Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 27, 1992 TAG: 9201270033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA LENGTH: Medium
NO. 1 NEXT FOR COURIER
Jim Courier, swinging a racket like a baseball slugger and sporting a cap to match, is on the verge of becoming the first American man ranked No. 1 since John McEnroe.Only nine men have ascended to the top in the 20 years of ATP rankings, dominated for most of that period by Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, McEnroe, Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg.
Courier is a different breed of player from all of them, with strokes that would look more natural on a baseball field than a tennis court. But through sheer hard work and indomitable spirit, he is about to take his place among the great players of the game.
Courier's 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Stefan Edberg in the Australian Open final Sunday put the red-haired, 21-year-old from Dade City, Fla., in a position to take over Edberg's No. 1 spot in two weeks at the end of the next tournament in San Francisco.
Courier, ranked No. 25 at the start of last year, left Australia trailing Edberg by only 20 points in the ATP computer rankings - 3,671 to 3,651 - a difference he can easily overcome with early-round wins in San Francisco as Edberg sits out that event.
That would end a nearly seven-year drought at the top of the rankings for Americans since McEnroe reigned for nearly five years until mid-1985.
Courier lacks the touch and graceful movement of some of those who held No. 1, and he hasn't mastered the serve-and-volley game. Rather, he swings his short, punchy two-fisted backhand like a line-drive hitter in baseball, which he used to be when he had aspirations of a career on the field.
He acknowledges the roots of his tennis game came from baseball, and thinks he might have done well if he'd pursued it. He just wouldn't have done this well - winning championships so young and being the best in the world at 21. It is a mark of his determination that he's not even satisfied with being No. 1.
"The real mark of a top player is who can do it year in and year out," Courier said. "This year I'm off to a good start to back up my year that I had last year. I think that the true champions are ones who keep on doing it every year. That's what I want to do."
Courier, who became the first American man to win the Australian Open in 10 years and captured his second Grand Slam title in six months, celebrated by dashing out of the stadium and jumping into a river with his tennis shorts on.
"It tastes just as sweet," Courier said as he compared the Australian title with the French Open crown he won last year. "It's a little bit different, because I've done it before, but it's no less significant."
Courier said he's not driven to be No. 1, though he clearly would enjoy the status.
"What I'm motivated to do is to play the best tennis that my game can allow me to play, and I think I'm becoming closer and closer to that," he said. "If the best I can do is to be No. 2 in the world, well, then that's not so bad."
Edberg, who missed the last two months of 1991 with wrist and knee injuries, played far below his form in the U.S. Open.
"I didn't have the timing today," Edberg said. "I didn't play the big points as he did. I tried to do different things, but it wouldn't work. I lost my concentration slightly a few times, and you are not supposed to do that."
Courier won this match from the baseline, just as Monica Seles won the women's singles Saturday, though Courier ventured in on short balls far more often to put winners away.
The layoff since Wednesday didn't hurt Courier's sharpness, as he feared. He held service throughout the first set, facing only two breakpoints, and broke Edberg to go ahead 4-2. Edberg contributed to his break with the first of his seven double-faults in the match at deuce, then lost the game when he netted a weak volley on a ripping backhand return by Courier.
Edberg evened the match in the second set, breaking Courier in the second game with a lovely lob that landed on the baseline. But such moments were rare for Edberg.
Edberg double-faulted twice in the third set and never again raised the quality of his game.