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> He has hit directors of the Association of Tennis Professionals (A.T.P.), the players' union he has refused to join, with a $41 million lawsuit. It charges that leaders of the A.T.P. violated antitrust laws by allegedly conspiring with organizers of the French Open to bar Connors and others from that tournament because they were not playing regularly on the European summer circuit.
When Connors was barred from the French Open in 1974, he lost the chance to become only the third male player (Don Budge and Laver were the others) to win the tennis Grand Slam, which includes Wimbledon, Forest Hills and the Australian Open as well as the French Open. Late last week in an unrelated action, A.T.P. Director Jack Kramer filed a $3 million suit against Connors and Riordan accusing them of making "defamatory" statements about him.
Connors explains that he believes in open tennis: that is, not allowing any one group to dominate the sport. On the Davis Cup issue, for example, he says: "I think having one or two persons running the show and saying who will and will not play is wrong. I think there should be play-offs to select the team members." Cup officials say Jimmy is miffed because three years ago he was passed over as a singles player.
Connors' rationale is at best only half the story. The main reason for his war with establishment tennis is Manager Riordan. A former boxing promoter and menswear salesman, Riordan, 55, directed the indoor circuit for the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association until 1973. That year the U.S.L.T.A. cut back its winter indoor tour to make way for the W.C.T. Riordan, who was dismissed, demanded that the U.S.L.T.A. allow him to stay in business at least as an independent promoter managing what was left of the Association's old indoor tour plus other tournaments he could organize. Eventually, they reluctantly agreed.
Enter Connors, one of the hottest amateurs, winner of the national collegiate singles championship as a freshman at U.C.L.A. Riordan was recommended to Connors by Jimmy's grandmother, Bertha Thompson, herself a former pro, and Connors quickly signed to play professionally for him. "I told Jimmy," recalls Riordan, "if you want to be No. 2 in one of the W.C.T. groups, you'll be a nonentity. But if you want to be the best-known tennis player in the world, come with me." Connors says he felt he would get more experience on the less glamorous tour because "I wouldn't get knocked out in the first round by guys like Laver."
Even playing frequently against second-raters, Connors got the experience to develop. Suddenly Riordan had the hottest property in tennis. "It's Connors who controls the destiny of the sport," says Riordan with grandeur. "Connors' enemies are at his feet."