Name	Jim Courier
Height	6' 1"
Naionality	American
Date of Birth	August 17, 1970
Place of Birth	Sanford, Florida, USA
Famous for

Former world tennis pro Jim Courier was born on August 17, 1970 in Sanford, Florida. Originally a baseball enthusiast – much like his father and younger brother, both of whom played in near-professional leagues –Courier opted instead to give tennis a shot in his thirteenth year. He trained constantly for seven years.

Playing in the 1980’s, Courier went to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy and learned to play. At some point in his stay he roomed with another future tennis champ, Andre Agassi. During his junior years Courier won the Orange Bowl twice (in 1986 and 1987) as well as the French Open, taking the junior doubles title.

Courier’s professional career began in 1988. He broke into the Grand Slam in 1991 and won the French Open singles match, taking the title away from former roommate Agassi. He participated in and nearly won the US Open in the same year, losing in the final to Swedish player and fellow former number one player Stefan Edberg. It was during these years that he partially returned to his roots and started wearing a baseball cap when he was on thetennis court. This trend would later catch on with other players.

In 1992 Courier won the French and Australian Open titles. He spent much of the year undefeated with a 25 match winning streak, ended in a third round loss at Wimbledon to Andrei Olhovskiy. By February he was considered the world’s best player according to the professionaltennis ranking system, and finished up 1992 still in that spot. He would remain as number one for little over a year.

Courier was also a member of the American Davis Cup team that won the 1992 tournament. Players feared facing Courier, as his superb physical conditioning allowed him to draw matches out and wear down his opponents without facing similar losses in energy himself.Courier won the Australian Open again 1993, but lost the French Open final to Sergi Bruguera. In the same year he also reached the final match of Wimbledon, though again he lost, this time to another number one in the world player and fellow American Pete Sampras. In 1995 he was again a member on the winning American team in the Davis Cup.

Courier’s success dwindled to a shadow of its former self in the next five years. Though he continued playing, new tennis players found ways of getting around his formidable energy reserves and powerful forehand shots. By 2000 Courier decided to retire from the Association of Tennis Professionals.

Since retiring Courier has served as an analyst for a number of U.S. sports networks, notably NBC Sports and the Seven Network. He still plays in a number of charity events, and has since foundedCourier’s Kids, which promotes tennis for children in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has also played in BlackRock competitions and the Outback Tournament in Florida, winning the 2006 tournament against Pat Cash. He continues to play in a variety of these Outback tournaments to this day, enjoying considerable success against a number of formertennis pros.