Master's Voice

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Court jester: Courier plays up courtside with American Andy Roddick at last year's championships

Kristian Dowling / Getty Images

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A Less Forgiving Game
The standard of tennis has jumped in the eight years since he left the Tour, says Courier, who, compared with the current crop, was closest in style to Andy Roddick. Like the current world No. 6, Courier preferred to run around his serviceable backhand to crank blistering forehands with an extreme grip; his serve lacked the heat of Roddick's but he was a little fitter and better at finding a way to the net. It was an approach that won him 23 titles, including four majors, in a 12-year career that saw him atop the rankings for 58 weeks. But he's not sure how far it would take him today. "There's so much more balance there now," he says. "Players have fewer holes. It's very rare to see a player who can't penetrate off of both wings, which makes it dangerous to favor one side or the other like I did."

Courier is never "a better listen," as he would say, than when analyzing matches featuring Roger Federer, winner of the last two Opens and 12 majors overall, two behind Sampras' record. There's no longer any question that Federer will be recorded as the best player of his time; many are already prepared to call him the best ever. Courier is holding off from bestowing that second tag. Though he's confident Federer will pass Sampras' majors mark, there are other points to consider, he argues, like time spent at No. 1 (at 206 weeks, the Swiss is still well short of Sampras' record of 286 weeks), and whether he can win the French Open and thereby join an exclusive group of male players, currently numbering five, who've won all four majors during their career. "[Rod] Laver, with two grand slams [winning all four major titles in the same year], is still the mark as far as I'm concerned," he says.

If Courier were still at his peak, what strategy would he take into a match against Federer? "I would try to frustrate him and hit every single ball to his backhand, never let him see a forehand and almost bore him, because he's such an artistic player and he loves to create angles and spectacular shots along the way," he says. "I'd try to bludgeon the artistry out of him, because frankly he's a much better player than I ever have been. I have no problem admitting that." In the women's draw, Courier predicts world No. 1 Justine Henin to stop the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, from adding to the family's honor roll of major titles, and crowd favourite Maria Sharapova from claiming her first major since 2006. And it's just possible, of course, that Federer won't win in Melbourne, that someone from the lower tier — Rafael Nadal or the Serb Novak Djokovic, perhaps — might upset him. But to knock out the defending champion is going to take something special — something, in Courier parlance, ridiculous.