Word: riordan
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...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...
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...
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...
Connors now sounds less enthusiastic about Riordan than Riordan does about Connors. Though Jimmy praises the promoter for giving him a start and respects Riordan's fight for independence in tennis, there are signs that he may be going his own way. "It's coming to the point where I have to look out for myself," Jimmy says. "Bill's been great with me in the past, but I've produced for him too." Riordan does not see a split developing. "Jimmy doesn't make a move without me," he says. Last week Connors entered his first W.C.T. tournament...