Mother's Day Special: The Mothers behind the Tennis Superstars

5) Gloria Connors

A well-known mother in the sports fraternity, she started coaching Jimmy, her eldest son at the age of 2. She remained his primary coach for much of his 21-year career, often with her mother Bertha Thompson by her side, whom Jimmy called Two Mom. There is no doubt that Jimmy is one of the greatest players of all times in tennis. He didn’t manage it all alone. She was with him through his entire career. Jimmy credits his success to her and rightly so. Jimmy said, “All my life she taught me, she made me a world champion.”

He held the top ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from July 29, 1974 to August 22, 1977 and an additional eight times during his career for a total of 268 weeks, thus becoming the first male player to be No.1 for more than 260 weeks, a record that has since been surpassed by Lendl (270 weeks), Sampras (286 weeks) and Federer (302 weeks). He won a total of 10 Grand Slams in his career.

6) Klaudia Istomina

It is rare to male players to be coached by female coaches, it even rarer that it is their mothers. Denis hasn’t achieved as much as other players on the list but her mother has. It is common for players to go through rough patches and out of form times during their careers. Denis faced much more.

At the age of 14, he was involved in a car crash on his way to a tournament. He suffered serious injuries. Istomin did not pick up a racket for two years and was ready to give up the sport before his mum persuaded him to give it another try. Istomin said: “We have a good relationship and we understand each other very well. She always tries to help me with everything, not just tennis, normal life as well. She gives me good words to improve my tennis, my life, everything. I’m happy to be coached by my mum.”

Denis currently holds one title to his name. He is credited for his mind-blowing and shocking victory over Novak Djokovic in the second round of Australian Open.

Post Edited By: Utkarsh Bhatla