ATP TOUR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

November 15, 1993

Jim Courier

JIM COURIER: No, I didn't know what the other guys were doing. I don't know how they all got the same clothes and they put them together.

JIM COURIER: Well, I went on- where did I go? I went home and didn't do much. Watched a little TV. Seinfeld, Saturday Night Live. Just the normal stuff.

JIM COURIER: Inaudible. . . I went actually to Palm Springs.

JIM COURIER: My bed is a good surface. I never loose in there.

JIM COURIER: It seems to be my pattern here. The last three years, I've had really good first halves and then not as good in the second halves. So I figure I had a couple of good years, why change it.

JIM COURIER: No. No, I'm pretty motivated.

JIM COURIER: No, not really. I mean, it was a good result. I'm very pleased I was going to get to the final. But it's not something I look back on as the highlight of the year.

JIM COURIER: Well, I've had all year to compete for it, so it's over: It's okay. Move on.

JIM COURIER: I think it should be played in Palm Springs. I think it would be great. In Florida. And I'm there. But I'm not coming back to Europe in December. Has nothing to do with me not liking the tournament or not liking what it represents. It's very difficult for me to get back on another plane in December and travel across the world.

JIM COURIER: Is that an invitation? I don't ski.

JIM COURIER: I don't know what I'll be doing. I'll be around the States somewhere. Be glued to the TV, watching those guys making all that money.

JIM COURIER: A little bit of both. I think it's important to get away, and it's also important to prepare for the next year.

JIM COURIER: I really don't have much to say about it. I'm just playing.

JIM COURIER: It's just something that I'm really not interested in right now. The thing is for me, to just play as well as I can every week. But, worrying about it has never helped, never has helped and never will help. It doesn't have anything to do with while I'm out there on the tennis court. It can't possibly help me, so why bother.

JIM COURIER: I'm all powerful, huh?

JIM COURIER: I would rather play outside, but we have plenty of indoor events, and I play them. But if I had my choice, I'd rather be outside, sure. I think it's better for everybody.

JIM COURIER: For sure, it's not my best surface, and that has a lot to do with it. I mean, if I was winning all the tournaments where I've won indoors, then I'd be saying I can't wait to come play indoors. But, that's not the case. And I think that people... I mean, speaking for myself, for sure, I'm much happier when the sun is shining. I mean, it just has some sort of a quality that makes me a little livelier. When you play indoors, and you're indoors, all the time you kind of loose track of the time. I don't know; it kind of gets me depressed being inside. It's probably because I'm from Florida; I'm from the hot weather, so I'm always used to playing outside; it's just what I'm used to. I can say it's just a little bit depressing, and it makes me a little less energized.

JIM COURIER: It can be a little dull when you're just walking back and forth just watching his serve go by. I don't know, I mean, for the spectators, too, I think.

JIM COURIER: I can't exactly remember last year's speed, but the speed seems pretty good here.

JIM COURIER: Whoever is in front, that's who I have to play so, you know, I guess I'm happy. It doesn't really matter to me who's there. If you want to go through to the final, you're going to have to play everybody.

JIM COURIER: No. No, we've been going through the whole year, it's the last week of the year for me, I'm not disappointed.

JIM COURIER: Well, it's a good event. It's the only event where we have all Top 8 players together, and that's it, so, it's a big test, everybody has to play each other. And the champion of this event is going to be somebody who played great tennis, because you can't win at least four matches against Top 8 players and not be doing well.

JIM COURIER: For me this year has been.. I'm regarded as a success. Because any time I can put some titles the board and play well at the Grand Slams, I think it's a successful year. The second half of the year hasn't been that great, I've really not played well, and that's a little bit discouraging at times, but that's kind of the nature of life, as well as the game. You can't have ups all the time; you have to experience some lulls, too. So I'll be able to come next year and have a good second half of the season. I say that every year.

JIM COURIER: Yeah, and I haven't thrown the towel in; I'm still playing. You've got to roll with it.

JIM COURIER: I have no explanation. Maybe you can give me some help with it.

JIM COURIER: There's really not much to rationalize when you're just playing a game. You play well or you play poorly. I try the same, whether I'm playing well or I'm playing poorly. I don't know what makes me play great and I don't know what makes me play bad. It just is.

JIM COURIER: Oh, I've lived with it all my life. Since I was seven years old playing junior tournaments.

JIM COURIER: Well, it all depends on how you see it. No one is taking any money away from me, so, it's like the money wasn't even there. It's like, is the glass almost empty, or does it have something in there to drink? It's not going to change my life if I go over there and play; it will probably hurt me for next year. It's more important for me to get ready for next year than to make money.

JIM COURIER: Well, not this year. And I don't foresee myself changing. Not for that event. It's an exhibition. I'll be at a very large financial exhibition, but, you know, that's what it is.

JIM COURIER: If it was at a different slot on the calendar, it wouldn't matter if there were ATP points or not. As I was saying before, the whole problem with the event for me is the calendar. If it was in the United States, I would play it for sure, but I'm not going to cross the Atlantic and screw up my body for two weeks, time zone changes, just for money, you know, at that time of the year.

JIM COURIER: No, Australian Open. I play exhibition for real, yeah.

JIM COURIER: Yeah, they do, but it doesn't count for anything; that's what I consider an exhibition. It's an exhibition tournament. I mean, I don't have a problem with the event. I think the event is great. Someone throws you money, you'd be a fool to go slap them in the face. You know, that's great for the guys to go play. But, it's just a tough time of the year for me to get motivated and go play in Europe.

JIM COURIER: I'm excited. I'm going to India. Maybe as a practice partner. But, yeah, I've told Tom that I'm prepared to go. And I plan on going; it's in my calendar.

JIM COURIER: See, last year was a different situation. Last year I thought for sure that Andre or Pete would go to play in Australia. It was playing on grass. I never had any good results on grass. No one would really... I mean, I didn't think that I would be the best guy for the team to go. And when it came for me to play, I just didn't like feel I could go down there and give a good effort. I would be tired. It would be grass. I would have two days to adjust. If I did well in Lipton, I'd get down there on Tuesday and I'd have Wednesday, Thursday to practice, then play. Yeah, but this year I don't think Pete's going to go. Unless he changes his mind. Andre is out of the first tie. And I don't want what happened to us last year ... I don't want us to get knocked out in the first round. Because I wanted to play Davis Cup this year, and try and do it again, and this year I'm going to go, and maybe I'm going to loose my matches; maybe I'm going to win. Maybe I'll get sick and not be able to play, but I'm going to make the effort and go. And I'm no hero for that, but I'm just doing what I think is right. Sure stinks that we're going to India. No, actually I'm kind of interested in going, because I've never been. And I haven't played Davis Cup out of the country in three years since I went to Mexico for my first time, so I'm kind of looking forward to going and playing in that foreign environment. Because that's really what makes Davis Cup special is going into places like that, to find out how there crowd is going to be, what they're going to try and do to throw you off, and overcome it. It's pretty exciting.

JIM COURIER: No, not really my schedule is pretty good. I tend to play... You know, my schedule next year will follow very closely this year's schedule.

JIM COURIER: There's not much really to say. I mean, I came in there the way I wanted to. I had won Indianapolis and was confident. And came in and I just for whatever reason I just didn't play the best I could. I tried the best I could, but the magic just wasn't there.

JIM COURIER: I mean, it's disappointing to lose early, but I'm not disappointed as long as I give myself the best chance to win. And the best chance really just to play my best. And I think I did everything correctly going into that tournament. And, Cliche City: You can't win them all. But you can prepare the best you can, and hopefully play well. Sometimes playing well, you're still going to loose.

JIM COURIER: Yeah, I mean I just didn't want to come in fatigued. No, I came in fresh.

JIM COURIER: Can you translate for me? It's okay. Take your time.

JIM COURIER: It's kind of like banging your head against the wall. I guess I'm just kind of tired of trying to change something that might change, but it won't be because it won't necessarily be what I want it to be. And maybe it will be. I remember I talked to you guys last year, and immediately after this press conference we went over to the mayor's, whatever, the mayor's mansion, and I had three guys jumping all over me, don't go to the press; tell us first. And that's the kind of political stuff that I don't really care about. I don't need that feeling. I don't need those guys getting mad at me or trying to corral me or whatever. Just trying to avoid the hassle I suppose.

JIM COURIER: It is. It's mental energy in a sense that kind of evaporates, unfortunately. I don't have that much mental energy, so I have to kind of guard it with my life.

JIM COURIER: Well, yeah, we have the power to say something to you, and we entrust that power with you to get it out to the people. You know, do we have the power to come up and say, this is what we want to do about the ranking system; we don't care about what the tournament directors think. It's been done. It hasn't worked.

JIM COURIER: Absolutely. A lot of hot air blowing around. I mean, Mark's not at fault. I mean, it's just kind of the way the system works. There's so many different interests. So many financial interests and political interests going on, you know, in the back doors there; I have no idea what they mean. I'm a tennis player. I tell them what I think they tell me what I want to hear and then they kind of slide it underneath. How about that Bear's game? Hell of a game.

JIM COURIER: I think Michael and I any surface we play on is fairly even for us because we play similar styles.

JIM COURIER: Well they're more ground strokers, compared to last year was pretty much serve and volleyers.

JIM COURIER: Well, I don't think the edge is off. This is a big tournament, and I want to play well. I never played for the ranking. I play to play my best and try and win some titles. I'm just glad to be here. This is my third year in a row. I'm in the Top 8; it's kind of nice to have made it again. Now I'm really starting to hit the cliches. Just glad to be here; the good Lord. It's 4:00; it's dark outside.

JIM COURIER: I would have loved to have been a musician. But I don't know if that's reality. I think if I would have been a businessman, I don't know what I'd be doing. I'd probably still be in school. I don't know, what do you think I'd have? Yeah, I play guitar. I'll use a psychiatrist's trick: Repeat the last word.

JIM COURIER: There's a lot of space for tennis musicians, that's for sure. I don't think they're lacking for musicians, and I don't think we're going to fill any holes. We have some fun. Well, I haven't played with Murphy, but I've played with Luke. But they're fun, good guys.

JIM COURIER: I didn't go to it, but Luke is here, and I've been practicing a little bit with Luke. And I think Luke was going to speak or whatever, and they have some ideas, and I'm sure he had some good ones.

JIM COURIER: Yeah, Luke's funny.

JIM COURIER: I don't know. I'm a player. I'm on the court. I'm on the court. I'm not in the stands watching. I don't know why it is. For me anyway, maybe it's just if I'm not playing I'm really not that interested. I mean, I'll watch tennis on tape if I'm trying to learn something from it, but I don't think that watching a match is that entertaining.

JIM COURIER: He wants it to be more or less how the NBA games are packaged. Timeouts, you know, they have the people coming out and doing contests, shooting blindfolded for a car. Well, I'll give them a few ideas, cause all I'll have to do is just go out and watch an NBA game 'cause they're just nonstop entertainment all the time. I don't think tennis purists are going to like that. I think the game is fun. Tennis is a game built on tradition. And I think you'd be loosing a heavy core audience. Let's say for example you try and do any of that stuff in Monte Carlo or Rome. Can you imagine what their response would be? Australia? It might work at an indoor event in Detroit, but I don't think that's going to fly at the events that have been established and have been around, and that have that core audience that comes to watch good tennis. There's, for certain, there's a market out there young people that want to be entertained, that come to see the athletes, not really the sport necessarily. I mean, I see that more in basketball than any other sport.

JIM COURIER: Don't really know. I just pretty much told you everything that I know about it. Luke when he's into something, boy...

JIM COURIER: I was explaining earlier that basically the scenario was different last year. I expected Pete or Andre to go. They were the Wimbledon winner and semi finalist. And they were good grass court players, and I was unestablished on grass. But I think people would look at me in a different light, at least think I have a chance to play decent on that surface. So I didn't expect that I would be A., asked, at all, B. Needed, and also C., I didn't think that I would be able to give a good quality performance down there and coming from Lipton I would have about two or three days to practice, and I just thought it just wasn't going to work. And I wanted to play Davis Cup this year, but that didn't happen. I mean, I may not play singles, I mean who knows what's going to happen between now and then. I'm ready to go and I want to go and I'm looking forward to playing on a foreign surface. It will be the first time. I really think we can put together a similar situation that we had two years ago. I hope that Pete, and I'm not sure who else is going to be involved. But I hope we can get a good group of guys and go after it again.

JIM COURIER: I really don't know. I've talked to Delhi a lot. I think Andre is out, and I don't think Pete is going to go.

JIM COURIER: No, I'm going to play Lipton.

JIM COURIER: Gully is Gully; we love him. Gully is one of the boys.

JIM COURIER: Well, I think it's going to be a good tournament. It's going to be tough as usual. And we'll see what happens.

JIM COURIER: I hope so.

JIM COURIER: Why should I tell you? They may be listening. You can't tell that.

JIM COURIER: Well, I'm playing Chang first. I know it will be a tough match. We both know each other's games very well. Medvedev, a young player coming up; I played him one time in a tournament, one time in an exhibition. I had two tough matches with him. It's going to be a tough match as well. And Michael Stich is playing very well on an indoor surface right now. He has a very expressive game. We played many times, and he's beaten me, I've beaten him. So it will be tough.

JIM COURIER: I sure hope so. This court is not as fast as Stockholm and Paris.

JIM COURIER: My red guitar was stolen in Wimbledon this year. I have a black guitar with me.

JIM COURIER: No, I have a black Porsche.

JIM COURIER: No, I don't have a favorite color. If I have a favorite color, maybe it's green.

JIM COURIER: Not anymore. What I'm wearing now it's purple and green.

JIM COURIER: Sure, I play.

JIM COURIER: I played since I was 8 years old, five years old. I played with my Dad and friends. It's a good sport.

JIM COURIER: How did these guys get dressed in the same stuff? Must have called each other. I don't look good in that color. That's why I didn't wear it.

JIM COURIER: Yeah, we're not complaining about it this year. It's another year and maybe we're more mature and more experienced and we agree one hundred percent with the ranking system.

JIM COURIER: I don't agree or disagree. That's the way the ranking system is, and I'm just playing it. I'm a very positive person.

JIM COURIER: Why, don't I look so comfortable?

JIM COURIER: I don't think it ever gets easier. You guys have a job to do, and sometimes what I'm trying to do doesn't have anything to do with what you're trying to do and vice-versa, so we... There are times when I would rather not have to deal with it, but it's the job and that's what I have to do, and I understand what you guys have to do. And I'm not defending us, but I'm not friendly all the time, and I don't think you can expect us to be friendly all the time.

JIM COURIER: No, I don't think so either. I mean, some guys will get upset if you're short in a press conference. I'm fairly infamous for being short whether I'm winning or losing. But, it's the job.

JIM COURIER: I think guys like you two that are on the road with us a lot, you know our personalities, and it's different with the people, say the local reporters, see somebody and they don't really have any idea what their personality is, and they'll jump to a conclusion a little bit; I don't know how you can say who or how a person is or acts based on a ten minute press conference. But that happens sometimes. And they're trying to do the best they can and explain things to their readers. Maybe I'm trying to keep things inside and not expose myself.

JIM COURIER: I really try not to read the tennis articles, because a lot of times they're guessing at how a player is feeling, and I like to keep myself kind of open minded about how I'm feeling, rather than have someone else explain to me what's going on.

JIM COURIER: Could be. Could be. You have to play those games, you know. Sometimes you have to try and, like you say, hide a light under a bush. Or sometimes I'm trying to hide it from myself as much as I am from you guys. Yeah, but you can see how things can get a bit out of whack. You can see how the media had a large part in driving Jordan out of the game, and that's really disturbing. And we're fortunate that none of that has happened in tennis, as far as no one has fixated on anyone's private life. Everything that's written, pretty much, is written about players on court activities, and there's been really no negative publicity.

JIM COURIER: People have the right to comment on what he does on the court and what he does for the team. I think it's nobody's business if he goes to Atlantic City. Just like it's nobody's business if he stays awake all night in his hotel room and doesn't sleep. What's the difference. In my mind it's better for him to go to Atlantic City, be home by one o'clock and in bed than for him to be sitting up in his hotel room playing cards and playing until five in the morning, nobody knowing anything, getting one hour's sleep and then going to the game. But it's nobody's business. I really strongly feel this way. People want to know things...

JIM COURIER: Yeah. I can't say that I'm not intrigued to read about it, because I am, because it's like the people in Hollywood; everyone wants to read what they're like in their life, and the reality is they're like me and you. But that's boring; that doesn't sell papers. So they have to find something else. I think that's what people are afraid of, is that the people that do things that they perceive that they can't do are different. But people are always the same.

JIM COURIER: I'm not a philosophy major.

JIM COURIER: Maybe I'll get older and wiser and more mature.... Inaudible.

JIM COURIER: I don't know. It's hard to say. I mean, I've changed so much in three years, you know, it's unbelievable. And who knows how I'm going to change in the next three. We just can't see what's around the corner. And sometimes I do think to myself, maybe I should try and be a personality, try to be funnier, and do things on the court. You know, what's important for me is to do my job the best that I can do it, trying not to create controversy, but trying (inaudible).

JIM COURIER: People are watching. I'm certainly not going to point a finger at Charles Barkley and say you shouldn't be doing it. I'm no angel: You guys know that and I know that.

JIM COURIER: Well, first off, you have Michael Chang, a young American from California, a very talented young man, won the French Open when he was 17, has worked on his game a lot in the past few years, much more aggressive than he used to be. Much more comfortable at the net. He's playing an all around game. He's had a very successful as far as number of titles won year. He's got five titles, four of them coming in the Asian Run, which is where he's extremely popular. Some would say more popular than God, although he wouldn't. And I think you can look for an exciting match from Michael. He's a scrapper. He's going to run around, and he's going to try and .... Jim is going to try and pound the ball down his throat, and Michael is going to try to carry out the best he can. You have 22 year old Jim Courier from Florida. This tall, striking handsome young man. He's having a fairly successful year, albeit not as successful as last year. He's been in three Grand Slam finals this year. He's got four ATP Tour titles. Plays big from the baseline. Got a decent serve. And he's been home for the last ten days, gathering his thoughts, kind of getting ready for this event. And we hope will play his best tennis, certainly feels that he will.

JIM COURIER: You say that TV ratings are down. That's something I can't really explain to you why that is. Shoe sales may be down; the world economy has been down. People don't spend money on the things they don't deem as necessary goods. And I think the first things to go is extravagances, maybe instead of buying a new pair of tennis shoes twice a year, they may buy one pair a year instead. You know, what Luke was talking about, which is what you really you want to hear, is, you know, I think that Luke has good points, but I think that tennis is a very... Tennis has a lot of history, and we have a lot of prestige, and the general tennis fan in a lot of places is a country club player who appreciates watching good tennis and that's why he goes to watch a tennis match as played. And I think that we're playing good tennis out here, and I think that there are young players up and coming on the way that will play good tennis to replace the John McEnroes, the Connors and the Ivan Lendles and all these people, and we have guys that will come out and will play good tennis and entertain the crowd as well. And that Andre Medvedev over there, that guy's a walking quote machine. I think he's hilarious. I don't know what you guys think about him, but I think he's great for the game. So I think the game is doing okay, but you might as well take a look at some other options and see... I don't see how we're going to have laser shows and rock & roll in Rome, in Monte Carlo, in Wimbledon, in Australia. Okay, I can see it in the United States in certain events, in certain cities. But I don't see it everywhere. There's just too much kind of a country club scenario in some places; people go there to try and entertain themselves, and they dress up, and they go to watch good tennis and it's a social event. Nothing wrong with that.

JIM COURIER: Like I said before, the interest of the player and the interest of the media are not always the same. We were just talking before about how guys like yourself who come around to lots of events that we know personally, I mean you know us personally; we're a lot more open with you. But with people we don't really know, I am certainly much more guarded and I don't give much of myself away. In big settings where I have 15 people sitting in front of me I'm just not going to say much. You get me one on one, you know, I'll crack a joke with you; I'll tell you what I've been doing, what's been happening in my life. But, I mean, I feel like we've got something going. But sometimes it feels like it's me against them. I mean, if I'm standing there and someone asks me a question, but everyone's waiting, but I don't want to answer it, so how do I answer it. Do I try and walk around the question and have it answered it asked in a different way, the next question. If I could, honestly, if I could I would do one press conference before every tournament, and then I would never do another press conference after the match. You know, after the matches of course you guys want to figure out what we were thinking in the match and everything, but when I'm done with the match, I don't look forward to coming in to the press, I really don't. But it's my responsibility and you guys need some quotes, and maybe that's why sometimes I'm a little bit short. But I'm not a bad guy.

JIM COURIER: Well, I thought this was the suit we were all going to wear.

JIM COURIER: It's a bad color for me. This is much better.

JIM COURIER: Well, that's my story. I'm sticking with it. That's right.

JIM COURIER: I don't know. I guess I'm just moody. I don't think I am. But you'd have to ask the people around me. Ask Jose; he'll tell you.

JIM COURIER: Well, I don't really worry about being misquoted.

JIM COURIER: Well, speaking for myself, I don't want everybody that reads a magazine to know everything about me. There's some things in my life that I prefer to keep to myself: How many cars I have, how many friends I have, what the relationship with my Mom is this week as compared to last week. People can know the generalities about, you know, where I live, how many brothers and sisters that I have. There's stuff that I'm not willing to give away everything. The public probably knows more about me because of the commercials with Nike that I've done than anything else that's ever been written about me.

JIM COURIER: Yes.

JIM COURIER: I don't really get asked for that many one on ones in the first place, and I don't really give away too much time for that. But, when people ask me and I say either I can or I can't, and it's not because I've read this guy's article and not read this guy's, that I do it, I just see what fits my schedule. That's usually the basis of whether I accept or decline, is whether I can or cannot do it at that particular day or time. Because my schedule is the most precious thing to me. Because I don't have many days.

JIM COURIER: I'm just not coming back to Europe in December. This is it for me for the year. I don't ethically disapprove of the tournament at all. I think the tournament is a great exhibition. A great opportunity to make some money it's a bonus for having done well in the Grand Slams. And I think that's great. Why do you want to slap somebody who throws down $6 million in prize money; there's no reason. That's found money. If I lived in Europe, I would be the first one to sign up. But as the case is, I'm in the United States, in Palm Springs. Practicing where Jose is. For me to go to Munich, a., if I want to do well there, I need to be there three days in advance to adjust to the time change, and then I come back after the tournament is over and I have another week that I'm trying to get back on the time change, so it really takes two weeks, plus the two weeks before that I could have been vacationing and then getting ready to practice. So then I only have really three weeks to get ready for Australia.

JIM COURIER: No, I don't. But I think that, you know, I have worked with some in the past and I've had good success with it.

JIM COURIER: Just a place for me to bounce ideas off my head, that are inside of my head, and for them to kind of listen is the main thing.

JIM COURIER: Oh, sure, you can use your parents if you wanted to, use your friends; it's really up to you. Has it been an hour? Is it over?