Jimmy Connors, Ladies" Man - NYTimes.com Jeff Minton for The New York Times Postscript Appended Technically, Jimmy Connors wasn't the most overwhelming player. He was on the slight side; his serve was so-so, his forehand questionable. His only truly great stroke was his two-handed backhand. That he managed to win eight Grand Slam events (five U.S. Opens, two Wimbledons and one Australian Open), spend 160 consecutive weeks at No. 1 (1974-77) and rack up a record 109 career singles titles (John McEnroe and Roger Federer each have 77; Rafael Nadal has 58) is a testament, in large part, to a relentless and, at times, all-consuming will. This trait goes a long way toward explaining Connors's most quietly astounding feat: for 16 years, he held a Top 10 ranking. In an era when tennis careers can flame out over a half-dozen seasons, Connors - who on his 39th birthday won a fourth-round U.S. Open match against the 24-year-old Aaron Krickstein in 4 hours 41 minutes - looks, in retrospect, more and more like a freak of nature or nurture or both. Tony Triolo/Sports Illustrated, via Getty Images Jimmy Connors after beating John Newcombe at Caesars Palace in 1975, with, from left, the promoter Bill Riordan; his coach, Pancho Segura; and his mother, Gloria Connors. A blue-collar kid from Belleville, Ill., Connors, who is now 60, joined the men's tour as the sport was shaking its country-club gentility. He strutted combatively; he pointed fingers. His displays often crossed the bounds of good taste - he knew better than anyone how to exploit the phallic possibilities of a racket - but that was decades ago. Since then, his demons have quieted; what endures is his incomparable tennis intelligence. Last month, Connors, who was mentored on the court by both his mother and grandmother, was hired to pass some of that aptitude to Maria Sharapova, currently the No. 3 women's player in the world, who seemed to have confronted an impenetrable barrier in the form of her nemesis, Serena Williams. Williams has won 14 of their 16 matches. Well, it didn't quite work out that way. Sharapova lost her first match as a Connors disciple at the Western & Southern Open, a tuneup for the U.S. Open. Afterward Connors tweeted, "Every good round starts with a bogey - not the start we wanted, so back to work tomorrow." But by the end of the week, the partnership was over after only 34 days. As it turns out, Sharapova pulled out of the Open this week. This article is the result of several conversations, which have been condensed and edited, from before and after the short-lived experiment with Sharapova. Connors, showing a side of himself that no one who watched him in his prime would recognize, tweeted from Santa Barbara, Calif., a few days after the loss: "Back home in SB - family, pups, and home cooking. Oh - I forgot, and a vodka on the rocks. Q. Sharapova has achieved a tremendous amount - four Grand Slam victories - and yet appears to have hit a wall with Serena Williams. I guess you wouldn't have signed on unless you felt that wall was breakable. A. There comes a point with a lot of top players when they look for someone who can see something that can maybe get them over the hump. I worked with [the former player and coach] Pancho Segura when I was young, then I sought him out again when I had a bit of a career stall in the late "70s. With somebody who has Maria's credentials, it's not major surgery. I guess the challenge is just to find that one little tweak that she grabs onto - that one little extra thing that she's looking for. Because she's not missing anything, let's face it. Coaching her is an opportunity that came along to me when I wasn't looking to work, really. Q. How long have you known her? A. We spent a little time together before she went down to Australia and won in 2008. So we've been friends for five, six years. I always enjoyed watching her - I like the way she goes about things. She has that attitude that I like. Q. What kind of attitude? A. I like seeing in somebody just what it means to them - what they're willing to lay out there to try to be the best. Some players have it in practice, but it doesn't catch. But it catches with Maria. She's willing to lay it all out there in practice, and she's not afraid to do that when she plays her matches, too. That's pretty special to see. Q. Your partnership ended abruptly after she lost her first match at a U.S. Open tuneup in Cincinnati. A. No comment. Q. Were you surprised? A. I was just told my services were no longer needed. I wish her all the best, and I'll always be a fan. Whenever this happens, it's mutual. Q. So was this a mutual decision? A. It's her decision for sure. She's the player, not me. Q. Is this the downside of trying to work with a player who has already accomplished so much? A. I guess it depends on what you're looking for. Taking someone from No. 2 to No. 1 - there's a lot less room. Q. Do you think what happened reflects the pressure it takes to be No. James Kaplan co-wrote John McEnroe's autobiography, "You Cannot Be Serious," and is working on the second volume of a biography about Frank Sinatra. Editor: Jon Kelly Postscript: August 25, 2013 Two articles this weekend in the special U.S. Open issue contain outdated references to the tournament. An interview on Page 44 with Jimmy Connors, in which he discusses his brief stint as Maria Sharapova's coach, had gone to press before Sharapova dropped out of the tournament. And an article on Page 31 about Roger Federer had also been printed before Federer was defeated by Rafael Nadal and dropped to No. 7 in the rankings.