The reason Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg left Jim Courier stressed in 1992 before he became world number one for the first time

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Jim Courier won four Major titles during his career, as he found success against some of the sport’s greatest ever players.

American tennis has seen several champions over the years, as the nation enjoyed spells of dominance over the ATP Tour.

Said dominance had started to fade during the 1980s, however, as John McEnroe’s time at the top came to an end.

It was the stars of Europe who replaced him, with Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, and Boris Becker trading places as world number one.

Heading into the 1990s, Edberg and Becker were leading the charge, as the Swede and German held firm atop the world rankings.

However, seemingly out of nowhere, a new American star burst through in 1992 to challenge for the number one spot.

A challenge that left him feeling stressed, as he looked to achieve a lifelong dream, at just 21 years of age.

Jim Courier felt ‘incredible amounts of stress’ trying to reach world number one in 1992

Speaking on the ATP Tour’s YouTube channel in 2022, four-time Major champion, Courier reflected on his pursuit of the number one ranking, 30 years earlier.

“I had a really good year in 1991, and I got into the top ten, won my first Major,” he said.

“I wasn’t that close to number one when I finished the season, but then I won the Australian Open and that really propelled me right into the mix.

“I knew that I could get there if I had a good week in San Francisco which was my first tournament after winning the Australian Open.”

Courier knew that making the final in San Francisco would guarantee him the top spot, an opportunity he didn’t want to let slip by.

“It all kind of happened in a hurry, it wasn’t like a long chase where I had months and months to think about it and I was close, it all sort of happened in a flash of January 1992 and I went forward from there,” he said.

“I remember feeling incredible amounts of stress in each match trying to get there, because you look at the rankings and you realise, this is a real shot, if I get to the finals I’m going to get to number one.

“But there’s also a chance that I’ll never get there because it wasn’t clear what Stefan [Edberg] and Boris [Becker] were going to do. They could’ve run away from me and I could’ve never touched it, so I was feeling a lot of pressure to get there.”

Courier battled through several tight matches to reach the final, becoming world number one for the first time in his career.

The American then explained how he was ‘lucky’ to have reached world number one at a young age.

“I was lucky because I got there when I was young and I still had areas in my game that still needed development and I knew that,” he said.

“We had a plan with my coaches that we were going to continue to work no matter what, so for me getting to number one didn’t stop the overall big picture plan.

“It wasn’t this long chase that had taken ten years for me to finally track down somebody, it all happened in a hurry and it was fairly early in my career.”

How many weeks did Jim Courier spend ranked number one in the world?

Courier had achieved one of his lifelong ambitions when he became number one in February 1992, but how long did he remain atop the world of men’s tennis?

After just six weeks, Edberg reclaimed the top spot before Courier battled back to accumulate more weeks at number one over the next year and a half.

Courier spent his 58th and final week as world number one in September 1993 before he was dethroned by Pete Sampras for a second time.

He retired from the sport in 2000, having spent the 12th most weeks at number one of any player in the history of the ATP Tour.

25 years on, Courier’s legacy remains intact, as he’ll no doubt say the ‘stress’ was worth it as he became the greatest player alive in 1992.