Jennifer Capriati
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| Country |  United States |
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|---|---|---|
| Residence | Wesley Chapel, Florida, U.S. | |
| Date of birth | March 29, 1976 | |
| Place of birth | New York City | |
| Height | 5' 7" (1.70 m) | |
| Weight | 160 lb (73 kg) | |
| Turned pro | March 5, 1990 | |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) | |
| Career prize money | US$10,206,639 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record | 430–176 | |
| Career titles | 14 | |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (October 15, 2001) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | W (2001, 2002) | |
| French Open | W (2001) | |
| Wimbledon | SF (1991, 2001) | |
| US Open | SF (1991, 2001, 2003, 2004) | |
| Major tournaments | ||
| Olympic Games |  Gold medal (1992) |
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| Doubles | ||
| Career record | 66–50 | |
| Career titles | 1 | |
| Highest ranking | No. 28 (March 2, 1992) | |
| Last updated on: February 5, 2007. | ||
| Olympic medal record | ||
| Women's Tennis | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitor for United States |
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| Gold | 1992 Barcelona | Singles |
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.
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[edit] Introduction to tennis
While still a toddler, Capriati was taught to play tennis by her father, Stefano, an Italian-American boxer turned tennis coach, who has continued to coach her in her later professional career.
In 1986, when Capriati's talent for tennis became apparent, her family moved to Florida. At the age of 10, Jennifer enrolled in an intense training program run by Jimmy Evert (whose daughter Chris Evert also became a world-class tennis player).
[edit] 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,[1] playing against Clare Wood, and the first player for four years to win a Wightman Cup match 6–0, 6–0.[2]
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 6–4, 7–5 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) 3–6, 6–3, 6–4.
[edit] Personal challenges
Amid mounting pressures to live up to others' expectations of her and after a first round loss to Leila Meskhi at the 1993 US Open, Capriati took a break from competitive tennis in late 1993. She soon encountered personal and legal troubles. She was involved in a shoplifting (a ring 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. She lost her first round match to Anke Huber and then 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.[3] [4]
[edit] A comeback career
Capriati returned to the tour in February 1996 and began a steady rise that culminated in the World No. 1 ranking, but not before several false starts. Capriati endured almost five years of not winning a singles match at a Grand Slam tournament, from the 1993 US Open through the 1998 French Open. It was not until May 1999 that she finally won her first tournament in six years, in Strasbourg.
Nearly 11 years after she had started playing on the tour, Capriati in 2001 finally broke through at a Grand Slam tournament. Seeded twelfth, she captured the Australian Open title, defeating World No. 4 Monica Seles in the quarterfinals, World No. 2 Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals, and World No. 1 Martina Hingis in the final in straight sets. Five months later, Capriati captured the French Open title, beating Kim Clijsters in the final. She was a semifinalist at both Wimbledon and the US Open that year, 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 singles title in 2002, when she successfully defended her Australian Open crown. In the final against Hingis, Capriati was down 6–4, 4–0 but battled back to win 4–6, 7–6, 6–2. She saved four championship points during the match, which is the record for most match points saved during a Grand Slam tournament final by the player who ultimately won the match.[5]
In 2003, Capriati reached the US Open semifinals, losing to Belgium's Justine Henin 4–6, 7–5, 7–6(4). During the match, Capriati was two points from victory eleven times. She also lost in the semifinals of the 2004 US Open to Elena Dementieva 6–0, 2–6, 7–6(5).
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 age 30 after undergoing arthroscopic surgery in 2005 and playing her last match in Philadelphia in late 2004.[6] 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 her tennis future remains unclear.[7]
[edit] Accolades
In 2002, she received an ESPY for Comeback Player of the Year. That year's nominees included Mario Lemieux and Michael Jordan. She was also the 2002 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year, in recognition of her success at Wimbledon in 2001 and the successful defence of her Australian Open title in 2002. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put her in 36th place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.
[edit] Post-tennis endeavors
In April 2009, it was announced that Capriati would appear on the ABC television reality series "The Superstars". The show, described as a revival of the 1970's series of the same name, premiered on June 23, 2009, in a co-ed format, with Capriati paired with singer and actor David Charvet, best known for his role as a lifeguard on the television show Baywatch. In the first episode of the show, they were one of the lower-performing teams and were sent into a run-off in an obstacle course race against basketball player Lisa Leslie and actor Dan Cortese. Capriati/Charvet won their race and avoided elimination. [8] At the start of the next episode, however, which aired on June 30, 2009, it was suddenly announced that Capriati had re-aggravated a previous injury during the first episode's events, and that as a result she and her partner were eliminated from the competition.
[edit] Grand Slam singles finals
[edit] Wins (3)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 2001 | Australian Open |  Martina Hingis |
6–4, 6–3 |
| 2001 | French Open |  Kim Clijsters |
1–6, 6–4, 12–10 |
| 2002 | Australian Open (2nd) | Martina Hingis |
4–6, 7–6, 6–2 |
[edit] Titles (15)
[edit] Singles (14)
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| 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 |
5–7, 6–4, 6–2 |
| 2. | July 29, 1991 | Mazda Tennis Classic (1) | San Diego, California, U.S. | Hard |  Monica Seles |
4–6, 6–1, 7–6(2) |
| 3. | August 5, 1991 | Canadian Open | Toronto | Hard |  Katerina Maleeva |
6–2, 6–3 |
| 4. | July 27, 1992 | Olympic Games | Barcelona, Spain | Clay |  Steffi Graf |
3–6, 6–3, 6–4 |
| 5. | August 24, 1992 | Mazda Classic (2) | San Diego, California, U.S. | Hard |  Conchita Martínez |
6–3, 6–2 |
| 6. | January 11, 1993 | Peters New South Wales Open Tournament of Champions | Sydney, Australia | Hard | Anke Huber |
6–1, 6–4 |
| 7. | May 17, 1999 | Internationaux de Strasbourg | Strasbourg, France | Clay |  Elena Likhovtseva |
6–1, 6–3 |
| 8. | November 1, 1999 | Bell Challenge | Quebec City, Canada | Hard | Chanda Rubin |
4–6, 6–1, 6–2 |
| 9. | September 25, 2000 | SEAT Open | Luxembourg City, Luxembourg | Carpet | Magdalena Maleeva |
4–6, 6–1, 6–4 |
| 10. | January 15, 2001 | Australian Open (1) | Melbourne | Hard | Martina Hingis |
6–4, 6–3 |
| 11. | April 16, 2001 | Family Circle Cup | Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. | Clay | Martina Hingis |
6–0, 4–6, 6–4 |
| 12. | May 28, 2001 | French Open | Paris | Clay | Kim Clijsters |
1–6, 6–4, 12–10 |
| 13. | January 14, 2002 | Australian Open (2) | Melbourne | Hard | Martina Hingis |
4–6, 7–6(7), 6–2 |
| 14. | August 18, 2003 | Pilot Pen Tennis | New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. | Hard | Lindsay Davenport |
6–2, 4–0 retired |
[edit] 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 |
7–5, 6–2 |
[edit] 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
[edit] References
- ^ "International Team: Wightman Cup". Tennis Lovers. http://www.tennislovers.com/Content/guiness_noframes.htm. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
- ^ Carter, Bob (2005-04-22). "Teenage sensation became destiny's child". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/classic/bio/news/story?page=Capriati_Jennifer_0808. Retrieved on 2008-05-26.
- ^ "The Rise and Fall and Rise of Jennifer Capriati", Chicago Sun-Times, January 26, 2001, by Greg Couch. Retrieved May 29, 2007 from Findarticles.com.
- ^ "At 14, Jennifer Capriati was a millionaire tennis sensation. At 16...", The Independent (London), June 22, 2001 by Brian Viner]. Retrieved May 29, 2007 from Findarticles.com.
- ^ Tennis: Capriati's record recovery
- ^ "Capriati dreams of comeback two years on". Telugal Portal. January 17, 2007. http://www.teluguportal.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=28609. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
- ^ Jennifer Capriati tries to beat her demons
- ^ "Capriati to compete on reality show". EW.com (Entertainment Weekly). http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/04/abcs-superstars.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-27.
[edit] External links
- Jennifer Capriati profile on the WTA Tour's official website
- Jennifer Capriati at the Fed Cup
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