Making A List

The U.S. Open began on Monday at Flushing Meadow in New York City. The Open is the only Grand Slam tournament that has been held on three surfaces—grass, clay and hard court—and five-time champion Jimmy Connors is the only player to have won it on all three. He also has played more memorable matches at the U.S. Open than anyone else. Here are 10 of them:

1974 final—6-1, 6-0, 6-1 win over Ken Rosewall. In the most lopsided final in tournament history, Rosewall fared even worse on the grass at Forest Hills than he had in the Wimbledon final two months earlier, which Connors won 6-1, 6-1, 6-4.

1976 final—6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 win over Bjorn Borg on clay. Borg won 123 points to Connors' 121, but Jimbo saved four set points in the tiebreaker.

1977 final—2-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-0 loss to Guillermo Vilas. Connors pushed and shoved photographers as he stormed off the court. Minutes later, he was driving away from the West Side Tennis Club.

1978 round of 16—4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 win over Adriano Panatta on the hard courts at Flushing Meadow. What a point! Serving at 5-6 and deuce in the fifth set, Panatta thought he had ended the rally with a crosscourt volley that bounded 10 feet beyond the sideline. But Connors scrambled after the ball and ripped a one-handed backhand around the net post. The ball landed inches inside the baseline. Panatta double-faulted on the next point to lose the match.

1980 semifinals—6-4, 5-7, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6 loss to John McEnroe. Connors netted an easy volley at 1-2 in the tiebreaker and then sailed a backhand deep off McEnroe's return. "The two worst points of my life," said Connors.

1981 round of 32—6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 win over Andres Gomez. Connors suffered muscle cramps most of the match and was still being massaged an hour after it had ended.

1983 final—6-3, 6-7, 7-5, 6-0 win over Ivan Lendl. Connors won his fifth U.S. Open, surviving a death threat, diarrhea and 107� heat.

1984 semifinals—6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 loss to McEnroe. The match was the last of the day and ended at 11:13 p.m. Connors nailed 45 winners to McEnroe's 20, but McEnroe won 12 of the first 13 points in the fifth set.

1988 quarterfinals—6-2, 7-6, 6-1 loss to Las Vegas native Andre Agassi. Afterward, Agassi said that lie had predicted he would win "three, three and three." Connors replied, "That was a bad mistake. I'll remember that. I enjoy playing guys who could be my children. Maybe he's one of them. I spent a lot of time in Vegas."