Jim Courier was born in Sanford, Florida, on 17 August 1970 and grew up in Dade City, where he played Little League baseball before tennis became his clearest talent; the Dade City Little League grounds now have a Jim Courier Club House. As a junior he trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, where he roomed with Andre Agassi, and he won the Orange Bowl in 1986 and 1987. He turned professional at 18 and won his first ATP title in Basel in 1989, coming back from two sets down against Stefan Edberg. From 1990 to 1997 he was coached by José Higueras.
His breakthrough came at the 1991 French Open, where as the ninth seed he beat Agassi in a five-set final. He lost the US Open final to Edberg later that year, then won the 1992 Australian Open against Edberg and celebrated by jumping into the Yarra River. On 10 February 1992 he became world No. 1, he defended his Roland Garros title against Petr Korda and finished 1992 at the top. In 1993 he beat Edberg again in Melbourne, lost the French Open final to Sergi Bruguera in five sets and the Wimbledon final to Pete Sampras. At 22 he had reached the final of all four majors, which the International Tennis Hall of Fame describes as a record for the youngest player.
In all he won four majors, 23 singles titles and six doubles titles, spent 58 weeks at No. 1 and won all five of his Masters finals between 1991 and 1993. He was part of the United States teams that won the Davis Cup in 1992 and 1995.
Courier retired from the ATP Tour in 2000. He has led the Australian Open commentary for Australia's domestic broadcaster since 2005 and works as an analyst for Tennis Channel. He captained the US Davis Cup team until the 2018 semifinal; Wikipedia dates his appointment to October 2010, while the Hall of Fame lists his captaincy as 2011–2018. In 2004 he founded InsideOut Sport & Entertainment, which runs the Champions Series for former players. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.