By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

After Jennifer Capriati finished with the trophy presentation following her titanic 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 victory over Kim Clijsters in the Roland Garros final, she loped into the Player's Lounge to trade bear hugs with her mother, Denise, brother, Stephen, and father, Stefano.

The family was beaming so brightly that they actually pushed up the temperature in Paris past 64 degrees for the first time in a week.

"My baby," said a nearly tearful Stephen as he hugged his older sister. "That was so good. I'm so happy for you."

"Awesome," said Denise.

"It doesn't seem real," said Jennifer.

"It is real," replied Denise.

"You won it with your big heart."

"So beautiful," said Stefano.

Capriati dedicated the victory to fellow player Corina Morariu, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy in a Florida hospital for a rare form of leukemia and according to Denise is having a terrible time of it.

"I just wanted to show that my heart is with her," Jennifer said. "We're all players. It really hits home when something like that happens."

According to her mother, Jennifer became tense last night while watching television and seeing one of her mentors, Chris Evert, saying that she was favorite to win the title and it was her time to shine in Paris. Which essentially explains her terrible play in the first set.

"The expectations were on her," Denise said. "After what Chrissie said, she gave me a look and I knew that she was affected. Everyone was expecting her to win today and that's not easy."

At 5-5 in the third set, Stephen turned to Stefano and told him he was going to leave. "I couldn't watch. I felt like I was having a heart attack," said Stephen, who, of course, stayed to the bitter end.

So did mom. "I just watched and prayed," said Denise. "But she worked through it. I knew she wasn't going to give up without a fight. In the last game, she finally said, 'I'm going for it," and she did."

The No. 4-ranked Capriati's resurgence from a once burnt out teen phenom who left the tour for nearly four year's to hottest player of 2001 is truly amazing.

"She has the confidence and will, the motivation and desire," said Stephen of his older sister, who also won the '01 Aussie Open. "She can beat anybody right now. If she can beat the best players on the biggest stage, she's the best."

But it's one thing to get fit and win on court, it's another to come to terms with being a celebrity. Jennifer, who just two years ago broke down in tears at the U.S. Open when asked whether she had a contentious relationship with the media, is now pretty comfortable knocking ideas around with the press. Some how, it is coming to this now mature 24-year-old naturally.

"It's just my emotions talking, my happiness talking," she said. "I don't have to think about it. I'm just reacting to the moment." And what a moment it was.