Curren played college tennis for the
University of Texas at Austin in the
United States and won the
NCAA singles title in
1979. He turned professional later that year, and won his first top-level singles title in
1981 in
Johannesburg.
In
1983, Curren reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at
Wimbledon, losing to unseeded
New Zealander Chris Lewis in a dramatic five-set match 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 8-6, that was noteworthy for allowing Lewis to become only the seventh unseeded player to ever reach the Wimbledon final.
In
1984, Curren powered his way through the draw and played
Mats Wilander in the final of the
Australian Open, after making a comeback from two sets down to defeat
Ben Testerman in the semi-finals. Wilander won the match, played on the grass courts at
Kooyong, in four sets 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-2.
In
1985, Curren reached the final at Wimbledon. En route to the final, he comprehensively defeated future champion
Stefan Edberg in the fourth round 7-6, 6-3, 7-6; the then-World No. 1
John McEnroe in the quarter-finals 6-2, 6-2, 6-4; and World No. 3
Jimmy Connors in the semi-finals 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. He became the only player ever to defeat both McEnroe and Connors in the same
Grand Slam tennis tournament. In the final he lost in four sets to
Boris Becker 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 in a match best remembered for making the 17 year-old Becker the youngest-ever male Grand Slam champion (a record which would later be eclipsed by
Michael Chang in
1989 at the
French Open). The final was very heated and intense, and Becker sent several hostile glares to Curren before and after points. On one of the final change-overs, Becker even bumped Curren's shoulder as they passed one another. After his defeat, Curren was noted as saying that he thought the game would see an increase in the number of successful young players, and predicted they would have more intense, but shorter, careers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/7/newsid_4493000/4493643.stm
In another notable match, Curren would also reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in
1990, falling to a then-relatively unknown qualifier,
Goran Ivanišević, in five sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.
Though he never won a Grand Slam singles title, Curren did win four Grand Slam doubles titles. In
1981 he won the
US Open mixed doubles, and in
1982 he won the Wimbledon mixed doubles, and both men's doubles and mixed doubles at the US Open.
During his career, Curren won 5 top-level singles titles and 26 doubles titles. His career-high rankings were
World No. 5 in singles and World No. 3 in doubles. His career prize-money earnings totalled US$3,055,510. His final career singles title came in
1989 at
Frankfurt, and his last doubles title was won in
1992 in
Seoul. Curren retired from the professional tour in
1993.
Since retiring from the tour, Curren has served as Captain of
South Africa's Davis Cup team.
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