Jimmy Connors Wife: Who Patti McGuire Is and Their Life Together Today
If you’ve ever wondered about Jimmy Connors’ wife, you’re not alone. Connors spent decades as one of tennis’ loudest, toughest competitors, but his home life has been far steadier than his on-court reputation. He’s been married for decades to Patti McGuire, a former Playboy Playmate of the Year who chose a much more private lane after her modeling peak. Here’s what’s publicly known about who she is, how they built a family, and why their relationship still fascinates fans.
Who is Jimmy Connors’ wife?
Jimmy Connors’ wife is Patti McGuire. Before she became Patti Connors, she was already well known in pop culture and modeling circles. Patti was Playboy’s Playmate of the Month (November 1976) and was later named Playmate of the Year (1977), a title that gave her a level of fame that went far beyond a single magazine issue.
That background matters because it explains why their relationship drew attention from the start. Jimmy Connors was the face of brash, aggressive American tennis in the 1970s. Patti was a recognizable name from a completely different corner of celebrity culture. Put them together, and it was always going to be a headline-making match.
But what’s interesting is what happened next: rather than turning their marriage into a constant public show, they gradually moved toward privacy. You can find the big-picture facts—marriage, children, and the basic timeline—but you won’t find them selling their family life every week. In a way, that contrast is the real story.
Patti McGuire before marriage: more than “a tennis wife”
It’s easy for the internet to flatten someone into a label, especially when they marry a sports icon. But Patti had her own identity long before she became connected to tennis history.
In the late 1970s, being Playmate of the Month and then Playmate of the Year was a major spotlight. It meant travel, TV appearances, promotions, and a level of pop culture recognition that people today might compare to a viral celebrity moment—except it lasted longer and was controlled by traditional media rather than social platforms.
Playboy’s own feature on Patti as Playmate of the Year shows how seriously the brand treated that title at the time. It wasn’t framed as a casual honor. It was presented like a crown, with an editorial build-up and a clear “this is the chosen face of the year” kind of tone.
So when people ask “who is Jimmy Connors’ wife?” the first fair answer is: someone who had her own spotlight, and then chose not to chase it forever.
When did Jimmy Connors and Patti McGuire get married?
Most widely used reference sources list Jimmy Connors and Patti McGuire as marrying in 1979, and several profiles specify October 1979. You may occasionally see a different year mentioned in some write-ups, but 1979 is the date that appears most consistently across major reference summaries.
That marriage timing also lines up with the early years of their family life. Their first child, Brett, was born in 1979, which fits the overall timeline that many biographies repeat. In other words, the “1979” thread is the one that usually ties the public record together in the cleanest way.
How did Jimmy Connors meet Patti McGuire?
The short version that shows up most often is that they met through the Playboy social orbit during the late 1970s. Connors has talked publicly in later years about going to the Playboy Mansion and meeting Patti there, and that story has been repeated in tennis media coverage.
Even without turning it into a glamorous myth, it makes sense. During Connors’ peak, he was famous enough to be invited into every major celebrity circle. The Playboy Mansion was one of those cultural hubs in that era—part celebrity party, part media machine, part status symbol. It was the kind of place where a world-famous athlete and a world-famous model could cross paths without anyone thinking it was unusual.
What matters more than the party details is what happened after: they didn’t turn into a short-lived tabloid story. They built a real marriage that lasted through decades of changing careers, changing public interest, and the emotional wear-and-tear of being connected to a sports legend.
They built something rare: a long marriage after a loud, chaotic sports peak
Sports marriages get tested in specific ways. The public usually sees the trophies and the TV moments, but the harder parts are quieter: constant travel, pressure, ego, injury, and the emotional crash that comes when a career slows down.
Jimmy Connors wasn’t known as a “quiet man” in his playing days. He was known as a fighter. He argued. He pushed. He stayed intense. That intensity helped him win, but it could also make personal life complicated.
The fact that he and Patti stayed together for decades is part of why people keep searching her name. Fans aren’t only asking “who is she?” They’re also asking, in a roundabout way, “How did that last?”
There’s no single answer, but the public pattern suggests a few things:
- They kept the marriage out of the performance. They didn’t make constant public announcements about their relationship.
- They built a family life that eventually became the priority. Connors has spoken about stepping away from the tour and later life choices being influenced by family.
- They accepted that fame changes shape. Tennis fame in the 1970s looked different than celebrity culture today, and they adapted instead of chasing every spotlight.
Jimmy Connors and Patti McGuire’s children
Jimmy Connors and Patti McGuire have two children: a son named Brett and a daughter named Aubree (often listed as Aubree Leigh Connors in profiles). Their family details are not heavily marketed, but the basic facts are widely reported, and People has recently revisited the topic while profiling Connors’ children and the family-focused phase of his life.
Brett was born in 1979 and grew up around tennis, but later moved into media and production work. Aubree was born in 1984 and has pursued her own path, including roles connected to sports organizations and a competitive dance and fitness-oriented lifestyle, according to recent coverage.
The bigger point here is not just what their kids do. It’s what their kids represent in Connors’ story. For an athlete known for being relentless, family becomes the one place where relentlessness isn’t the goal. Presence is.
Why you don’t see Patti everywhere in interviews and documentaries
Some athlete spouses become public figures in their own right, doing constant interviews, appearing on camera, and becoming part of the athlete’s brand. Patti McGuire didn’t take that route. Over time, she became someone people know about without hearing from very often.
That’s not an accident. There are practical reasons a couple like this might choose privacy:
- Protection from the fame machine. When one person is globally famous, the family can become a target for constant attention.
- Normal life for children. Parents often learn quickly that public visibility for kids is not worth the cost.
- A desire to be a real person, not a public character. Patti had already lived through a major “public image” era in her modeling years.
In other words, if you’re expecting a loud social media presence or a constant stream of family updates, this couple doesn’t work like that. They’re from a different era, and they’ve kept a different set of boundaries.
Patti’s public image: the difference between fame and visibility
Here’s an important distinction: Patti McGuire is famous, but she isn’t constantly visible. Fame means people recognize the name and the story. Visibility means you are actively putting yourself in front of the public.
Patti has leaned toward fame without visibility for a long time. And there’s something smart about that. Visibility can be addictive. It can also become exhausting. Many people who experience a burst of attention in their twenties don’t want to spend the rest of their life chasing it. They want to live.
So when people search “Jimmy Connors wife,” they often expect to find a modern celebrity ecosystem: Instagram, interviews, lifestyle branding, public statements. Instead, they find the opposite: a marriage that seems to exist mostly off-camera.
What their relationship says about the era they came from
Jimmy Connors and Patti McGuire came up during a time when celebrity culture was loud, but it wasn’t as invasive as it is now. You could be famous and still disappear for months. You could have a personal life that wasn’t immediately turned into content.
Today, people are used to the idea that if a couple exists, it must be documented. But in the 1970s and 1980s, you could keep your home life quieter and still be “known.” That’s one reason their marriage feels a bit mysterious to younger fans. It doesn’t come with a feed.
Common questions people ask about Jimmy Connors’ wife
Was Patti McGuire really a Playboy Playmate of the Year?
Yes. Patti McGuire was Playmate of the Month (November 1976) and was named Playmate of the Year (1977), as reflected in Playboy’s own feature about her award.
How long have Jimmy Connors and Patti McGuire been married?
They have been married for decades. Most reference sources place their marriage in 1979, meaning their relationship has lasted well over 40 years.
Do they have children?
Yes. They have two children, Brett and Aubree.
Why do some sources show slightly different marriage-year details?
This usually happens because older bios get repeated and rewritten, and some outlets round or misstate dates. The most consistent year across widely used reference summaries is 1979, with multiple profiles specifying October.
Why fans still care about Patti McGuire
Some celebrity spouse searches are pure curiosity. But in Connors’ case, there’s a deeper reason. His public persona was fierce, confrontational, and sometimes polarizing. Many fans are intrigued by the idea that the same man built a long, stable marriage behind the scenes. Patti becomes the doorway into that softer, more human part of the story.
She also represents something that’s disappearing: a person who had fame, could have stayed in the spotlight, but chose a quieter life instead. That choice feels unusual today, which makes it even more interesting.
The bottom line
Jimmy Connors’ wife is Patti McGuire, a former Playboy Playmate of the Year who married Connors in 1979 and built a long family life with him. They have two children, Brett and Aubree, and their marriage has lasted through the kind of career pressure that breaks a lot of relationships. The reason people keep searching their story is simple: it’s a rare mix of old-school fame, real longevity, and a level of privacy you don’t see much anymore.
image source: https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/on-this-day-1989-jimmy-connors-wins-his-109th-and-last-singles-title
