Jim Courier

Born: August 17, 1970 in Sanford (Florida)
Height: 1.85 m
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Raised in Dade City, a quaint town with a population of 6.5 thousand, Courier’s journey into tennis was initiated by Emma Spencer. She was his great aunt and proprietor of the ‘Dreamworld Tennis Club’ in Sanford. “In the early days, tennis was simply a fun family activity, and I didn’t harbor grand aspirations,” Courier remarked. “We caught glimpses of tennis on television, but it wasn’t a professional pursuit I had in mind. I wasn’t the kid pretending to win Wimbledon against a wall, as you often hear about.”
At the age of 14, Courier transitioned to Nick Bollettieri‘s domain, joining the ranks of the most promising boys at the academy alongside Andre Agassi, his roommate, and the slightly older David Wheaton. Despite excelling as a junior, securing the Orange Bowl under-16 and under-18 titles in 1986 and 1987 respectively, the media spotlight was focused on other U.S. teenagers, such as Agassi, Michael Chang, and Pete Sampras, who later became Courier’s doubles partner. Concluding the year 1990, Courier stood fourth among these talented youngsters, but the onset of the 90s saw his ascendancy. He held the top position in the tennis world for over two years, spending a total of 58 weeks at No. 1 during four distinct periods from 1992 to 1993.
Courier’s rise to the top commenced with a triumph at the Sunshine Double: Indian Wells–Key Biscayne in March ’91. However, the following week he suffered a surprising setback in his Davis Cup debut against Mexico at very high altitude, losing to Leonardo Lavalle and Luis Herrera, both top-50 level players. Despite this, the American team clinched the tie 3-2, and in the following 13 ties where Courier participated, the team remained undefeated, until their failure in 1999 against the Australians. At the age of 22, Courier became the youngest player to reach finals in all four majors, an achievement not seen since Rod Laver in 1969. His feat of reaching the finals of the Australian, French, and Wimbledon in the same season wasn’t equalled until Roger Federer accomplished it in 2006.
Courier’s dominance was characterized by his western-grip topspin forehand (this grip was gaining popularity in the early 90s), “baseball backhand” (short backswing) and exceptional physical fitness, a mental hammer for his opponents. His forehand was a consistent threat, wearing down opponents from the baseline or executing precise passing-shots. Stefan Edberg, the ranking leader of 1990-91, couldn’t handle those heavy passing-shots; he succumbed to Courier in four major defeats across three different venues (always in four sets), a trend that continued between 1991-93, even at Wimbledon, where Courier’s groundstrokes seemingly would be less effective.
1992 marked a pinnacle for Courier, as he ascended to the top the tennis pyramid, reaching the San Francisco final. Recalling his semifinal against Derrick Rostagno, Courier remarked: “I was very aware of the situation and just wanted to secure the top spot for one week. Derrick was a tricky and dangerous fast-court player, and I had to grind my way through that match to reach No. 1. Battling Derrick and the rankings was both a relief and a thrill to win that last point and claim the top spot.”
However, despite this achievement, his initial weeks at the top exposed vulnerabilities, particularly his inability to clinch matches in tense situations. Courier appeared composed like Björn Borg, but something crucial seemed absent from his game. His defeats when holding match points against Boris Becker (unbelievable match in Brussels) and Goran Ivanišević (Stuttgart) were telling. Despite this, Courier evaded tense situations on clay in 1992. After winning two Asian titles on hard courts, Rome, and the French Open for the second consecutive year, he was seen as a contender at Wimbledon. However, he was ousted by qualifier Andrey Olhovskiy (b. 1966), ending his 25-match winning streak. This loss was a significant morale blow, particularly as fellow offensive-baseliner Agassi clinched the Wimbledon title that year; the edition being relatively low on rain, thus more favorable for players accustomed to hardcourts.
During the latter part of the season, Courier grappled with form issues, including a shock loss at the Olympics in Barcelona on clay to Marc Rosset, where Courier was the favorite for the gold medal. Nonetheless, the year ended triumphantly with a “Masters” final and a Davis Cup victory, sealing the final match. However, the following year started similarly to the previous one, with Courier securing an Australian Open title after vanquishing Edberg in another final. Subsequently, he reached the French Open and Wimbledon finals, losing to Sergi Bruguera and Sampras respectively, after which his career trajectory changed. The Swedes, Borg and Mats Wilander experienced burnouts at 24, Courier, one year younger, experienced a similar, albeit lesser, downturn. Although reaching two major semifinals in 1994, he didn’t secure a title that year, dropping out of the Top 10. The subsequent year witnessed a partial resurgence for Courier. However, his former doubles partner Sampras, who had overtaken him, remained beyond his reach. From Hong Kong ’93 to Rome ’97, they met ten times and Sampras left the court nine times as a victor. The following decade would bring something similar in Federer’s confrontations against Lleyton Hewitt & Andy Roddick; those are examples when a more gifted player simply has all the answers against very tough opponents who try everything, only to fail, even when the score is tight… In the second half of the 90s, Courier turned into a very solid, yet predictable player. Actually after Roland Garros ’94 when lost his status of the ‘King of Clay’ after a second straight defeat to Bruguera on Centre Court in Paris, he was never considered as a major threat; to the end of his career he was claiming titles only in tournaments corresponding with today’s ‘ATP 500’ or ‘ATP 250’. He decided to quit at the beginning of 2000 when he almost turned thirty. In the years 2010-18 he served as a captain of the Davis Cup team for the United States. Courier led his country with a modest 10-8 record during his captaincy (two semifinals). Trivia: he lost his first five meetings against Andrey Chesnokov, 4-6 in the end (four of those defeats when Courier was within a few points from winning).

Career record: 506–237 [ 241 events ]
Career titles: 23
Highest ranking: No. 1
Best GS results:
Australian Open (champion 1992-93; semifinal 1994; quarterfinal 1995-96)
Roland Garros (champion 1991-92; runner-up 1993; semifinal 1994; quarterfinal 1996)
Wimbledon (runner-up 1993; quarterfinal 1991)
US Open (runner-up 1991; semifinal 1992 & 95)
Masters runner-up 1991-92
Davis Cup champion 1992 & 95

Year-end ranking 1987-00… 346 – 43 – 24 – 25 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 13 – 8 – 26 – 21 – 77 – 32 – 290