Jimmy Connors: "My mother would be proud of my book, she'd be very proud of the result of what she made or helped make"

Jimmy Connors has said that his mother Gloria would be very proud of his book "The Outsider."

The American's memoir was released in 2013 and was co-authored by Casey Defranco, who was a guest on a recent episode of his podcast, "Advantage Connors."

During the episode, Jimmy Connors' son Brett asked Jimmy whether his mother Gloria would be proud of the book. The 71-year-old responded by stating that she would be proud of the result.

"I think she'd be proud of it. I think she'd be very proud of it, not because the way I talked about her but I think she'd be very proud of the result of what she made or helped make. And I keep go back and say that my mom gave me everything, gave me me. She didnt make me, I made me and I think that's what she would be most proud of," Connors said.

He added that he knew his mother was proud of him because of the conversations they had before her death in 2007.

"She gave me the tools to go and to try to be the best player and have the guts and attitude and the fighting spirit and the never give up, which I got from my grandfather and grandmother," Jimmy Connors said.

"I think she'd be very proud of the result and I know she was because before she passed, we had some very in-depth and very deep down conversations before she passed. Her thoughts, even though sometimes jumbled, were very clear to me."

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Jimmy Connors won 10 Grand Slam singles titles

Jimmy Connors at the 2012 US Open

Jimmy Connors had an extremely successful tennis career that saw him establish himself as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Connors won eight Grand Slam singles titles. Five of these came at the US Open, a joint-record among male players in the Open Era. He won Wimbledon titles in 1974 and 1982, defeating Ken Rosewall and John McEnroe respectively in the final.

Connors' only Australian Open triumph came in 1974, which was the same year he won three out of the four Majors. He never won the French Open, with his best performance being reaching the semifinals in 1979, 1980, 1984 and 1985.

Connors was the World No. 1 for a total of 268 weeks across nine spells from 1974 to 1983. His longest time at the top of the rankings was 160 consecitive weeks from July 29, 1974 to August 22, 1977.

The American also won two Grand Slam doubles title at Wimbledon 1973 and US Open 1975. Ilie Nastase was his partner on both occasions.

After retiring from tennis, Connors took to coaching and was part of the coaching teams of Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova and Eugenie Bouchard.