Jim Courier suggests how he thinks Andre Agassi would have performed if he played tennis in the modern era

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Jim Courier assessed how Andre Agassi would have fared in tennis’ modern era.

Andre Agassi became a top star in the 1990s, and achieved more success in the early 2000s before bidding farewell to tennis in 2006.

The 54-year-old is one of just five men to win all Grand Slam titles in the Open Era and he is a former World number one player.

The American went on to have a fine career, but his former rival Jim Courier discussed how much more success she could have achieved in the modern era of professional tennis.

Jim Courier says how Andre Agassi may have fared in today’s game

The game of tennis has changed significantly through the decades. The wooden rackets that were once used in the game were replaced by rackets made of graphite, carbon fiber, fiberglass and aluminum.

These were in operation across the game by the late 1980s and over the past three to four decades, while the string quality and the technology available to help manufacture rackets has increased.

Therefore, with the advanced equipment players now have at their disposal, Courier would have been keen to see how Agassi would have fared in today’s game.

“I think the game has never been better. In the last 15 to 20 years we have seen tennis we have never dreamed of seeing,” Courier said during a podcast conversation with Alexander Zverev.

“I think the strings in the rackets and the light technology with the stiff has allowed for shots which quite simply didn’t exist before, because you weren’t able to create as much top spin and angle, so the geometry of the game has changed.

“The speed of the athlete, the size of the athlete, any players that were your height [Zverev], they couldn’t move.

“They were great power players but the smaller players were the speedy players and the best players were normally somewhere around my height or a little bit taller. But I think the game is incredible right now.

“I do think if you have Andre – and we saw at the end of his career when he started playing with luxilon that he was able to extend his career and still win more majors using the new technology.”

What was Jim Courier’s head to head record against Andre Agassi?

Courier and Agassi faced one another on 12 occasions during their tennis careers between 1989 and 1996.

Courier won seven of those encounters, six of which were consecutively for the loss of just four sets.

One of those victories came in the 1991 French Open final, which Courier won 3-6 6-4 2-6 6-1 6-4 to claim his first Grand Slam title.

Agassi won their first two meetings in Philadelphia and Forest Hills in Australia, and also won their very last meeting at the Australian Open.

Agassi claimed a five-set victory in the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park, before losing to Michael Chang in the semi-finals.