A Nod to Jimmy C — Courier, that is…Two-Time French Open Champ
Jim Courier often does not get his due when American tennis players are discussed, but he is the only one to win two French Opens (‘91, ‘92) since pros started playing Grand Slams 42 years ago. And he is one of only three Americans in history to win the tournament twice (the others being Frank Parker ‘48, ‘49 and Tony Trabert ‘54, ‘55).
Courier played at the same time Sampras was on the way to winning 14 slams and Andre Agassi fashioned mullet hairpieces and wore flashy clothes and often played brilliantly, so he was overshadowed and outglitzed. But he won something twice that McEnroe, Connors and Sampras never won even once.
Courier continues to battle on the Champions tour, and has a lot to say on his blog about this year’s French Open. He also is the best of the young former players turned commentators I’ve heard, and I hope he’ll end up in the booth more often in the future. And I hope that the American tennis establishment will remember and make a big deal of recognizing Courier next year on the 20th anniversary of his first French Open championship.
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May 28th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
i always look forward to Courier commentating–he’s smart, he’s serious, and he brings professional integrity to his on-air appearances. I agree that he is notoriously overlooked in American men’s tennis. Do you think Americans devalue the French Open and clay court?–duh, of course they do, b/c they just haven’t won it consistently. Other than not having numerous clay court facilities, particularly for training purposes, why do you think Americans aren’t clay courters?
Jul 5th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Well I do not typically comment on blogs but I stumbled on yours whilst I was doing some job researching in Google today therefore i decided I might shoot a quick comment. Needless to say I have become a bit sidetracked after sticking around to check out some of your posts. You’ve got some very nice observations here, so I’m going to add you to my Google Reader for the future. Appreciate it!