'That's a big difference from, from then': Jimmy Connors highlights big change he noticed in women's tennis during US Open

Former world number one Jimmy Connors has highlighted one of the major differences between women’s tennis now and how it was during his playing days. The 73-year-old is regarded as one of the greatest American players in the history of men’s tennis, having won as many as eight Grand Slam titles.

Only one American player has managed to win more major titles than Connors in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era. Jimmy recently started featuring in a podcast with his son, Brett, where they discussed in detail various aspects of professional tennis and how the game has evolved in recent years.

Brett received a question from Adam, a listener of the podcast, who pointed out a change in women’s tennis nowadays. “It seems to me that women players hit, now hit flatter balls than the men. When back when you were playing, it was the opposite. With women tending to hit much higher over the net with sometimes moon balls. While men, especially you ripped it low over the net. Is my observation correct?,” asked Adam.

In response, Connors provided a detailed answer, highlighting that in the past, there was a clear distinction in how women and men used to play tennis at the highest level, but that is no longer the case. Connors stated that while watching the US Open semifinals and finals while sitting in the arena, he realised the men’s side of players play ‘violent’ tennis, but to his surprise, women players were playing in a very similar way, something that did not happen back when he was playing at the highest level. Connors highlighted that women tennis players are ‘not afraid’ anymore to hit the ball as hard as they can, no matter where on the court they are while playing that particular shot.

Big change in tennis

“I think that, as I said, after watching the matches live, the semis and the finals of the US Open live. And it's been a while since I've seen a live match like that, the men play violent tennis,” said Connors. “You know, the way, the way they swing at the ball and go, but the women are the same. They're, they're not afraid to take a rip at it and, and go for their shots, no matter where they are in the court. That's a big difference from, from then. And now, it is that if they're five or six feet behind the baseline or two or three, four feet outside the tram lines, even the doubles lines, you know, the kind of shots that they can produce with the racquets and the string and so forth.”

Jimmy continued by saying: “And look at the kids. I mean, they're all big and they're all, even the ladies, you know, are six foot and carry them. And strong, right. So the guys can whip the ball, but the women, you know, are right along with them and giving that little extra topspin and being able to swing that hard with a light raquet. the violence of which they swing is, is, is something that, that I really couldn't get into my head. This is another generation.”

Jimmy was backed by his son Bret, who shared an interesting statistic about Anisimova. “Right. It's crazy,” said Bret. “I think it is true that the women hit flatter. I always think almost like, uh, speaking of Anna Samova, they did like stats I saw and her average backhand speed, I think was the fastest, either side, faster than [Jannik] Sinner's average backhand, faster than [Carlos] Alcaraz, faster than anybody. Jeez. And I think that's because she hits it flat.”