DALLAS, October 26 – Jim Courier won his sixth career Outback Champions Series event – and his third title in 2008 – with a dramatic 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 (Champions Tie-Breaker) victory over Thomas Enqvist of Sweden Sunday in the final of the $150,000 Stanford Championships at the Turpin Tennis Center on the campus of Southern Methodist University. Courier won the last four points of the decisive Champions tie-breaker, played in lieu of a third set, and won the match when Enqvist missed a sitter overhead on match point. Courier called the missed overhead, “one of the nuttiest match points I’ve ever been a part of.”
With Courier holding match point leading 9-8 in the Champions tie-breaker, the two players engaged in a cross-court backhand exchange from the baseline before Enqvist blasted a deep backhand down-the-line approach shot that Courier was able to retrieve with a desperation lob. Enqvist, standing right on top of the net, elected not to let the ball bounce and shanked the overhead straight down off the frame of his racquet.
“You could never forecast that he was going to miss that shot,” said Courier of the missed overhead. “If he lets it bounce, he could hit it with the butt cap and make it and I wouldn’t be there. That was as improbable as it gets, but that’s why we play sports. The whacky happens. You just have to be paying attention.”
Enqvist did not blame the sun for the missed shot, just being too relaxed and letting his mind wander before finishing the point.
“I think I was just too casual,” he said. “It’s what you tell an amateur when you play the pro-ams with them, that sometimes they do those mistakes. They take their eye off the ball. I think I did that. It was a changeover (on the next point), and I think I was on my way to the other side (of the net) before I finished the shot. It was a bad time, obviously, to make that kind of mistake.”
Courier won a first-prize paycheck of $54,000 for winning the singles final and all three of his round-robin singles matches during the week. Enqvist earned $32,000 for his runner-up showing and for also winning all three of his round-robin singles matches.
Enqvist was the more aggressive player at the start of the match, dictating play from the baseline and working on Courier’s weaker back-hand wing. He broke Courier’s serve in the eighth game of the first set and served out the 6-3 set victory the next game. In the second set, Courier played with more urgency and aggression and registered one service break to take the second set 6-4 and force the decisive Champions tie-breaker, the 10-point tie-breaker played in lieu of a third set. Courier trailed 8-6 in the decisive tie-breaker, but rallied to win the final four points of the match, executing a backhand passing shot at 8-8 and benefitting from Enqvist’s missed overhead at 9-8 to win the match.
“I was hanging on by my fingernails at 8-6 (in the tiebreak),” said Courier. “I was just hoping for a little bit of luck and sometimes that’s what it takes.”
Courier attributed a change of strategy to a more defensive game plan to counter-attack the hard-hitting of Enqvist to getting him into the match after losing the first set.
“I really had to make a pretty major adjustment on my return serve against him, because he was really bringing the heat much bigger than I’d seen this week,” said Courier. “It was quicker today because it was warm, so I really had to revert back to just blocking everything back and just defending, which is not my nature. I like to play offense, but the nature of tennis is that if you’re ‘A-game’ isn’t working, you have to find another way. And that’s what I did today. I hung in there.I was a little tired coming into today. It’s been a busy week. I felt like I needed to try to find some energy for the finish, which I did. I served pretty well in the tiebreak, and just hung in. And that’s the thing about this sport, you just have to be better than the other guy. I was – just by my finger nails like (Olympic swimmer Michael) Phelps winning by a hundredth of a second. That was kind of the difference out there today, like winning by a hundredth of a second.”
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Said Enqvist of Courier, “He’s probably one of the toughest competitors we have in the game. It’s not the first time he pulled off this kind of victory. He always, always stays in the game, tries to find a way to win it. That’s one of his biggest strengths.”
The victory also earned Courier 800 ranking points to extend his lead in the Stanford Champions Rankings that determine the year-end champion on the Outback Champions Series circuit, the global tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30. For the first time in 2008, the year-end No. 1 on the Stanford Champions Rankings earns a $100,000 bonus. Courier now leads in the rankings with 3800 points, followed by John McEnroe and Wayne Ferreira with 1800 points and Aaron Krickstein with 1650 points. Enqvist earned 600 points to move into the No. 6 ranking position.
Enqvist, 34, was competing in his first Outback Champions Series final in only his second career event on the global champions’ tennis circuit. The 1999 Australian Open finalist and former world No. 4 was, coincidentally, the last player Courier played on the ATP circuit, handing the two-time French and Australian Open a second-round defeat at the 2000 Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Fla. – Courier’s final ATP singles match. The championship match in Dallas was the first Outback Champions Series meeting between the two players. Courier won six of eight meetings on the ATP tour.
Courier, 38, was appearing in his ninth career Outback Champions Series final and his fourth final for the 2008 season. Courier won events earlier this year in Grand Cayman in April and Charlotte in September while he lost to Pat Cash in the final in Newport in August.
In Sunday’s third place match, Krickstein defeated Ferreira 6-2, 6-4.
Founded in 2005, the Outback Champions Series features some of the biggest names in tennis over the last 25 years, including Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Courier and many others. To be eligible to compete on the Outback Champions Series, players must have reached at least a major singles final, been ranked in the top five in the world or played singles on a championship Davis Cup team. Each event also has the right to choose a “wild card” entrant.
The Outback Champions Series features eight events on its 2008 schedule, with each event featuring an eight-man round-robin match format. The winner of each four-player division meets in the title match while second place finishers in each division play in the third-place match. Each event features $150,000 in prize money with an undefeated winner taking home $54,000 as well as Champions Series ranking points that will determine the year-end Stanford Champions Rankings No. 1. Beginning in 2008, the year-end champion will receive a $100,000 bonus courtesy of Stanford Financial Group, the official rankings sponsor of the Outback Champions Series.
The 2008 Outback Champions Series kicked off March 12-16 in Naples, Fla., at The Oliver Group Champions Cup where Martin defeated McEnroe in the final. Courier won the second event of the season at The Residences at The Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman Legends Championships April 16-20, defeating Ferreira in the final, while McEnroe won his first career Outback Champions Series even in Boston April 30- May 4, defeating Krickstein in the final. Pat Cash won his first Outback Champions Series title in Newport, R.I., in August, defeating Courier in the final, while Courier won his second event of the season in September in Charlotte, defeating Martin in the final. The next two events on the 2008 Outback Champions Series calendar are Surprise, Ariz., and Dubai, U.A.E. More information can be obtained by visiting www.ChampionsSeriesTennis.com.
InsideOut Sports & Entertainment is a New York City-based independent producer of proprietary events and promotions founded in 2004 by former world No. 1 and Hall of Fame tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Clear Channel executive Jon Venison. In 2005, InsideOut launched its signature property, the Outback Champions Series, a collection of tennis events featuring the greatest names in tennis over the age of 30. In addition, InsideOut produces many other successful events including one-night “Legendary Night” exhibitions as well as charity events and tennis fantasy camps, including the annual Ultimate Fantasy Camp. For more information, please log on to www.InsideOutSE.com or www.ChampionsSeriesTennis.com
Results for the week at the Stanford Championships
Round-Robin Results from Wednesday, October 22
Aaron Krickstein, United States, def. Todd Martin, United States, 7-6 (4), 6-4
Jim Courier, United States, def. Karel Novacek, Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-1
Round-Robin Results from Thursday, October 23
Thomas Enqvist, Sweden, def. Jimmy Arias, United States, 6-3, 6-2
Wayne Ferreira, South Africa, def. Justin Gimelstob, United States, 6-2, 7-6 (4)
Round-Robin Results From Friday, October 24
Wayne Ferreira, South Africa, def. Karel Novacek, Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-2
Todd Martin, United States, def. Jimmy Arias, United States, 6-4, 6-2
Thomas Enqvist, Sweden, def. Aaron Krickstein, United States, 6-1, 6-1
Jim Courier, United States, def. Justin Gimelstob, United States, 6-2, 4-6, 11-9 (Champions Tie-Breaker)
Round-Robin Results From Saturday, October 25
Jim Courier, United States, def. Wayne Ferreira, South Africa, 6-4, 6-3
Thomas Enqvist, Sweden, def. Todd Martin, United States, 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 (Champions Tie-Breaker)
Aaron Krickstein, United States, def. Jimmy Arias, United States, 6-3, 6-4
Karel Novacek, Czech Republic, def. Justin Gimelstob, United States (walkover, back injury)
Results From Sunday, October 26
Third-Place Play-off
Aaron Krickstein, United States, def. Wayne Ferreira, South Africa, 6-2, 6-4.
Championship Match
Jim Courier, United States, def. Thomas Enqvist, Sweden, 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 (Champions Tie-breaker)
Round-Robin Group Standings
Group A
Jim Courier 3-0
Wayne Ferreira 2-1
Karel Novacek 1-2
Justin Gimelstob 0-2
Group B
Thomas Enqvist 3-0
Aaron Krickstein 2-1
Todd Martin 1-2
Jimmy Arias 0-3
