Word: segura
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...Jimmy," says Pancho, "he doesn't know what to expect. Jimmy will stay back and play base line, then rush the net. He can lob you or beat you down the alley with a winner. He's impossible to predict." Much of the credit for that unpredictability belongs to Segura, a Clausewitz of subtle shots and stratagems. As a small player who uses a two-handed forehand, Segura is in many ways the perfect teacher for Connors. Before all of Connors' big matches, he and Pancho, currently teaching pro at La Costa, a resort north of San Diego, review...
...Jimmy is the closest thing we have to a complete player," says Segura. "He can do everything." Most pros agree. Says Marty Riessen: "Jimmy has oodles of talent." While Connors lacks Newcombe's power serve (in fact, Jimmy's serve is the weakest part of his game), he is a master of approach shots, top-spin lobs and overhead smashes. But the keys to his game are his ground strokes, particularly service returns. "When Jimmy gets grooved returning serves, he's really dangerous," says Stan Smith, co-ranked No. 1 with Connors last year. Tennis experts agree that Connors' chances...
...Segura and Connors concentrate on such nuances as playing percentages and angles. "My first instinct is to hit the hell out of the ball," says Connors. "I'm still learning to control that. If you're serving down 30-40, you don't play like it's 40-love. You just try to get the first serve in." On taking advantage of angles, Connors says, "You've got to use the open court. If my opponent and I are both at the base line, I'm going to hit cross court to his backhand, and if he hits back...
...serves. Last year he even leaped into the stands to go after a boisterous fan. What the public does not see or hear can be just as livid. As spectators in Las Vegas gave Rod Laver a standing ovation before their February match, Connors was standing next to Segura, his mother and Evert, howling back obscenity after obscenity...
...dinners of short-rib stew or chicken-fried steak will be ready, he does not let her protective mantle smother him. Connors' father never joins his wife and son on their trips. In Los Angeles, Connors can usually be found at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club, unbending with Spencer Segura, Pancho's son and Connors' longtime friend, by playing endless games of relaxed tennis and backgammon and downing gallons of Coke...