former Miss World Marjorie Wallace in 1976, describing her as "fun" and easygoing. However, the couple ended their relationship a little over a year later, shortly after Connors' father James passed away.

Connors said that he and Wallace eventually came to the realization that their lifestyles were incompatible, since the former World No. 1 preferred to lead a more private life.

"Marjie moved with a fast crowd and had dated the soccer star George Best, the Grand Prix driver Peter Revson, and even the singer Tom Jones. She was easy to talk to and fun to be around. And, by the way, did I mention she was hot?" Jimmy Connors wrote.

"Marjie and I split for good not long after my father’s death. We’d been together for more than a year, and although it was unspoken, I knew both of us felt that the relationship had run its course. I think Marjie realized around the time of the People article that the lifestyle I was leading wasn’t really what she was looking for," he added.

Jimmy Connors also opened up about his emotional breakup conversation with Marjorie Wallace, acknowledging that every woman he had ever broken up with seemed to take the news very well.

"Even though on the surface it sounded casual, it was an emotional conversation. We both knew our relationship was over, but it didn’t immediately erase the feelings we had for each other. At least for me. Looking back at it now, I wonder why all the women I broke up with took the news so easily," he wrote.

"Since that night we were inseparable, so it was kinda whirlwind" - Jimmy Connors on his relationship with wife Patti McGuire

Jimmy Connors And wife Patti McGuire - Source: Getty

Following his split with Marjorie Wallace, Jimmy Connors crossed paths again with Patti McGuire, a few years after he had found her to be "the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen" during a chance meeting at the Playboy Mansion.

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine in 1980, the eight-time Grand Slam champion said that their second meeting at a restaurant had sparked a whirlwind romance, as he and McGuire quickly became "inseparable."

"I never did. I went up there [to the Playboy Mansion] twice in my life. One time was when I met my wife. That was about three or four years ago," Jimmy Connors said.

"I met her first a few years ago and then I didn’t see her for a little over a year, until July 1978. I walked into a restaurant that a mutual friend of ours owns. She happened to be there playing backgammon. I talked to her a little bit, played a little backgammon, and since that night we were inseparable. So it was kinda whirlwind," he said.

Jimmy Connors tied the knot with Patti McGuire in 1979 and welcomed their son Brett that same year, followed by the birth of their daughter Aubree in 1984. In 2024, Connors celebrated his 45th anniversary with McGuire and publicly thanked her for making his life "special."