JENNIFER LOSES THE GRAND DREAM

How should Capriati’s lost Slam opportunity be perceived?

By Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

Now that the conversations about Jennifer Capriati winning the Grand Slam this year were silenced by Justine Henin, who became the first Belgian woman to attain a final berth at Wimbledon with her surprising 2-6,6-4, 6-2 upset of Capriati, it will be interesting to see how the lost opportunity is perceived.

How will Capriati view the loss? How will the tennis community view the loss? How will the world at-large view the loss?

There are two different ways to look at the demise of the pretty unrealistic dream that Capriati could have become the sixth person in history to win a Grand Slam. There’s the positive take that Capriati’s cup is half full since she was talented enough to win the first two legs of the Grand Slam, the Australian Open in January and the French Open last month.

Or there’s the negative take that Capriati’s cup will remain at least one-quarter empty for the year without the Wimbledon trophy, although the U.S. Open title still remains in the offing.

Capriati appeared ready for a third consecutive Grand Slam final when she claimed the first set over Henin in about 21 minutes. But Henin settled into the match – her first Grand Slam semifinal was at last month’s French Open – and despite battling blisters as well as Capriati, won the second set. With Henin leading 4-1 in the third set, rain temporarily halted play, but less than a half hour later, the Belgian was on court finishing up her unbelievable upset.

Only a few years ago, the position Capriati now faces could have been a potential crisis situation. While in 1990 at the age of 14, she became the youngest player to ever win a match at Wimbledon, times soon became too pressurized for Capriati and she became a teen tennis drop-out.

These days, however, there’s a new and improved Capriati – an adult who exhibits great confidence and happiness. And even more importantly, an individual who only recently discovered that she likes herself – likes herself a lot. This was an important step in Capriati’s life because when she found she liked the person staring back at her in the mirror, she was able to not only dismiss her own negative thoughts about herself, but also able to learn to disregard what others thought about her, too.

Capriati’s story is one that tugs at people’s hearts – child prodigy loses her way, dabbles in drugs and goes to rehab, half-heartedly returns to tennis for a few years before devoting herself whole-heartedly to her profession to become a champion. But as inspirational as it all sounds, we know that people are always anxious to build people up just to tear them down. If for any reason there’s a cruel force or two out there now that Capriati has shown a minor flaw in her ability to win everything in her path this year, she will be ready to handle the negativity and concentrate on the positive.

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

The truth is that Capriati knows as well as any student of the game knows, winning the Grand Slam is a near impossible task, especially in today’s game where there are far more talented and powerful foes to contend with on the court.

Steffi Graf was the last to conquer the Grand Slam, actually winning the Golden Grand Slam in 1988 by taking the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Olympic gold medal in Seoul. Australian Margaret Court Smith did the honors in 1970 and Maureen Connolly won all four in 1953. In the men’s game, American Don Budge won the Grand Slam in 1938 and Australian Rod Laver was amazingly able to perform the feat in both 1962 and 1969.

“Everyone made a big deal out of the Grand Slam but me,” Capriati said, honestly, after the loss to Henin. “I’m fairly happy with how the year has gone so far. It’s not a disappointment at all, it would have been nice … .”

And that’s just the attitude that makes someone a true inspirational champion and that’s what Jennifer Capriati is these days.