CONNORS MAKES PEACE

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33933, 28 August 1975, Page 15

CONNORS MAKES PEACE

(N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright) SOUTH ORANGE (New Jersey)

Jimmy Connors finally has his “open tennis” and the United States Davis Cup team may have Connors, United Press International reports. The sport’s top-ranking male player made peace with the Association of Tennis Professionals, settling out of court for “a substantial amount” in the niulti-million dollar suits Connors filed against A.T.P. executives Jack Kramer, Donald Dell, and Arthur Ashe. Connors had filed a number of suits against the association, starting with the s7.Bm suit after the French Open barred him in 1974 to prevent him from a chance at winning the sports grand slam and a resulting $78,000 bonus. He had also filed a $2.3m libel suit against Kramer (with Kramer filing a counter-suit) and a $3.9m libel suit against Ashe before this year’s Wimbledon, where Connors fell in the finals to Ashe.

Both sides agreed the amount of the settlement would not be made public. '

“I wanted open tennis and now we’ve got it,” Connors said triumphantly. “All the law suits since Wimbledon, 1974, are no more in existence. There won’t be anv more keeping players out of tournaments < such as Rome and Paris.

“We’ve smashed the monopoly of tennis,” said Mr Bill Riordan. Connors’s manager. "We’ve come out of the long dark night of tennis. It will open tennis for all—everybody can play together.”