JIM COURIER

'James Spencer "Jim" Courier, Jr.' (born August 17 1970, in Sanford, Florida) is a former world number one professional tennis player from the United States. During his ATP career, he won four Grand Slam singles titles – two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. In 2004, he co-founded InsideOut Sports & Entertainment, a New York City based sports event company. He also co-founded Courier's Kids, a non-profit organization that supports after school tennis and education programs. Courier continues to compete today on the Outback Champions Series and in select exhibitions and events worldwide. He is on the board of directors of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Courier's Kids, First Serve, and The Gullikson Foundation.

Tennis career

As a junior player in the 1980s, Courier attended the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy and won the prestigious Orange Bowl in 1986 and 1987, as well as the French Open junior doubles title.
Courier turned professional in 1988 and made his Grand Slam breakthrough in 1991 when he won the French Open singles title, defeating his former Bollettieri Academy-mate Andre Agassi in five sets. He also reached the final of the US Open that year, where he lost to Stefan Edberg.
1992 saw Courier win both the Australian Open and French Open titles and enjoy a 25 match winning streak. 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. 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 1993, Courier again won the Australian Open. He reached his third consecutive French Open final, which he lost to Sergi Bruguera. He also reached the 1993 Wimbledon final, which he lost to Pete Sampras.
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.
In the 1990s Courier popularized wearing a baseball cap while on court.
Courier retired from the ATP tour in 2000. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005.

Playing style

Courier relied on his physical conditioning to win matches. He was widely known as one of the hardest workers on the ATP Tour and pushed his body to extremes. He was a baseliner that hit a solid forehand and served well, while his two-handed backhand was comparatively weak. In his early and most successful years, he was able to use his quickness and conditioning to hit forehands from the backhand corner. He favored long rallies and wars of attrition. The slow red clay of the French Open and the slower hard courts of the Australian Open suited this strategy, and he won both tournaments twice. As his legs aged and his commitment wavered, he was increasingly unable to compensate for his weaker backhand, resulting in a slow, steady decline in his results.

After retirement from ATP tennis

Since his retirement as an ATP player, Courier has served as a tennis analyst and commentator for the USA Network, NBC Sports, TNT and Channel Seven Australia.
In 2004, Courier founded InsideOut Sport & Entertainment, a New York based event promotion company that owns and operates the Outback Champions Series, the Ultimate Fantasy Camp, and the Legendary Nights exhibition series. He also has founded Courier's Kids, a non-profit organization that supports tennis in the inner city of St. Petersburg, Florida.
He currently competes on the BlackRock Tour of Champions and the Outback Champions Series and in various charity exhibition matches.
In 2004, Courier won three of the six BlackRock tournaments he played. In 2005, Courier finished #1 on that tour with two more tournament wins.
In March 2006, Courier won the Outback tournament in Naples, Florida, defeating Pat Cash in the final, and in Charlotte, North Carolina, defeating Todd Martin in the final. Courier finished the year #1 in the Outback series.
Courier is currently scheduled to play in 2007 Outback Champions Series tournaments in Naples, Boston, Newport, Charlotte, Dallas, and Houston as well as select exhibitions and events worldwide.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (4)

'Year	'Championship	'Opponent in Final	'Score in Final
1991	French Open	United States Andre Agassi	3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4
1992	Australian Open	Sweden Stefan Edberg	6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
1992	French Open (2)	Czechoslovakia Petr Korda	7-5, 6-2, 6-1
1993	Australian Open (2)	Sweden Stefan Edberg	6-2, 6-1, 2-6, 7-5

Runner-ups (3)

'Year	'Championship	'Opponent in Final	'Score in Final
1991	U.S. Open	Sweden Stefan Edberg	6-2, 6-4, 6-0
1993	French Open	Spain Sergi Bruguera	6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
1993	Wimbledon	United States Pete Sampras	7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3

Tennis Masters Cup singles finals

Runner-ups (2)

'Year	'Championship	'Opponent in Final	'Score in Final
1991	Frankfurt	Pete Sampras	3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-4
1992	Frankfurt	Boris Becker	6-4, 6-3, 7-5

Masters Series singles finals

Wins (5)

'Year	'Championship	'Opponent in Final	'Score in Final
1991	Indian Wells	Guy Forget	4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)
1991	Key Biscayne	David Wheaton	4-6, 6-3, 6-4
1992	Rome	Carlos Costa	7-6(3), 6-0, 6-4
1993	Indian Wells (2)	South Africa Wayne Ferreira	6-3, 6-3, 6-1
1993	Rome (2)	Goran Ivanišević	6-1, 6-2, 6-2

Career finals

Singles wins

'Legend'
Grand Slam (4)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (5)
ATP Tour (14)

'Titles by Surface'
Hard (17)
Grass (0)
Clay (5)
Carpet (1)

'No.'	'Date'	'Tournament'	'Surface'	'Opponent in the final'	'Score'
1.	9 October, 1989	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Stefan Edberg	7-6, 3-6, 2-6, 6-0, 7-5
2.	11 March, 1991	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Guy Forget	4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)
3.	25 March, 1991	Miami, USA	Hard	David Wheaton	4-6, 6-3, 6-4
4.	10 June, 1991	French Open, Paris	Clay	Andre Agassi	3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4
5.	27 January, 1992	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Stefan Edberg	6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
6.	13 April, 1992	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Hard	Richard Krajicek	6-4, 6-4, 7-6(3)
7.	20 April, 1992	Hong Kong	Hard	Michael Chang	7-5, 6-3
8.	18 May, 1992	Rome, Italy	Clay	Carlos Costa	7-6(3), 6-0, 6-4
9.	8 June, 1992	French Open, Paris	Clay	Petr Korda	7-5, 6-2, 6-1
10.	1 February, 1993	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Stefan Edberg	6-2, 6-1, 2-6, 7-5
11.	15 February, 1993	Memphis, USA	Hard (i)	Todd Martin	5-7, 7-6(4), 7-6(4)
12.	8 March, 1993	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	6-3, 6-3, 6-1
13.	17 May, 1993	Rome, Italy	Clay	Goran Ivanišević	6-1, 6-2, 6-2
14.	23 August, 1993	Indianapolis, USA	Hard	Boris Becker	7-5, 6-3
15.	9 January, 1995	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Arnaud Boetsch	6-2, 7-5
16.	6 March, 1995	Scottsdale, USA	Hard	Mark Philippoussis	7-6(2), 6-4
17.	17 April, 1995	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Hard	Andre Agassi	6-4, 6-3
18.	2 October, 1995	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Jan Siemerink	6-7(2), 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-2, 7-5
19.	4 March, 1996	Philadelphia, USA	Carpet	Chris Woodruff	6-4, 6-3
20.	6 January, 1997	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Tim Henman	7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2
21.	28 July, 1997	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Thomas Enqvist	6-4, 6-4
22.	6 October, 1997	Beijing, China	Hard (i)	Magnus Gustafsson	7-6(10), 3-6, 6-3
23.	27 April, 1998	Orlando, USA	Clay	Michael Chang	7-5, 3-6, 7-5

Singles runner-ups

'No.'	'Date'	'Tournament'	'Surface'	'Opponent in the final'	'Score'
1.	9 September, 1991	U.S. Open, New York	Hard	Stefan Edberg	6-2, 6-4, 6-0
2.	18 November, 1991	Singles Championships, Frankfurt	Carpet	Pete Sampras	3-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4
3.	10 February, 1992	San Francisco, USA	Hard (i)	Michael Chang	6-3, 6-3
4.	17 February, 1992	Brussels, Belgium	Carpet	Boris Becker	6-7(5), 2-6, 7-6(10), 7-6(5), 7-5
5.	24 August, 1992	Indianapolis, USA	Hard	Pete Sampras	6-4, 6-4
6.	23 November, 1992	Singles Championships, Frankfurt	Carpet	Boris Becker	6-4, 6-3, 7-5
7.	19 April, 1993	Hong Kong	Hard	Pete Sampras	6-3, 6-7(1), 7-6(2)
8.	7 June, 1993	French Open, Paris	Clay	Sergi Bruguera	6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
9.	5 July, 1993	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Pete Sampras	7-6(3), 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-3
10.	18 April, 1994	Nice, France	Clay	Alberto Berasategui	6-4, 6-2
11.	24 October, 1994	Lyon, France	Carpet	Marc Rosset	6-4, 7-6(2)
12.	9 October, 1995	Toulouse, France	Hard (i)	Arnaud Boetsch	6-4, 6-7(5), 6-0
13.	26 February, 1999	Memphis, USA	Hard (i)	Tommy Haas	6-4, 6-1

Doubles wins

'No.'	'Date'	'Tournament'	'Surface'	'Partnering'	'Opponent in the final'	'Score'
1.	22 May, 1989	Rome, Italy	Clay	Pete Sampras	Danilo Marcelino Mauro Menezes	6-4, 6-3
2.	14 May, 1990	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Sergi Bruguera	Udo Riglewski Michael Stich	4-6, 6-1, 7-6
3.	11 March, 1991	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Javier Sánchez	Guy Forget Henri Leconte	7-6, 6-1
4.	19 April, 1993	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Mark Knowles	Glenn Michibata David Pate	6-1, 1-6, 7-6
5.	9 January, 1995	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Patrick Rafter	Byron Black Grant Connell	7-6, 6-4
6.	26 April, 1999	Orlando, USA	Clay	Todd Woodbridge	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	7-6(4), 6-4

Doubles runner-ups

'No.'	'Date'	'Tournament'	'Surface'	'Partnering'	'Opponent in the final'	'Score'
1.	8 May, 1989	Forest Hills, USA	Clay	Pete Sampras	Rick Leach Jim Pugh	4-6, 6-4, 6-4
2.	21 May, 1990	Rome, Italy	Clay	Martin Davis	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	7-6, 7-5
3.	11 April, 1994	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Javier Sánchez	Yevgeny Kafelnikov David Rikl	6-3, 6-4
4.	6 October, 1997	Beijing, China	Hard (i)	Alex O'Brien	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	7-5, 7-6
5.	11 January, 1999	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Patrick Galbraith	Gustavo Kuerten Nicolás Lapentti	6-4, 6-4

Major tournament singles performance timeline

Tournament	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	Career SR
Australian Open	A	A	2R	4R	'W'	'W'	SF	QF	QF	4R	A	3R	1R	'2 / 10'
French Open	A	4R	4R	'W'	'W'	F	SF	4R	QF	1R	2R	2R	A	'2 / 11'
Wimbledon	A	1R	3R	QF	3R	F	2R	2R	1R	1R	1R	4R	A	'0 / 11'
U.S. Open	2R	3R	2R	F	SF	4R	2R	SF	A	1R	A	1R	A	'0 / 10'
Grand Slam SR	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 4	1 / 4	2 / 4	1 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 2	0 / 4	0 / 1	'4 / 42'
ATP Tour World Championships	A	A	A	F	F	RR	A	RR	A	A	A	A	A	'0 / 4'

A = did not participate in the tournament
SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

External links

★

★ International Tennis Hall of Fame Profile

★ Davis Cup record

★ JimCourier.com.ar : pictures, profile, biography, titles and quotes

★

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