Adam Riches in Jimmy [Claire Haigh]

A SMASH hit at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Adam Riches’ one-man show about an aging tennis pro happily coincides with the Wimbledon Championships.

Paying tribute to former champ, Jimmy Connors, whose heyday was in the mid-70s, Riches delivers a high-energy performance. He focuses on a defining match, later in Connors’s career, when everyone thought he was finished.

At the 1991 US Open, Connors was being annihilated by Patrick McEnroe, younger brother of his former nemesis. But reigniting his fighting spirit he turned the match around point by point, thrilling the crowd with a now legendary comeback.

Riches doesn’t shy away from confronting the alpha male’s brashness – his rants, cockiness on court, and his realisation that he would never be as liked or admired as Bjorn Borg.

Tom Parry’s production is stripped back, the stage bare except for a white baseline, a chair, towels and hydration bottles.

Riches mimes vigorous tennis strokes – accompanied by Roy Martin’s drum beats and Jim Johnson’s sound – as well as enacting the sportsman’s punishing training. Skipping and leaping with abandon, he gives a memorable and utterly convincing performance.

His charm and athleticism swiftly win over the audience. However, the story is slight – we learn only a few facts about Connors’ past, the ambitious mother and grandmother who shaped him. At just 55 minutes, the show’s weak spot is its lack of emotional depth.

Until July 12
parktheatre.co.uk/