‘Had to Check My Heartbeat to See if I Was Still Alive’- Jimmy Connors Cheekily Reacts to Donald Trump Mishap

The tennis world recently had to turn its attention toward a political speech. Sounds odd, right? Politics and sports may not have a direct connection but sometimes, mispronunciation can lead to major trends on social media. It has been just a week since former American president Donald Trump mispronounced Jimmy Carter’s name as Jimmy Connors. And the former tennis pro had a hilarious reaction.

In a recent episode of the Advantage Connors podcast, Connors talked about recent events in the sport as usual. While the main agenda was to comment on Rome’s winners Alexander Zverer and Iga Swiatek, the podcast had to start with Trump’s blunder.

On being asked about what was his reaction after knowing that he was trending on social media, Jimmy Connors submitted a funny response. “Well I was worried. I had to check my heartbeat to see if I was still alive,” he said, mentioning how it was a shocking incident for him at once. Connors continued his response with a dark fact about trends. “Usually if you’re trending you’re dead, right? I hate to bring that up but I had to say, ‘Am I still here,'” he added.

Moving from from the funny response and actually revealing how he felt, Connors said, “But you know it was kinda interesting you know to have seen that clip, former president Trump making a speech and getting my name instead of Jimmy Carter’s.”

The Republican Party’s candidate was at a weekend rally when, in an attempt to take a shot at Democratic candidate and current U.S. President Joe Biden, Trump misspoke. “Jimmy Connors is— He’s also happy. Jimmy is a very happy man. Both of them because, you know what, they want him out. Jimmy Carter had a bad reputation. Right now, he is considered a totally brilliant president by comparison (to Joe Biden),” the 45th U.S. president said.

Interestingly, Trump was a regular at the US Open when Jimmy Connors played. The iconic 1991 semi-final run by the former World No. 1 at the age of 39 is still remembered with awe today. Jim Courier ended his US Open run in the SF, Connor’s game had beet attended by Trump with his then-fiancee Marla Marples. Understandably, the former president mixed up some names.

However, it isn’t just Jimmy Connors whose name was replaced by some other renowned entity. Andre Agassi

When Andre Agassi became Andre The Giant

There have been several hilarious moments when the names of renowned tennis legends were mistaken for those of other famous entities. Back in January this year, the famous British quiz show ‘The Weakest Link‘ featured a question about the legendary feats bagged by Andre Agassi in his career.

“In sports, the US-born tennis player who in the 1990s won all four grand slams and an Olympic gold medal is Andre who?” the question said, enquiring just the last name of the athlete. “The Giant” the female contestant confidently said, mistaking the tennis legend’s identity to that of a famous wrestler. While she made this hilarious mistake, everyone in the audience and the comment section couldn’t stop laughing!