Aggressive, single-minded and thoroughly determined on court, Jimmy Connors became one of the most popular tennis players of all time as he wore his heart on his sleeve.

A left-hander born on September 2nd 1952, Jimmy Connors did not endear himself to crowds early in his career as he was something of a maverick and would do anything to gain the edge on an opponent, also benefiting from the over-zealous encouragement of his family and supporters watching from the stands.

When he retired in 1991, Jimmy Connors had won 109 singles titles including eight Grand Slams, five of which came at the US Open between 1974 and 1983.

His two Wimbledon triumphs were separated by eight years (1974 and 1982) and in the first of those years he also took the Australian Open to win three of the four 'majors' in a single season.

The American lacked the natural brilliance of Borg and McEnroe, his two main rivals, and had to play second fiddle in some epic encounters against them.

Yet he was much more durable and became well known for staging incredible recoveries thanks to his sheer will to win, famously hitting back from 1-6 1-6 1-4 down to beat Mikael Pernfors in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 1987.

He performed similar heroics against Aaron Krickstein to reach the US Open semi-finals on his 39th birthday and his next match, against Jim Courier, effectively proved to be his swansong.

Since his retirement, Jimmy Connors has coached Andy Roddick and also become an acclaimed tennis commentator.