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. 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), as well as the French Open junior doubles title in 1987.

Tournament	1986	1987
Junior Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	NH	A
French Open	A	1R
Wimbledon	A	SF
US Open	1R	2R

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. 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 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, Courier 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.

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 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, to mixed reviews. 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	Clay	Petr Korda	7-5, 6-2, 6-1
Winner	1993	Australian Open	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	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	6-3, 6-3, 6-1
Winner	1993	Rome	Clay	Goran Ivanišević	6-1, 6-2, 6-2

Records

• These records were attained in Open Era of tennis.

Championship	Years	Record accomplished	Player tied
Grand Slam	1991-1993	Youngest to reach all four Grand Slam finals (22)	Stands alone
French Open—Australian Open	1991-1993	Simultaneous holder of consecutive Australian and French Open titles	Stands alone
Grand Slam	1992	Winner of Australian Open and French Open in the same calendar year	Rod Laver Mats Wilander

Grand Slam, ATP Tour, and Grand Prix circuit career finals

Singles: 36 (23-13)

Legend Grand Slam (4-3) Year-End Championships (0-2) ATP Masters Series (5-0) ATP Championship Series (5-3) ATP World Series (9-5)

Titles by Surface Hard (17-6) Grass (0-1) Clay (5-2) Carpet (1-4)

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	6-4, 6-3
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

Tournament	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	SR	W-L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	2R	4R	W	W	SF	QF	QF	4R	A	3R	1R	2 / 10	35-8
French Open	A	A	4R	4R	W	W	F	SF	4R	QF	1R	2R	2R	A	2 / 11	40-9
Wimbledon	A	A	1R	3R	QF	3R	F	2R	2R	1R	1R	1R	4R	A	0 / 11	19-11
US Open	A	2R	3R	2R	F	SF	4R	2R	SF	A	1R	A	1R	A	0 / 10	24-10
Win-Loss	0-0	1-1	5-3	7-4	20-3	20-2	22-3	12-4	13-4	8-3	3-4	1-2	6-4	0-1	4 / 42	118-38
Year End Championship
ATP Tour World Championships	A	A	A	A	F	F	RR	A	RR	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 4	7-9
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells	NME			SF	W	3R	W	2R	2R	3R	1R	3R	2R	1R	2 / 11	21-9
Miami	NME			QF	W	SF	4R	SF	3R	QF	SF	2R	2R	2R	1 / 11	30-10
Monte Carlo	NME			3R	A	A	A	QF	A	2R	2R	A	A	A	0 / 4	6-4
Hamburg	NME			3R	2R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 2	2-2
Rome	NME			3R	3R	W	W	QF	1R	2R	QF	1R	A	A	2 / 9	23-7
Canada	NME			A	SF	A	3R	SF	3R	A	1R	1R	QF	A	0 / 7	12-7
Cincinnati	NME			QF	SF	3R	2R	QF	QF	3R	1R	1R	2R	A	0 / 10	14-10
Stuttgart (Stockholm)	NME			2R	SF	3R	3R	3R	QF	3R	A	A	2R	A	0 / 8	11-8
Paris	NME			3R	3R	QF	2R	2R	SF	2R	1R	A	QF	A	0 / 9	11-9
Win-Loss	-			19-8	24-6	15-5	15-5	16-8	12-7	7-7	8-7	3-5	10-6	1-2	5 / 71	130-66
Year End Ranking	346	43	24	25	2	1	3	13	8	26	21	77	34	290

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 (bold is No. 1 ranked players):

• Pete Sampras (4-16)
• Andre Agassi (7-5)
• Michael Chang (12-12)
• Stefan Edberg (6-4)
• Sergi Bruguera (5-2)
• Petr Korda (3-1)
• Goran Ivanišević (8-3)
• Thomas Muster (7-5)
• Jimmy Connors (3-0)
• John McEnroe (2-1)
• Ivan Lendl (0-4)
• Michael Stich (5-7)
• Richard Krajicek (7-1)
• Marc Rosset (7-4)
• Boris Becker (1-6)
• Yevgeny Kafelnikov (1-5)
• Wayne Ferreira (9-2)
• Guy Forget (7-1)
• Todd Martin (6-1)
• Cédric Pioline (5-4)
• Andrei Medvedev (2-2)
• Tim Henman (3-1)
• Greg Rusedski (4-0)
• Magnus Larsson (2-2)
• Thomas Enqvist (6-2)
• Carlos Costa (2-1)
• David Wheaton (3-3)
• Slava Doseděl (1-4)
• Albert Costa (2-2)
• Andrés Gómez (2-1)
• Sjeng Schalken (3-1)
• Karol Kučera (3-1)
• Andrei Chesnokov (4-6)
• Andrei Cherkasov (2-2)
• Carlos Moyá (2-1)
• Gustavo Kuerten (1-0)
• Alberto Berasategui (0-2)
• Àlex Corretja (0-4)
• Brad Gilbert (2-2)
• Marat Safin (1-1)
• Andrei Olhovskiy (1-1)
• Patrick Rafter (0-3)
• Marcelo Ríos (0-3)
• Jonathan Stark (2-2)
• David Nalbandian (1-0)

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),
• 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.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]