Jimmy Connors Saved My Life: A Personal Biography

Joel Drucker is an indefatigable researcher and an insightful writer. Though tennis writers tend to be at the bottom of the food chain when measured against golf, boxing and baseball writers, Drucker does his profession proud. The biographical information about Connors, based upon meticulous research, is at times, outstanding. He paints a portrait of the tennis great that few have ever seen. Drucker explores Connors' relationship with his mother Gloria and grandmother Bertha in-depth. Indeed, knowing his relationship to them is the foundation of not only his tennis career but also his life. My main problem with the book is that Drucker was never the insider he portrays himself to have been with Connors. Perhaps, his infatuation with the charismatic "Jimbo" led him to conjure up a make-believe inner circle relationship where none existed. I can stomach this because I do not believe Drucker believes otherwise. I truly think that he viscerally believes he was thisclose to Connors. But he wasn't. To me, this calls into question other assertions and conclusions he made and arrived at. I've examined them thoroughly and have no problem with their efficacy. Simply put, this is a book that Drucker had to write. Undoubtedly it served as a catharsis, ridding his soul of haunting demons that needed exorcising. As he describes his relationship with his brother, its like hearing chalk screech on the blackboard. Yet, it had to be written. For the diehard Connors fans, this is a must book. For those who loved tennis in its heyday, you won't find a more compelling book. Most of the other tennis books on the personalities from this period were written, or so they read, solely to capitalize on the subject matter and to make a dollar. This book was written from a soul that is, at times, tormented, yet remains sincere. The result is a one-of-a-kind book that does justice to Connors, tennis and the writer.

Joel Drucker writes an excellent autobiography of himself and intertwines it with a biography of Connors. Since Connors never did give him permission to write an authorized biography, you are left wondering what was really going on in Connors' mind. The book is great for tennis fans. The only thing I would change is he goes into a little too much detail on certain matches--giving a point by point detail for quite a few matches. Other than that small criticism, the book is a great read.

Joel Drucker does a great job fulfilling his desire to write a biography about the elusive Jimmy Connors. Like Connors, Drucker grew up in St. Louis and later Los Angeles with an interest in tennis that later allowed him to cross paths with Jimmy Connors, his tennis hero. But it was not always that way as Drucker chronicles his love for the stated elegance of the game and his dissatisfaction with the new "ugly" heroes, Connors, Nastase and McEnroe. Slowly the Connors mystique captures Drucker and he elegantly writes of his love of tennis while at the same time discussing the struggles of his older brother who suffers from mental illness. The overlay of his personal story only takes about 1/4 of the book with the remainder covering Connors who is a unique human being blessed to be fueled by the overwhelming desire to compete against the world. But this competitive fire has its downside as Connors never really lets anyone close and competes on the tour as a loner while most other competitors socialize and enjoy each other's company. So with this background, Drucker reconstructs the meteoric rise of Connors' career through his eventual drop below Borg and McEnroe while he leaves his high school tennis career, attends Cal Berkeley and starts a failed career as a tennis journalist. From here he's able to spend time with Connors and get drawn in to the very small inner circle. Drucker floats the idea of a biography which Connors always seems interested in but in the end, Connors remains the loner who is, not letting anyone get close enough to really know him. Connors is a warrior. He has the heart of a lion even though his ability to interact with other humans may not be as advanced as most people would like. Overall, this is an enlightening, well-written book. I recommend this book for anyone with an interest in tennis or the history of tennis as well as those interested in inter-personal relationships. I suspect we'll see other books from Drucker as he is an excellent writer.

Drucker is truly the thinking person's tennis writer. He understands the game on every level: technical, strategic, psychological. He is also an exceptionally good writer -- a storyteller on a par with Michael Lewis. Finally, and perhaps most striking of all, he is not afraid to lay bare his own sensibilities, directly and without flinching. This is a book about much more than tennis. It is about childhood heroes that shape us, about coming of age, and about coming to terms with the private demons that stalk us all. Frank Sinatra famously said, "You're only honest when you sing." Drucker is honest when he writes.

Joel Drucker shows that there is more to tennis than just hitting fuzzy balls over the net. His unauthorized biography of Jimmy Connors, based on much painstaking research and numerous personal interviews with Connors, paints a picture of a great athlete, but one who is both inspiring and disturbing at the same time. Drucker intertwines his own personal story with the career of Connors, and both make for fascinating reading. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in sports and life in general.