The 1978 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix was a professional tennis circuit held that year. It consisted of four Grand Slam tournaments, the Grand Prix tournaments and the Nations Cup, a team event. In addition eight World Championship Tennis (WCT) tournaments, a separate professional tennis circuit held from 1971 through 1977, were incorporated into the Grand Prix circuit. The 28 tournaments with prize money of $175,000 or more formed the Super Series category. Jimmy Connors won 10 of the 84 tournaments which secured him the first place in the Grand Prix points ranking. However he did not play enough tournaments (13) to qualify for largest share ($300,000) of the bonus pool, which instead went to third–ranked Eddie Dibbs.
Jimmy Connors finished the year as ATP world No. 1 for the fifth time in his career. Connors won ten tournaments during the season, including a major at the US Open, and finished runner-up at another major at the Wimbledon Championships.
Björn Borg was named the ATP Player of the Year. Borg won nine tournaments during the season, including two majors at the French Open and the Wimbledon Championships, and finished runner-up at another major at the US Open.
James Scott Connors, known universally as Jimmy Connors, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 weeks. By virtue of his long and prolific career, Connors still holds three prominent Open Era men's singles records: 109 titles, 1,557 matches played, and 1,274 match wins. His titles include eight major singles titles and three year-end championships. In 1974, he became the second man in the Open Era to win three major titles in a calendar year, and was not permitted to participate in the fourth, the French Open. Connors finished year end number one in the ATP rankings from 1974 to 1978. In 1982, he won both Wimbledon and the US Open and was ATP Player of the Year and ITF World Champion. He retired in 1996 at the age of 43.
Connors in 1994
Connors at the 1978 ABN Tennis Tournament holding his Wilson T2000 steel racket
Jimmy Connors (1978)
Jimmy Connors (2007)