Rod Laver is the last men’s player to have completed a Grand Slam, with wins in all four of the major championships in 1969. But we will never know if Connors might not have done the same in 1974 had he not been banned from the French Open. He won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open that year, but was kept out of the French Open because he had signed to play for the Baltimore Banners of World Team Tennis, a brainchild of Billie Jean King that was frowned upon as too untraditional by the sport’s international governing body.
Connors acknowledges that his results at Roland Garros in Paris had been “less-than-stunning” the previous two years, but he was on a roll in 1974, playing the best tennis of his career. He won the Australian Open against Phil Dent in a four-set final, then annihilated Ken Rosewall in straight sets at both Wimbledon and the US Open, losing only two games in three sets in the latter match. After getting the cold shoulder from the French Open, Connors stayed away for five years before making his return.
