Two-Time French Open Champion Courier Retires

Jim Courier, who won four Grand Slam tournament titles in the 1990s, is retiring after a 13-year pro tennis career, USA Today reported Monday night.

Courier, 29, was ranked No. 1 in the world for 58 weeks during the ‘90s and was one of six men in the Open era to reach the finals of all four Grand Slams.

“I wouldn’t trade anything for one more title, one more match won or lost,” Courier, who will be an analyst for TNT at Wimbledon this summer, told the newspaper. “I feel full.”

Courier, of Dade City, Fla., lost to Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist in the second round of the Ericsson Open, his last tournament, March 25. His last title came in April 1998, when he beat Michael Chang in Orlando, Fla.

Courier, known for his baseball caps and powerful forehand, won the French Open twice (1991 and ‘92) and the Australian Open twice (1992 and ‘93). His five five-set Davis Cup victories is an American record, and the U.S. was 13-1 when he played, including titles in ’92 and ’95.

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Andre Agassi returned to European clay for the first time since his dramatic French Open victory last year, defeating Todd Martin, 6-2, 7-6 (4), in the first round of the Italian Open at Rome.

Meanwhile, two-time Wimbledon finalist Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia made a quick exit, losing to Francisco Clavet of Spain, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

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Alexandra Stevenson, a 1999 Wimbledon semifinalist, beat Tatiana Panova of Russia, 6-2, 7-6 (2), in the first round of the German Open at Berlin.

Jurisprudence

Cardiologist Gilbert Mudge was cleared of malpractice in the case of Boston Celtic player Reggie Lewis, who died while shooting baskets in 1993, two months after the doctor said Lewis had a “normal athlete’s heart.”

A jury in Boston rejected a lawsuit brought by Lewis’ family against Mudge, who had suggested that cocaine use by Lewis hindered his ability to diagnose the 27-year-old player’s condition.

Nebraska linebacker Mark Vedral posted bond and was released from jail in Lincoln, Neb., as authorities considered whether to file sexual assault charges against him.

Vedral was released after posting $10,000 bond.

Lawyers in San Antonio posted a $30,000 appeal bond to secure the release of Tony Limon, a teenager sentenced to prison for delivering a forearm to the head of another player during a high school basketball game.

Defense attorneys are asking the 4th Court of Appeals to grant Limon a new trial. The appellate process could take six months or longer.

Miscellany

Gymnast Bart Conner revealed that he won two gold medals at the 1984 Olympics only months after having been diagnosed with arthritis.

The former U.S. Olympian will announce plans for a national education program about the disease at a news conference today in New York.

A Cuban college baseball player missing since the weekend surfaced in South Florida and declared that he wants to defect to the United States, his agent said.

Mario Miguel Chaoui will apply for asylum and wants to play professional baseball, said Joe Cubas, a sports agent who has helped other expatriate Cuban ballplayers.

ABC’s coverage of the Kentucky Derby drew a 6.6 overnight rating and 17 share, Nielsen Media Research said.

The rating, based on the country’s largest 48 markets, is the same as last year’s, which was the second-lowest for the network.

DeShawn Stevenson, a high school basketball star from Fresno, appears headed for Kansas after all. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard said he had reconsidered his decision to declare for the NBA draft after he learned his SAT score made him academically eligible for a Division I school, the Topeka Capital-Journal and Lawrence Journal-World reported. . . . The NCAA committees governing men’s and women’s basketball want current rules on rough play enforced and introduced changes to penalties for technical fouls during the annual meetings in Monterey.

The struggling Miami Fusion, last in Major League Soccer in wins and goals, fired coach Ivo Wortmann and hired television analyst Ray Hudson as interim coach. . . . Races at new 1 1/2-mile tracks in Joliet, Ill., and Kansas City, Kan., will expand the NASCAR Winston Cup schedule to 36 events in 2001. . . . Quarterback Scott Milanovich re-signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Henry Laskau, who slipped out of a Nazi labor camp, made his way to the United States and ended up in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame after dominating race walking for more than a decade, died Sunday in Florida. He was 83.

Callaway Golf Co. has filed a lawsuit in San Diego against the Royal Canadian Golf Association over the launch of a new driver that the association won’t allow at its events.

The suit claims the RCGA illegally interfered with the introduction of the ERC forged titanium driver by ruling that it was non-conforming.