Jim Courier

It's not the Lakers, but there will be legends playing at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Staples Center. Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and John McEnroe, who collectively won 31 major tennis titles, will play one another in the HSBC Tennis Cup presented by Cancer Treatment Centers of America. It's part of the Champions Series that will conclude at the end of the year with the top three players splitting a $1-million bonus. This stop is No. 8 on a 12-city tour that also features Jimmy Connors, Mats Wilander, Bjorn Borg, Michael Chang, Todd Martin and Ivan Lendl.

Lois Goodman, 70, who has served as a line judge for several years at tennis' U.S. Open, was arrested in New York on Tuesday in connection with the alleged April 17 beating death of her husband at their Woodland Hills home. Goodman was in New York preparing for this year's U.S. Open, which begins there next week. She initially told police that her husband, Alan Goodman, 80, had fallen down the steps, had a heart attack and managed to get back upstairs to his bed, but prosecutors said Tuesday that they believe otherwise.

TODAY'S FINAL L.A. Tennis Center, UCLA, 4 p.m. Fox Sports West Thomas Enqvist (2) vs. Jim Courier (6) SEMIFINAL RESULTS * Enqvist beat Guillaume Raoux, 6-4, 6-1. * Courier beat Goran Ivanisevic (1) 6-3, 6-4.

It's not the Lakers, but there will be legends playing at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Staples Center. Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and John McEnroe, who collectively won 31 major tennis titles, will play one another in the HSBC Tennis Cup presented by Cancer Treatment Centers of America. It's part of the Champions Series that will conclude at the end of the year with the top three players splitting a $1-million bonus. This stop is No. 8 on a 12-city tour that also features Jimmy Connors, Mats Wilander, Bjorn Borg, Michael Chang, Todd Martin and Ivan Lendl.

Playing his first tournament since the U.S. Open, Jim Courier defeated fellow American Derrick Rostagno, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) in the Stockholm Open. Pete Sampras won his second-round match over Todd Woodbridge of Australia, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).

'He doesn't want to change anything, but if you're playing as well as he is, you don't want to change your socks, your underwear, your girlfriend, your agent, anything.' Jim Courier, tennis commentator, on the world's No. 1 player, Roger Federer, not wanting the ATP to use instant replay

Andre Agassi, who defeated Goran Ivanisevic on Sunday for the Wimbledon men's singles championship, went from 14th to ninth in the world rankings released by the ATP. Ivanisevic moved from eighth to fourth. Top-ranked Jim Courier, No. 2 Stefan Edberg and No. 3 Pete Sampras held their spots.

'I love my kids. But if you ask me if I'd rather play Jim or change some diapers, I'll play Jim.' Pete Sampras, on friend Jim Courier. Sampras took part in the Champions Cup last week in Boston.

Victories don't come easily these days for Jim Courier, who needed three sets and four match points Friday to beat 18-year-old qualifier David Nalbandian in the first round at the Ericsson Open. With a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory at Key Biscayne, Fla., Courier won his opening match for only the second time in five tournaments this year. In a match suspended because of rain late Thursday, Anastasia Myskina of Russia handed Alexandra Stevenson her fifth loss in a row, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Jim Courier, Greg Rusedski of Great Britain and Scott Draper of Australia withdrew from next week's Mercedes-Benz Cup at UCLA's Los Angeles Tennis Center. The tournament still includes a strong field of six-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Tim Henman of Great Britain and Marcelo Rios of Chile. Agassi is the defending champion. The 10th-ranked Rusedski, a finalist at the 1997 U.S. Open, has been hampered by a sore left big toe since the French Open.

Jim Courier used to play these type of important matches all of the time. Courier, the former world No. 1 who has slipped to No. 54, moved the United States into the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup with a 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 6-3, 1-6, 8-6 victory against Britain's Greg Rusedski. The United States, which won the first two matches in the best-of-5, survived a rally by Britain to set up a quarterfinal match against Australia at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston in July.

The United States and Great Britain were down to one set for the bundle because Greg Rusedski had run away with the fourth set in seven games. Now, everybody in the crowd of 9,000 at the National Indoor Arena was screaming or blowing horns, and Jim Courier was smiling. He was where he wanted to be, "the crowd into it, pulling for you to win or lose, the match on the line in the fifth set." He lifted his sweaty shirt, tapped his chest and roared: "Nobody's got a bigger heart than me!"

Jeff Tarango thought he would use this week's Battle of the Beaches tournament at the Palisades Tennis Club as a tuneup for his first Davis Cup appearance. But Tarango said his plans changed last week when Davis Cup captain Tom Gullikson told him he was being replaced on the team by Jim Courier. "I thought I was deserving," Tarango said. "I thought it was perfect timing for me with Pete [Sampras] and Andre [Agassi] not playing.

The X-factor slowed the U.S. Davis Cup team Saturday, but the Americans rolled into the semifinals by clinching a victory over Belgium just the same. The first twist came when Jim Courier was pressed into doubles duty for the first time in his Davis Cup career, because Richey Reneberg needs knee surgery. The second? It turns out Belgium's Xavier Malisse--who was making his Davis Cup debut the day before his 18th birthday--is a terrific young player.