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WIMBLEDON, DAY 7, FOURTH ROUND
Capriati primed for a good fight
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc. |
FROM WIMBLEDON – If Jennifer Capriati is a dark horse, then Lleyton Hewitt is a white knight.
That's the contention of some Wimbledon analysts, that Capriati is sneaking up on the field, but how can you silently creep into the spotlight when your entire demeanor screams, "Let's fight right now."
The only reason to call someone a dark horse is because no one is paying attention to them, they have marginal ability or have little self-belief. None of those descriptions apply to Capriati, who if nothing else, has about as much pride as you will ever see in a athlete.
But pride and stubbornness are two qualities that often get intertwined and in Capriati's case, they are tightly held together in a sailor's knot.
After her fairly uninspiring win over Akiko Morigami in the third round, where her shoulder acted up, Capriati was asked whether she was willing to make peace with US Fed Cup captain Billie Jean King, who she has been at war with for more than a year.
The two got into a huge fight in April 2002 at a Fed Cup tie, which saw King kick Capriati off the team for allegedly violating team rules (having to do with her practicing with her father and coach, Stefano). The US ended up losing the tie, King and Capriati ended up trading conflicting accounts of what occurred and as to who was in the wrong.
Last month during another Fed Cup tie (which the Williams sisters -led US team won), King was asked whether she was willing to make peace with Capriati. As prideful as Capriati is but not quite as stubborn, King said that the only way that would have Capriati back on the team was if Jennifer called her and they sat down and had a face-to-face meeting to iron out their differences, because that's what champions do.
Jennifer doesn't appear to want to have any part that right now. She did make herself available for Fed Cup via an e-mail message and King acknowledged that she received the e-mail. But, both knew the only reason Jennifer did that was because it was mandatory if she wants a chance to compete in the '04 Olympics. Jennifer won the gold in Barcelona in 1992.
WILL CAPRIATI PLAY IN ITALY?
In a few weeks time, the U.S. will play Italy and Capriati would have been a much stronger choice in singles than either the injured Monica Seles or the slumping Meghann Shaughnessy. Capriati said she open for discussion with Billie Jean, but wouldn't "get into" whether she would be willing to make the call to King. It sure sounded like almost no water has run under the bridge and that the two former Grand Slam champs are still butting heads.
"I've gotten many e-mails to ask if I was interested in playing Fed Cup, and I haven't made any phone calls," Capriati said. "The time I made myself available, I wasn't needed; I wasn't called for that. There are many things to consider if I would make myself available, the timing and all that. Maybe it wouldn't be wise for me to play that Fed Cup. The schedule is tough enough. … If I want to play, I want to play. It has nothing to do with Billie Jean."
It certainly does have a lot to do with the team captain, because King's the one who picks the squad, but no one's going to tell Capriati what to do or how to play. That's what makes her such a fierce competitor and also makes her a mediocre student of the game.
2003 SLUMP
Siggi Bucher |
Let's take the last year and seven months, where she hasn't won a title and lost countless three-setters to the other elite players. As great a runner and an offensive baseliner that Capriati can be, she's not stepping it up a level at crunch time, which means serving better, coming to net occasionally and trusting that her big blows will kiss the lines. It happened to her at both '02 Wimbledon and US Open against Amelie Mauresmo, against Serena Williams at the Home Depot Championships and against Nadia Petrova three weeks ago in Paris.
"It's just a matter of how I've led up to that point, how I'm playing beforehand, and if I'm getting some confidence," she said. "I'm trying to work on closing it out and not have any lapses of concentration and when I get ahead, just to be more aggressive. Hopefully that kind of attitude would come out in those tough three-setters again or when it comes down to those matches where I'm not really quite pulling it out."
On Monday, Capriati will go up against Russia's Anastasia Myskina, who can certainly hang with her from the baseline. Myskina is no mental rock either so Jennifer will definitely have her chances. As Capriati said, the pressure's on now that the second week has started.
Serena will likely be waiting in the quarters and if the proud Capriati wants to pound her chest in that match, she better put on a rousing warm-up performance against Myskina. As Capriati mentioned, she can't be thinking about a potential third-set letdown because if she does, that so-called self belief could wash away and everybody's dark horse will be sent back to the stall.
"The more emphasis I put on it, maybe that's going to get in my head," she said. 'Here we go again, I can't close it out again.' It's just a matter of just keep going forward and keep going for it. I think eventually, the luck has got to go on my side."
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