[Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]

Tennis greats are never born, only made. While modern greats Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have set new records in terms of Grand Slam victories, other legends came before them. We have already featured Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors in this series, three men who redefined the sporting focus tennis enjoyed.

Between those greats retiring and the current ‘Holy Trinity’ taking over the mantle as greats who would sweep all before them, however, there was a fantastic yet often overlooked period of tennis, dominated by three Americans – Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier. Between then, the trio won an incredible 18 Grand Slam titles. We’ve already written on the power and majesty of ‘Pistol’ Pete Sampras as well as the unpredictable love story that Andre Agassi’s career became. It’s time to cover the world number one who flew under the radar but won four Grand Slam titles – Jim Courier.

In an era often dominated by big personalities such as the prodigious Boris Becker, the almost robotically efficient Pete Sampras and the wild-haired ebullience of Andre Agassi, Jim Courier’s simple yet effective tennis career might look like a footnote. Only a professional player for 12 years between 1988 and the year 2000, Courier would win neither Wimbledon or the U.S. Open final.