Courier was raised inDade City, Florida,[3] and though he excelled at youth sports in general, after a certain point it became clear that tennis was where his true talent lay.[4] As a junior player in the 1980s, Courier attended theNick Bollettieri Tennis Academy and won the prestigiousOrange Bowl in 1986 and 1987 (the first to win back-to-back titles sinceIvan Lendl), as well as theFrench Open junior doubles title in 1987.
Courier turned professional in 1988 and made his Grand Slam breakthrough at the1991 French Open when he defeatedStefan Edberg andMichael Stich to reach his first Grand Slam final. In the final he defeated his former Bollettieri Academy roommateAndre Agassi in five sets to win his first Slam. "I didn't want to give him any easy points, and with that kind of wind anything could happen and anything did" Courier said afterwards.[5] He made the quarterfinals ofWimbledon before losing to eventual champion Stich. At theUS Open he defeated defending championPete Sampras in the quarterfinals and thenJimmy Connors in the semifinals, before losing the final to Edberg.
1992 saw Courier defeat Edberg in the final in four sets to win theAustralian Open, and he celebrated by jumping into the nearbyYarra River. He then followed this result by defeating future Grand Slam championsThomas Muster,Goran Ivanišević, Agassi andPetr Korda in the final in straight sets to successfully defend his French Open title. Afterward, Courier charmed the Parisian crowd by delivering a victory speech in French.[6] Courier also enjoyed a 25-match winning streak during the season. In February of that year, following theSan Francisco tournament, he became the tenth player to reach the world no. 1 ranking since the ranking system was implemented in 1973, and the first American sinceJohn McEnroe; he finished 1992 as the world no. 1 ranked player. Courier also was a member of the US team that won the 1992Davis Cup. In 1992 he was the top-seeded player at theOlympics in Barcelona, where he lost in the third round to eventual gold medalistMarc Rosset from Switzerland.[7]
In 1993, Courier again won the Australian Open, defeating Edberg in the final in four sets 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 toSergi Bruguera in five sets.[8] He also reached the 1993Wimbledon final, defeating Edberg in the semifinals (Courier "used his attacking baseline game to keep Edberg off balance")[9] 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 sinceRod Laver to reach the finals of the Australian, French and Wimbledon in the same season; the feat was not matched until 2006 byRoger 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 male players in the Open Era. Courier retired from the ATP tour in 2000. He was inducted into theInternational Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005.
Since his retirement as a top-level player, Courier has served as a tennis analyst and commentator for theTennis Channel,USA Network,NBC Sports,TNT,ITV,Sky Sports and theSeven andNine Networks. Since 2005, Courier has headed the commentary for the domestic host broadcaster of the Australian Open, which was Seven from 2005 to 2018 and Nine since 2019. Courier calls many centre court men's singles matches for the network and often conducts the post-match on-court interviews with the winning player. He also provided special comments on the Seven Network'sWimbledon coverage between 2013 and 2019. Courier started working with the British channelITV for the French Open in 2012. In 2015, Courier worked with the British channelSky Sports for theirUS Open coverage. The Jim Courier Club House now stands on the grounds of the Dade CityLittle League complex in John S. Burks Memorial Park inDade 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 ofSt. Petersburg, Florida.
Courier currently competes on theChampions Series and in various charity exhibition matches.
Courier married Susanna Lingman in 2010.
On October 27, 2010, Courier was named captain of theUnited States Davis Cup team, replacingPatrick McEnroe. Courier stepped down from the role after the 2018 semi-final defeat to Croatia. Courier led his country with a 10–8 record and two semi-final appearances during his captaincy.[10]
In August 2019, Courier was working forPrime Video UK, for their exclusive coverage of the US Open.
In 2022, he co-presented popular Australian reality showNinja Warrior for theNine Network, whom he also works for on theirAustralian Open coverage each local summer.
Stefan Edberg Stefan Edberg Stefan Edberg Pete Sampras
World No. 1 February 10, 1992 - March 22, 1992 April 13, 1992 - September 13, 1992 October 5, 1992 - April 11, 1993 August 23, 1993 - September 12, 1993
Succeeded by
Stefan Edberg Stefan Edberg Pete Sampras Pete Sampras