Movie of the Week: ESPN 30 from 30 - This is What They Want

ESPN 30 for 30: THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT

 Lindsay's Label: 8/10

In 1991, the 8 time Grand Slam champion, 5 time US Open champion, the 174th best player in the world,  Jimmy Connors, on the brink of his 39th birthday, needed a wildcard to gain entry into the tournament after having missed almost all of 1990 due to a severe wrist injury.

Having not exactly cut a swathe through world tennis in his 1991 expeditions, little was expected of Connors at the US Open. But part of the joy in sport is that what you expect isn't always what you get, after spending a couple of hours getting clobbered by Patrick McEnroe, Connors turned his 1st round match around to win 6-4 in the 5th, thumped his next couple of opponents, celebrated his 39th birthday by beating friend and regular hitting partner Aaron Krickstein, who happened to be a 5 set expert, in an epic 5th set tiebreak.

This  vintage run, which included one of the most dramatic points ever played in his following match against Paul Haarhuis, is the subject of ESPN's 30 from 30 documentary, This is What They Want. The title came from a Connors quote at the start of *that* 5th set tiebreak against Krickstein, when he looked into the camera and said "This is what they came for, this is what they want!"

Connors, his son, several commentators, Patrick McEnroe, his older brother John, Aaron Krickstein and his ultimate conqueror, Jim Courier are among the people interviewed for the movie. Barring one over zealous commentator who was allegedly there to provide a comic touch, all the participants speak intelligently and thoughtfully, their pieces are skilfully combined with cuts from footage of the tournament, the directing is slick and the pacing excellent.

 The directors included some comments of their own as a part of the film and made it quite clear that they were Connors fans and adored his run at the 1991 US Open. Consequently, I found it fascinating that Connors himself came across very poorly for mine, he seems to be a very selfish and hard man who makes no apology for anything that he did during his career. Some of those things included calling the umpire in the Krickstein Connors match an abortion so perhaps there could be the odd thing that he might regret. Despite the fact that Krickstein was his friend, after winning that epic match, he never again spoke to him. I found that to be quite extraordinary and would have liked to have seen Connors pressed more about that.

Anyone who remembers the 1991 US Open is going to like this film, it's a wonderful retrospective of the Connors run. I can't recommend it highly for non tennis fans though, I think that if you don't have a prior interest in the sport or the participants in this documentary, then you may find the movie struggles to hold your interest.

 At the time of writing, the preview for this film can be found here

and here is the film itself