|
|
|
|
Jennifer Capriati
|
| |
|
| |
Jennifer Marie Capriati (born March 29, 1976, in New York City) is a former World No. 1 women's tennis player from the United States. She has won three Grand Slam singles titles (2001 and 2002 Australian Open, 2001 French Open) and the women's singles gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games. Capriati has won 14 professional singles titles and one doubles title.
Introduction to tennis
While she was still a toddler, Jennifer was introduced to tennis by her father, Stefano Capriati, an Italian-American boxer turned tennis coach, who has continued to coach her in her later professional career.
In 1986, when Jennifer's aptitude for tennis was beginning to show, her family moved to Florida.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Jennifer Capriati' Start a new discussion about 'Jennifer Capriati' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Jennifer Marie Capriati (born March 29, 1976, in New York City) is a former World No. 1 women's tennis player from the United States. She has won three Grand Slam singles titles (2001 and 2002 Australian Open, 2001 French Open) and the women's singles gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games. Capriati has won 14 professional singles titles and one doubles title.
Introduction to tennis
While she was still a toddler, Jennifer was introduced to tennis by her father, Stefano Capriati, an Italian-American boxer turned tennis coach, who has continued to coach her in her later professional career.
In 1986, when Jennifer's aptitude for tennis was beginning to show, her family moved to Florida. At the age of ten, Jennifer enrolled in an intense training program run by Jimmy Evert (whose daughter Chris Evert also became a world class tennis player).
Early career
In 1989, Capriati became the youngest player to win the French Open junior singles title at the age of 13 years and 2 months. (The record stood until 1993, when Martina Hingis won the title as a 12-year-old.) She then won the junior singles title at the 1989 US Open and the junior doubles titles at both the US Open and Wimbledon, partnering with Meredith McGrath. On September 14, 1989, she became the youngest ever Wightman Cup player, playing against Clare Wood, and the first player for four years to win a Wightman Cup match 60, 60.
On March 5, 1990, three weeks before her 14th birthday, she became a professional tennis player. In her debut tournament at Boca Raton, Florida, she defeated four seeded players while becoming the youngest-ever player to reach a tour final, where she lost 64, 75 to Gabriela Sabatini. Despite the loss, she made her Sports Illustrated cover debut the following week. Three months later, she became the youngest-ever semifinalist at the French Open (aged 14 years and 2 months), where she lost to the eventual champion, Monica Seles. She then reached the fourth round at both Wimbledon and the US Open that year and won her first professional singles title in October at San Juan, Puerto Rico. She finished the year ranked eighth in the world.
In 1991, she reached the semifinals at both Wimbledon and the US Open. She was Wimbledon's youngest-ever semifinalist after defeating the then-defending champion Martina Navratilova in the quarterfinals, which was Navratilova's earliest Wimbledon exit in 14 years. Capriati won two singles titles that year and her only tour doubles title (in Rome, partnering with Seles).
The following year, she won the women's singles gold medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. In the final, she defeated Steffi Graf (who was the gold medalist four years earlier in Seoul) 36, 63, 64.
Personal challenges
Amid mounting pressures to live up to the expectations placed on her, and a first round loss to Leila Meskhi at the 1993 US Open, Capriati took a break from competitive tennis in late 1993. She soon ran into personal and legal troubles. She was involved in a shoplifting (a ring, that was worth $35) incident in December 1993, and in May 1994 was arrested for marijuana possession. In November 1994, Capriati attempted a return to the tour at a tournament in Philadelphia. The return lasted just one match, losing to Anke Huber in the first round. After that, she did not play on the tour for 15 months. Her arrests and associated mugshot made her "the poster child for burned-out sports prodigies," to quote the Chicago Sun-Times.
A comeback career
Capriati returned to the tour in February 1996 and began a steady rise that would culminate in the World No. 1 ranking, but not before several false starts. It was not until May 1999 that she finally won her first tournament in six years, at Strasbourg.
Nearly 11 years after she had started playing on the tour, Capriati finally made her Grand Slam breakthrough. From having gone as long as five years without winning a singles match at a Grand Slam, Capriati, the 12th seed, captured the 2001 Australian Open title, defeating then-World No. 1 player Martina Hingis 64, 63. Along the way, she defeated then-World No. 4 Monica Seles in the quarterfinals and then-World No. 2 Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals. Capriati followed up by capturing the French Open title five months later, beating Kim Clijsters 16, 64, 1210. She reached the semifinals of both Wimbledon and the US Open that year as well, amassing the best Grand Slam singles record for the year. In October 2001, Capriati claimed the World No. 1 ranking.
Capriati won her third Grand Slam title in 2002, when she successfully defended her Australian Open crown. In the final against Hingis, Capriati was down 64, 40 but battled back to win 46, 76, 62. She saved four championship points during the final, which is the record for most match points saved during a Grand Slam tournament final by the player who ultimately won the match.
In 2003, Capriati reached the US Open semifinals, losing a close match to Belgium's Justine Henin in a third set tiebreak 46, 75, 76(4). The match concluded well past midnight and left Henin needing medical attention due to dehydration and exhaustion. During the match, Capriati was just two points from victory eleven times.
Capriati has won 14 professional singles titles and 1 doubles title.
In January 2007, Capriati stated she had not given up hopes of a comeback at 30 after undergoing arthroscopic surgery in 2005 and playing her last match in Philadelphia in late 2004. In an interview with the New York Daily News in July 2007, Capriati admitted to suffering from depression and having suicidal thoughts. She said, "When I stopped playing, that's when all this came crumbling down. If I don't have [tennis], who am I? What am I? I was just alive because of this. I've had to ask, 'Well, who is Jennifer? What if this is gone now?' I can't live off of this the rest of my life." She underwent a third shoulder surgery in 2007, and whether she will ever return to the tennis tour is still unclear.
Accolades
In 2002, she received an ESPY for Comeback Player of the Year. That year's nominees included Mario Lemieux and Michael Jordan. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put her in 36th place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.
Grand Slam singles finals
Wins (3)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final | 2001 | Australian Open | Martina Hingis | 64, 63 | 2001 | French Open | Kim Clijsters | 16, 64, 1210 | 2002 | Australian Open (2nd) | | 46, 76, 62 |
Titles (15)
Singles (14)
| Legend | | Grand Slam (3) | | WTA Championships (0) | | Olympic Gold (1) | | Tier I (2) | | Tier II (4) | | Tier III (3) | | Tier IV & V (1) | | ITF Tour (0) |
| | Titles by Surface | | Hard (9) | | Clay (4) | | Grass (0) | | Carpet (1) |
|
| No. | Date | Tournament Name | Location | Surface | Opponent in Final | Score in Final | | 1. | October 22, 1990 | Puerto Rico Open | Dorado, Puerto Rico | Hard | Zina Garrison | 57, 64, 62 | | 2. | July 29, 1991 | Mazda Tennis Classic (1) | San Diego, California, U.S. | Hard | Monica Seles | 46, 61, 76(2) | | 3. | August 5, 1991 | Canadian Open | Toronto | Hard | Katerina Maleeva | 62, 63 | | 4. | July 27, 1992 | Olympic Games | Barcelona, Spain | Clay | Steffi Graf | 36, 63, 64 | | 5. | August 24, 1992 | Mazda Classic (2) | San Diego, California, U.S. | Hard | Conchita Martνnez | 63, 62 | | 6. | January 11, 1993 | Peters New South Wales Open Tournament of Champions | Sydney, Australia | Hard | Anke Huber | 61, 64 | | 7. | May 17, 1999 | Internationaux de Strasbourg | Strasbourg, France | Clay | Elena Likhovtseva | 61, 63 | | 8. | November 1, 1999 | Bell Challenge | Quebec City, Canada | Hard | Chanda Rubin | 46, 61, 62 | | 9. | September 25, 2000 | SEAT Open | Luxembourg City, Luxembourg | Carpet | Magdalena Maleeva | 46, 61, 64 | | 10. | January 15, 2001 | Australian Open (1) | Melbourne | Hard | Martina Hingis | 64, 63 | | 11. | April 16, 2001 | Family Circle Cup | Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. | Clay | | 60, 46, 64 | | 12. | May 28, 2001 | French Open | Paris | Clay | Kim Clijsters | 16, 64, 1210 | | 13. | January 14, 2002 | Australian Open (2) | Melbourne | Hard | | 46, 76(7), 62 | | 14. | August 18, 2003 | Pilot Pen Tennis | New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. | Hard | Lindsay Davenport | 62, 40 retired |
Doubles (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents in Final | Score in Final | | 1. | May 12, 1991 | Rome, Italy | Clay | Monica Seles | Nicole Bradtke
Elna Reinach | 75, 62 |
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | Career SR |
|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | QF | QF | A | A | A | 1R | A | 2R | SF | W | W | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | 2 / 8 | | French Open | SF | 4R | QF | QF | A | A | 1R | A | A | 4R | 1R | W | SF | 4R | SF | A | A | A | A | 1 / 11 | | Wimbledon | 4R | SF | QF | QF | A | A | A | A | 2R | 2R | 4R | SF | QF | QF | QF | A | A | A | A | 0 / 11 | | US Open | 4R | SF | 3R | 1R | A | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 4R | 4R | SF | QF | SF | SF | A | A | A | A | 0 / 13 | | Grand Slam SR | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 2 / 4 | 1 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 3 / 43 |
A = did not participate in the tournament
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played
External links
|
| |
|
|
