Jim Courier

Jim Courier

Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Orlando, Florida, United States
Born	(1970-08-17) August 17, 1970 Sanford, Florida, United States
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Turned pro	1988
Retired	2000
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach(es)	Nick Bollettieri[1] Sergio Cruz (1988–1990)[2] Brad Stine (1990–1994) José Higueras (1990–1997) Harold Solomon (1997) Brad Stine (1997–2000)
Prize money	$14,034,132
Int. Tennis HoF	2005 (member page)
Singles
Career record	506–237 (68.1%)
Career titles	23 (27th in overall rankings)
Highest ranking	No. 1 (February 10, 1992)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1992, 1993)
French Open	W (1991, 1992)
Wimbledon	F (1993)
US Open	F (1991)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	F (1991, 1992)
Grand Slam Cup	QF (1996)
Olympic Games	3R (1992)
Doubles
Career record	124–97
Career titles	6
Highest ranking	No. 20 (October 9, 1989)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (1990)
French Open	2R (1989)
Wimbledon	3R (1989, 1991)
US Open	1R (1989, 1990)

James Spencer Courier Jr. (born August 17, 1970) is an American former World No. 1 professional tennis player. During his career, he won four Grand Slam singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He holds the record for being the youngest man to have reached the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments, at the age of 22 years and 11 months. He also won five Masters 1000 series titles. Until Novak Djokovic in 2016, Courier was the last man to win both the Australian and French Opens in the same calendar year.^[3][4]

Tennis career

Courier was raised in Dade City, Florida and though he excelled at youth sports in general, after a certain point it became clear that tennis was where his true talent lay.^[5] As a junior player in the 1980s, Courier attended the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy and won the prestigious Orange Bowl in 1986 and 1987 (the first to win back-to-back titles since Björn Borg^[6]), as well as the French Open junior doubles title in 1987.

Courier turned professional in 1988 and made his Grand Slam breakthrough at the 1991 French Open when he defeated Stefan Edberg and Michael Stich to reach his first Grand Slam final. In the final he defeated his former Bollettieri Academy roommate Andre Agassi in five sets to win his first Slam. He made the quarterfinals of Wimbledon before losing to eventual champion Stich. At the US Open he defeated defending champion Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals and then Jimmy Connors in the semifinals, before losing the final to Edberg.

1992 saw Courier defeat Edberg to win the Australian Open, and he celebrated by jumping into the nearby Yarra River. He then followed this result by defeating future Grand Slam champions Thomas Muster, Goran Ivanišević, Agassi and Petr Korda to successfully defend his French Open title. Afterward, Courier charmed the Parisian crowd by delivering a victory speech in French.^[7] Courier also enjoyed a 25-match winning streak during the season. In February of that year he became the tenth player to reach the world no. 1 ranking since the ranking system was implemented in 1973, and the first American since John McEnroe; he finished 1992 as the world no. 1 ranked player. Courier also was a member of the US team that won the 1992 Davis Cup. In 1992 he was the top-seeded player at the Olympics in Barcelona, where he lost in the third round to eventual gold medalist Marc Rosset from Switzerland.^[8]

In 1993, Courier again won the Australian Open, defeating Edberg in the final for the second consecutive year, and jumped into the Yarra a second time, but it was to be his last such celebration after contracting a stomach bug from the muddy and polluted river. He reached his third consecutive French Open final, which he lost to Sergi Bruguera in five sets. He also reached the 1993 Wimbledon final, defeating Edberg in the semifinals, and lost to Sampras in four sets. By reaching the Wimbledon final, Courier had reached the finals of all four Grand Slams at the age of 22, a record which still stands in men's singles. Courier also became the first player since Rod Laver to reach the finals of the Australian, French and Wimbledon in the same season; the feat was not matched until 2006 by Roger Federer. Courier again was part of the US team that won the 1995 Davis Cup.

Courier captured a total of 23 singles titles and 6 doubles titles during his career. He spent a total of 58 weeks ranked as the World No. 1 in 1992 and 1993. He reached the finals of all four major championships during his career, a feat accomplished by only seven other players in the Open Era. Courier retired from the ATP tour in 2000. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005.

After retirement from top-level tennis

Since his retirement as a top-level player, Courier has served as a tennis analyst and commentator for the Tennis Channel, USA Network, NBC Sports, TNT, ITV, Sky Sports and the Seven Network. Since 2005 Courier has headed the commentary for the host broadcaster of the Australian Open, The Seven Network. Courier calls all centre court men's singles matches for the network. He also conducts the post match on-court interviews with the winning player. Courier started working with the British channel ITV for the French Open in 2012. In 2015, Courier worked with the British channel Sky Sports for their US Open coverage. The Jim Courier Club House now stands on the grounds of the Dade City Little League complex in John S. Burks Memorial Park in Dade City, Florida. Courier is an alumnus of that Little League program.

In 2004, Courier founded InsideOut Sport & Entertainment, a New York-based event production company that owns and operates the Champions Series, Legendary Nights exhibitions as well as private corporate events.

He also founded Courier's Kids, a non-profit organization that supports tennis programs in the inner city of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Courier currently competes on the Champions Series and in various charity exhibition matches.

Jim Courier married Susanna Lingman in 2010.

On October 27, 2010, Courier was named captain of the United States Davis Cup team, replacing Patrick McEnroe.

Career statistics

Grand Slam finals

Finals: 7 (4 titles, 3 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1991	French Open	Clay	Andre Agassi	3–6, 6–4, 2–6, 6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	1991	US Open	Hard	Stefan Edberg	2–6, 4–6, 0–6
Winner	1992	Australian Open	Hard	Stefan Edberg	6–3, 3–6, 6–4, 6–2
Winner	1992	French Open (2)	Clay	Petr Korda	7–5, 6–2, 6–1
Winner	1993	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Stefan Edberg	6–2, 6–1, 2–6, 7–5
Runner-up	1993	French Open	Clay	Sergi Bruguera	4–6, 6–2, 2–6, 6–3, 3–6
Runner-up	1993	Wimbledon	Grass	Pete Sampras	6–7(3–7), 6–7(6–8), 6–3, 3–6

Year-End Championship

Finals: 2 (2 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1991	Frankfurt	Hard (i)	Pete Sampras	6–3, 6–7(5–7), 3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	1992	Frankfurt	Hard (i)	Boris Becker	4–6, 3–6, 5–7

Masters Series

Finals: 5 (5 titles)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1991	Indian Wells	Hard	Guy Forget	4–6, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Winner	1991	Miami	Hard	David Wheaton	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Winner	1992	Rome	Clay	Carlos Costa	7–6(7–3), 6–0, 6–4
Winner	1993	Indian Wells (2)	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	6–3, 6–3, 6–1
Winner	1993	Rome (2)	Clay	Goran Ivanišević	6–1, 6–2, 6–2

Records

• These records were attained in Open Era of tennis.

ATP career finals

Singles: 36 (23 titles, 13 runner-ups)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	October 9, 1989	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Stefan Edberg	7–6(8–6), 3–6, 2–6, 6–0, 7–5
Winner	2.	March 11, 1991	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Guy Forget	4–6, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Winner	3.	March 25, 1991	Key Biscayne, USA	Hard	David Wheaton	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Winner	4.	June 10, 1991	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Andre Agassi	3–6, 6–4, 2–6, 6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	September 9, 1991	US Open, New York City, USA	Hard	Stefan Edberg	2–6, 4–6, 0–6
Runner-up	2.	November 18, 1991	ATP Championships, Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet	Pete Sampras	6–3, 6–7(5–7), 3–6, 4–6
Winner	5.	January 27, 1992	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Stefan Edberg	6–3, 3–6, 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	3.	February 10, 1992	San Francisco, USA	Hard (i)	Michael Chang	3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	4.	February 17, 1992	Brussels, Belgium	Carpet	Boris Becker	7–6(7–5), 6–2, 6–7(10–12), 6–7(5–7), 5–7
Winner	6.	April 13, 1992	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Richard Krajicek	6–4, 6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Winner	7.	April 20, 1992	Hong Kong, UK	Hard	Michael Chang	7–5, 6–3
Winner	8.	May 18, 1992	Rome, Italy	Clay	Carlos Costa	7–6(7–3), 6–0, 6–4
Winner	9.	June 8, 1992	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Petr Korda	7–5, 6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	5.	August 24, 1992	Indianapolis, USA	Hard	Pete Sampras	4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	6.	November 23, 1992	ATP Championships, Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet	Boris Becker	4–6, 3–6, 5–7
Winner	10.	February 1, 1993	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Stefan Edberg	6–2, 6–1, 2–6, 7–5
Winner	11.	February 15, 1993	Memphis, USA	Hard (i)	Todd Martin	5–7, 7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–4)
Winner	12.	March 8, 1993	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	6–3, 6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	7.	April 19, 1993	Hong Kong, UK	Hard	Pete Sampras	3–6, 7–6(7–1), 6–7(2–7)
Winner	13.	May 17, 1993	Rome, Italy	Clay	Goran Ivanišević	6–1, 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	8.	June 7, 1993	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Sergi Bruguera	4–6, 6–2, 2–6, 6–3, 3–6
Runner-up	9.	July 5, 1993	Wimbledon, London, UK	Grass	Pete Sampras	6–7(3–7), 6–7(6–8), 6–3, 3–6
Winner	14.	August 23, 1993	Indianapolis, USA	Hard	Boris Becker	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	10.	April 18, 1994	Nice, France	Clay	Alberto Berasategui	4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	11.	October 24, 1994	Lyon, France	Carpet	Marc Rosset	4–6, 6–7(2–7)
Winner	15.	January 9, 1995	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Arnaud Boetsch	6–2, 7–5
Winner	16.	March 6, 1995	Scottsdale, USA	Hard	Mark Philippoussis	7–6(7–2), 6–4
Winner	17.	April 17, 1995	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Andre Agassi	6–3, 6–4
Winner	18.	October 2, 1995	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Jan Siemerink	6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–5), 5–7, 6–2, 7–5
Runner-up	12.	October 9, 1995	Toulouse, France	Hard (i)	Arnaud Boetsch	4–6, 7–6(7–5), 0–6
Winner	19.	March 4, 1996	Philadelphia, USA	Carpet	Chris Woodruff	6–4, 6–3
Winner	20.	January 6, 1997	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Tim Henman	7–5, 6–7(5–7), 6–2
Winner	21.	July 28, 1997	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Thomas Enqvist	6–4, 6–4
Winner	22.	October 6, 1997	Beijing, China	Hard (i)	Magnus Gustafsson	7–6(12–10), 3–6, 6–3
Winner	23.	April 27, 1998	Orlando, USA	Clay	Michael Chang	7–5, 3–6, 7–5
Runner-up	13.	February 26, 1999	Memphis, USA	Hard (i)	Tommy Haas	4–6, 1–6

Doubles: 11 (6–5)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	May 8, 1989	Forest Hills, US	Clay	Pete Sampras	Rick Leach Jim Pugh	4–6, 2–6
Winner	1.	May 22, 1989	Rome, Italy	Clay	Pete Sampras	Danilo Marcelino Mauro Menezes	6–4, 6–3
Winner	2.	May 14, 1990	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Sergi Bruguera	Udo Riglewski Michael Stich	7–6, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	May 21, 1990	Rome, Italy	Clay	Martin Davis	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	6–7, 5–7
Winner	3.	March 11, 1991	Indian Wells, US	Hard	Javier Sánchez	Guy Forget Henri Leconte	7–6, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	4.	April 19, 1993	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Mark Knowles	Glenn Michibata David Pate	6–4, 7–6
Runner-up	3.	April 11, 1994	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Javier Sánchez	Yevgeny Kafelnikov David Rikl	7–5, 1–6, 4–6
Winner	5.	January 9, 1995	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Patrick Rafter	Byron Black Grant Connell	7–6, 6–4
Runner-up	4.	October 6, 1997	Beijing, China	Hard (i)	Alex O'Brien	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	5–7, 6–7
Runner-up	5.	January 11, 1999	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Patrick Galbraith	Gustavo Kuerten Nicolás Lapentti	4–6, 4–6
Winner	6.	April 26, 1999	Orlando, US	Clay	Todd Woodbridge	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	7–6(7–4), 6–4

Major tournament singles performance timeline

Professional Awards

• ITF World Champion: 1992.
• ATP Player of the Year: 1992.

Head-to-head

Courier has the following head-to-head records against the listed opponents (No. 1 ranked players in boldface):

Top 10 wins

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	Courier Rank
1989
1.	Andre Agassi	5	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	3R	7–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–2	47
2.	Stefan Edberg	3	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	F	7–6, 3–6, 2–6, 6–0, 7–5	35
3.	Aaron Krickstein	8	Stockholm, Sweden	Carpet (i)	3R	6–2, 1–0, ret.	28
1990
4.	Aaron Krickstein	6	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	QF	6–2, 7–6	22
1991
5.	Andre Agassi	4	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	3R	2–6, 6–3, 6–4	26
6.	Emilio Sánchez	8	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	QF	6–2, 6–2	26
7.	Guy Forget	5	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	F	4–6, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–4)	26
8.	Guy Forget	5	Miami, United States	Hard	4R	7–6(7–3), 6–3	18
9.	Stefan Edberg	1	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	QF	6–4, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4	9
10.	Andre Agassi	4	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	F	3–6, 6–4, 2–6, 6–1, 6–4	9
11.	Pete Sampras	6	US Open, New York, United States	Hard	QF	6–2, 7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–5)	5
12.	Karel Nováček	9	ATP Tour World Championships, Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet (i)	RR	6–7(6–8), 7–5, 6–4	2
13.	Guy Forget	6	ATP Tour World Championships, Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet (i)	RR	7–6(7–4), 6–4	2
14.	Andre Agassi	8	ATP Tour World Championships, Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet (i)	SF	6–3, 7–5	2
1992
15.	Stefan Edberg	1	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	F	6–3, 3–6, 6–4, 6–2	2
16.	Guy Forget	7	Brussels, Belgium	Carpet (i)	SF	7–6(9–7), 6–4	1
17.	Michael Chang	6	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	SF	6–2, 6–3	2
18.	Michael Chang	6	Hong Kong, Hong Kong	Hard	F	7–5, 6–3	1
19.	Goran Ivanišević	9	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	QF	6–2, 6–1, 2–6, 7–5	1
20.	Petr Korda	8	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	F	7–5, 6–2, 6–1	1
21.	Andre Agassi	9	US Open, New York, United States	Hard	QF	6–3, 6–7(6–8), 6–1, 6–4	1
22.	Richard Krajicek	10	ATP Tour World Championships, Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet (i)	RR	6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–1), 7–5	1
23.	Michael Chang	5	ATP Tour World Championships, Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet (i)	RR	7–5, 6–2	1
24.	Pete Sampras	3	ATP Tour World Championships, Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet (i)	SF	7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–4)	1
1993
25.	Petr Korda	7	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	QF	6–1, 6–0, 6–4	1
26.	Stefan Edberg	2	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	F	6–2, 6–1, 2–6, 7–5	1
27.	Michael Chang	5	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	SF	6–4, 6–4	1
28.	Michael Chang	9	Hong Kong, Hong Kong	Hard	SF	6–2, 6–3	2
29.	Michael Chang	10	Rome, Italy	Clay	SF	6–2, 6–7(2–7), 6–0	2
30.	Goran Ivanišević	6	Rome, Italy	Clay	F	6–1, 6–2, 6–2	2
31.	Stefan Edberg	3	Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom	Grass	SF	4–6, 6–4, 6–2, 6–4	2
32.	Boris Becker	4	Indianapolis, United States	Hard	F	7–5, 6–3	2
1994
33.	Goran Ivanišević	8	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	QF	7–6(9–7), 6–4, 6–2	3
34.	Goran Ivanišević	6	Miami, United States	Hard	QF	6–3, 7–5	5
35.	Pete Sampras	1	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	QF	6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–4	7
1995
36.	Michael Chang	6	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	SF	6–4, 7–5	15
37.	Andre Agassi	1	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	F	6–3, 6–4	15
38.	Thomas Muster	3	US Open, New York, United States	Hard	4R	6–3, 6–0, 7–6(7–4)	15
39.	Michael Chang	5	US Open, New York, United States	Hard	QF	7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–3), 7–5	15
40.	Michael Chang	4	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	QF	6–2, 7–6(7–5)	7
41.	Thomas Muster	3	ATP Tour World Championships, Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet (i)	RR	6–4, 4–6, 6–4	7
1997
42.	Thomas Muster	5	Doha, Qatar	Hard	QF	6–3, 7–5	26
43.	Wayne Ferreira	8	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	QF	6–2, 7–5	22
44.	Richard Krajicek	6	Miami, United States	Hard	4R	7–6(8–6), 6–4	26
45.	Goran Ivanišević	5	Miami, United States	Hard	QF	6–2, 7–6(7–2)	26
46.	Pete Sampras	1	Rome, Italy	Clay	1R	7–6(7–5), 6–4	24
47.	Goran Ivanišević	3	Los Angeles, United States	Hard	SF	6–3, 6–4	29
48.	Thomas Enqvist	8	Los Angeles, United States	Hard	F	6–4, 6–4	29
1998
49.	Jonas Björkman	5	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	2R	4–6, 6–1, 7–6(7–4)	46
1999
50.	Tim Henman	7	Davis Cup, Birmingham, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	RR	7–6(7–2), 2–6, 7–6(7–3), 6–7(10–12), 7–5	54
51.	Carlos Moyá	10	Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom	Grass	2R	6–3, 3–6, 7–6(7–1), 3–6, 6–2	61
52.	Tim Henman	5	Montreal, Canada	Hard	2R	6–1, 6–7(3–7), 6–4	46
53.	Thomas Enqvist	9	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	3R	6–7(3–7), 7–6(7–4), 7–5	39

Champions Series titles

• 2005: Stanford Cup Houston – defeated Todd Martin 6–2, 6–3
• 2006: Champions Cup Naples – defeated Pat Cash 6–4, 7–6(8)
• 2006: The Championships at the Palisades – defeated Martin 5–7, 7–6(6), [10–4]
• 2008: The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman Legends Championship – defeated Wayne Ferreira 7–6(3), 7–6(1)

NOTE: In Champions Series tournaments, there are only two sets. A tiebreaker to ten is held instead of a third set.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jim Courier.

• Jim Courier at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Jim Courier at the International Tennis Federation
• Jim Courier at the Davis Cup
• Jim Courier at the International Tennis Hall of Fame