Jim Courier at UCLA

Jim Courier defeated John McEnroe last night 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 which he had done twice before in his career.  But this was the first time main stream America was able to visit inside Courier’s head during the match.  Jim Courier sent updates to his ~900 Twitter followers at each change over.  This was a unique opportunity to understand the self-talk that occurs in a champion’s mind during a contest.  I have added below a sample of Courier’s Tweets:

This historic event illustrates Twitter’s unique role.  Twittering is similar to sending short text messages which anyone can read if they ‘follow’ you on Twitter.com.  Twitter is also similar to Facebook’s status updates, however Twitter offers users the ability to send out updates in a less personal way as their is no need to ‘friend’ each follower.

Highlights from Jim Courier’s Live Twitter During His Exhibition Matches on May 2nd, 2009:

Just landed in Rome. Literally. Rome, NY is the airfield we used to land for the exo. Quick trip. 45 mins from nyc.

6-7 get nervous/stretch/pace endlessly. 7pm go-time, 2 out of 3 sets vs Mac. Mixed dubs to follow w/Anna K-Tracy A (my partner).

20 min warm up was good. Right on schedule. 1 hour til go-time. Court’s good. Medium fast. Lights are dim so a little tough picking the ball

Sharing locker room w/Mac. Will start intimidating him in 30 mins

Gotta regrip a few sticks now/snack on some fruit/turkey. Get some water down. Usual tedium pre-match

Kentucky Derby on in locker room…no interest-gotta focus on match.

Super trainer Gary Kitchell just stretched me out. Loose and ready to roll. A/b 20 til walk out. Extra shoes-grips-wristbands-strings-sticks

All in the bag and set to go. Heart rate-100 and starting to climb. Normal resting rate is 48

Mets are on the tube now in the locker room. Mac is getting pissed. This is good. Every little bit counts.

Good crowd…here we go

Mac 2-1 on serve. Ball’s moving fast w/ppl in bldg. Feel good so far.

Got the break 3-2. Mac df on bp. I need to stay down and go after fh more. Covering it too much. Stay slow on 1st serve. Rushing a bit

Starting to flow a bit. 4-3. Fh better those 2 games. Mac using change up serve-got to lay back a bit to counter it

6-3 JC. Mini McFreak. Broke a stick. Some shaky calls out here. I start serve 2nd set. Feeling better now. Got to keep driving the ball

Gotta keep him off the net. IO fh is working and slice bh too

2-1 jc on serve. Keep aggressive on his serve works well. Almost broke 2nd game. He’s edgy

3-2. Tight service game. Was down bp. Served out of it. Rushed that game 2 dbl flts. Relax!!!

Gagged a fh sitter to lose serve 4-3 mac. Gotta refocus. Loose game there

Gotta break. Stay down and rip returns. No cute shots

4-6. 10 pt breaker for 3d now.

10-4 in the breaker my way…served huge and ripped some passing shots. Felt good to finish big.

I hit a rick-donk-u-lous slice angle pass to go up 2 minibreaks off of a sick mac approach. Yee haw

Now the mixed

Some sick pts…2-1 we’re up on serve. AK great hands. Tracy’s pissed at a bad call

3-2 on serve. Tracy dominating the net but AK ripping too. Guys r wallflowers so far

Almost killed AK w/an oh. Nearly took her midsection out…she’s ok and we’re up 4-1

Tracy just gagged and cost me my serve!

6-4 other way. I gagged it. Had 2 bp’s on my stick. Oops

5-2. In control of set 2. I have the worst hands on court but…we’re ahead now

They just reeled off winner after winner. 10-3 for them in the breaker…whew. I’m tired

Ok…that was a lot of posting. Hopefully it made some sense at times. It was a fun nite of tennis w/a good crowd-vibe. Worse ways to spend

View all of Jim Courier’s Twitter Updates Here:  http://twitter.com/jimcourier

Pete did dump a backhand into the net, but pulled out the first game thanks to a chair overrule on a double fault called by the service line judge.

As predicted, there were no smiles in the first two games of this match. Roger seemed to know Pete came out to win this one.

It looked like Sampras was headed to 6-5 when Federer rolled a forehand passing shot and Sampras netted another backhand volley to bring an exciting ‘5 all’ deuce which Sampras won with a convincing forehand volley and striking serve to the ad corner.

Pete appeared much more comfortable chipping his returns and, at 30-love, Roger smiled and asked if it was raining as there were drips from the roof, but Pete explained he just was sweating.

At one point Federer ran down a wide forehand and passed Pete down the line as Pete exclaimed “Hey! that is my shot..” “Not anymore” claimed the announcer.

Sampras took the first point of the tie-break with a 216 km/h serve. At 6-6, (1-1) Federer played the same running forehand down the line to lead 2-1 and a Sampras forehand bouncing back off the tape gave Roger the first mini-break.

Pete took the break back by charging the net with a cross court approach to Federer’s backhand.

6-6 (6-6) Brought the clutch point from Federer. A lunging return dropping on Sampras forced a volley to the Federer forehand which Roger drove home passing the disappointed Sampras.

The smiles came back in the second set. Perhaps Pete was fully satisfied with his performance.

Sampras continued to have success charging the net with a service return to Fed’s backhand.

At risk of being broken at 1-1 love-30, Fed painted a couple lines in successive serves and then enjoyed a favorable call when Pete’s approach to the backhand sat up a split second too long allowing RF to roll a backhand crosscourt winner.

3-3, 30 all, provided a pivotal point for Roger using a backhand wrist flick to pass Sampras and avoid facing a break point.

Point of Class: Pistol Pete’s first serve at 4-5 is called out by line judge and chair umpire, but Fed concedes and asks the ump to call 15-love.

At 15-15 after a Raffa imitation, Fed drives a passing return down the line.

Sampras recovers to even it at 5-5 using a 217 kph serve.

6-6 again after Pete asks an encouraging fan if he wants to come down and play.

Best point of the match came at 4-6 as Pete sent a winning volley down the line while at a full stretch.

Federer finished it off on his serve. 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5)

Watching this match brings great appreciation for Roger and how he has helped the game of tennis. Roger has nothing to win here. If he loses, it will hurt his quest to be called the best player ever. If he wins, many will say ‘of course’ and Sampras fans may even find something to criticize about Federer in their frustration. But he played anyway, he played hard to ensure he won, he brought tennis into the hearts of many who may have lost touch with tennis over the last 5 years.

David Wray