Jimmy Connors

When Andy Roddick slipped out of the top 10 rankings this week it marked the first time that at least one American name had failed to appear on the list.

It is something American tennis fans should get used to, warned players and officials.

For every week since the ATP World Tour rankings began in 1973, the United States had been represented on the top 10, a remarkable run of consistency unmatched by any other nation.

As a player, Jimmy Connors generated enough energy and electricity to light up the US Open. The combative, charismatic Connors could fuel the frenzy of a tennis crowd to the point where Louis Armstrong Stadium could sound as loud as a football stadium. Connors didn't shrink from the elements — the noise, the airplanes overhead, the night crowds — he embraced them.

As a coach, Connors helped restore the swagger, aggression and attitude to Andy Roddick's game as Roddick reached the 2007 US Open final.

Running a tennis tournament has become an increasingly delicate balancing act because of the global economic crisis and LA Open director Bob Kramer experienced both the highs and the lows at last week's event.

A permanent fixture on the Los Angeles sporting landscape since 1927, the ATP World Tour event boasts a star-studded list of former champions including Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.

Tennis great Jimmy Connors has been charged with a misdemeanor for an altercation last week before a basketball game between UC Santa Barbara and top-ranked North Carolina.

Connors, an eight-time Grand Slam champion, was charged Wednesday in Santa Barbara Superior Court with disrupting campus activities and refusing to leave a university facility.

Tennis great Jimmy Connors was arrested outside the campus arena where UC Santa Barbara and top-ranked North Carolina were playing a basketball game.

The eight-time Grand Slam champion was taken into custody Friday night after refusing to comply with an order to leave an area near the entrance of the Thunderdome following a confrontation, police Sgt. Dan Massey said in a statement.

A police dispatcher said Connors was arrested at the beginning of the game.

Earlier this month Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final that was a match for the ages.  It had everything: a high quality of play, great drama in which Federer rallied from two sets down to finally lead and a battle to finish the match before impending darkness.  It had history riding on it since Federer was bidding to break the record he shared with Bjorn Borg of five straight Wimbledon titles and Nadal was aiming to become the first man since Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. Tennis fanatics hi

How many matches has record-holder Martina Navratilova played at Wimbledon? How tall was the shortest man to play at the All England Club? What about the youngest competitor? Read Wimbledon by the numbers to find out.
 
SURFACE: Grass
SINGLES DRAW: 128 players
YEAR FIRST HELD: 1877
 
MOST WINS

Men (Open era): 7- Pete Sampras (USA) (1993,94,95,97,98,99,2000)

Andy Roddick has split from his coach Jimmy Connors by mutual agreement.

Roger Federer is celebrating a 200th consecutive week as the world's No 1.

The Swiss has now topped the rankings since February 2004, winning 41 titles from 65 tournaments and losing just 24 of 332 matches in that time.

The last of those titles came just last week when the 26-year-old won the Masters Cup for the fourth time in five years.