Jennifer Capriati, an American former professional tennis player, left an indelible mark on the sport. Her journey, marked by early success, personal challenges, and a remarkable comeback, is a testament to her resilience and talent. This article explores Capriati's career, highlighting her achievements, setbacks, and the legacy she left behind.
Early Career and "Youngest-Ever" Records
Born on March 29, 1976, Capriati burst onto the professional tennis scene in 1990 at the tender age of 13 years, 11 months. She quickly established herself as a force to be reckoned with, reaching the final of the Boca Raton tournament in her debut. Her success continued at the French Open, where she reached the semifinals, becoming the youngest player ever to achieve this feat. In October of the same year, she became the youngest player to break into the top 10, at age 14 years, 235 days.
Throughout her inaugural season, Capriati set multiple "youngest ever" records. She was the youngest player to reach a tour final, the youngest player to reach the semifinals at the French Open, the youngest seed ever at Wimbledon, and the youngest player to qualify for the season-ending championships. She was also the fourth-youngest player to win a WTA Tour title.
Rising Through the Ranks
In her second season as a touring pro, Capriati established herself as a consistent top-10 player. She won two singles titles during the summer hard court circuit, defeating world No. 1, Monica Seles, in a third set tie-breaker in final of San Diego, and Katerina Maleeva in straight sets in the final of Toronto. She also reached two Grand Slam semifinals, at Wimbledon and the US Open. At Wimbledon, the 15-year-old Capriati stunned nine-time champion Martina Navratilova, defeating her in the quarterfinals in straight sets. Capriati became the youngest person to ever reach the semifinal round of the tournament, losing to Sabatini. At the US Open, Capriati defeated Sabatini in the quarters but lost in the semis to eventual champion Seles in a third-set tiebreak after serving for the match twice. Capriati qualified for the year-end championships for the second time, reaching the quarterfinals. She ended the year at No.
Capriati's 1992 season was highlighted by her victory at the Summer Olympics. She defeated second-seeded Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals and came from a set down to defeat top-seeded Steffi Graf in the gold-medal match. Capriati next defended her title in San Diego, defeating Conchita Martínez in the final, the only time that Capriati won back-to-back singles titles during her career. She reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open (in her debut), at the French Open, and at Wimbledon, and then she lost in the third round at the US Open. In Miami, Capriati ended Monica Seles's streak of 21 consecutive finals by defeating her in the quarterfinals. Capriati finished the year ranked in the top 10 for the third straight year, at No. 7.
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Hiatus and Return to Tennis
At her first tournament (Sydney 1993), Capriati defeated third-ranked Sabatini in the semifinals before defeating Anke Huber in the final. For the second straight year, she reached the quarterfinals at the first three majors of the year. She reached the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, losing to Steffi Graf. At the US Open, the seventh-seeded Capriati lost her opening match to former top 15-player Leila Meskhi, her first loss in the first round of any pro tournament. Following this loss, Capriati decided to take a break from tennis.
Capriati only played one match in 1994, losing in the first round of Philadelphia to Anke Huber. She fell off the rankings in June. Capriati, unranked, played her first match in 15 months in Essen, where she reached the quarterfinals, losing to Jana Novotná in three sets. She reached her first final in more than three years at Chicago, defeating Monica Seles en route, before losing again to Novotná in three sets. Capriati also reached the quarters in the fall at the Zurich Open, defeating Sabatini in the opening round in what was the last singles match of Sabatini's career. Capriati competed in her first Grand Slam tournaments since 1993 at the French Open and the US Open, losing in the first round of both. Capriati re-appeared on the rankings in April at No. 103, and finished the year inside the top 25, at No.
In January 1997, Capriati reached the final in Sydney for the second time in her career, defeating world No. 9, Lindsay Davenport, en route to her only top-10 win of the year, losing to Martina Hingis in the final. She only reached the quarterfinals at one other tournament, Oklahoma City, where she lost to Davenport. Capriati finished the year at No. Capriati did not play the first half of 1998. By the spring, she was ranked below the top 200. She accepted a wildcard entry into the clay-court tournament in Hamburg, Germany, where she reached the quarterfinals, but then lost to Martina Hingis. Capriati was also a quarterfinalist in Palermo, Italy. In the first round at Wimbledon, Capriati won her first Grand Slam singles match in five years, before losing to Lori McNeil in the second round.
Resurgence and Grand Slam Success
1999 was Capriati's best season in several years. She won her first title in six years at Strasbourg, defeating ninth ranked Nathalie Tauziat in a quarterfinal for her first win over a top-10 player in two years. She defeated Russian Elena Likhovtseva in the final. She won her second title of the year at Quebec City, defeating American Chanda Rubin in the final. She also reached the round of 16 at both Roland Garros and US Open. She finished the year at No.
At the Miami Open, Capriati defeated world No. 6, Serena Williams, for her first win over a player ranked in the top six in four years en route to a quarterfinal finish. Capriati had a strong fall season, winning her ninth career title at Luxembourg, defeating Magdalena Maleeva. She also finished runner up in Quebec City to Chanda Rubin and was a semifinalist in Zürich. These results propelled Capriati back into the top 20 for the first time since April 1994. She qualified for the season-ending championships for the first time in seven years. Her year-end ranking was 14, her highest in seven years.
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The year 2001 marked a turning point in Capriati's career. Seeded 12th at the Australian Open, she demonstrated her fighting spirit, rallying from a set and a break down to defeat Monica Seles and world No. 2 Davenport to reach the semis for the second consecutive year. In her first Grand Slam final, she defeated top seed and world No. 1, Martina Hingis, in straight sets to win her first Grand Slam singles title. She was the lowest seed to ever win the title, and also the first player since Tracy Austin in 1979 to defeat the top two ranked players in straight sets at a major. This victory propelled her back into the top 10, at No.
Capriati then embarked on a remarkably successful clay court campaign. She won her second title of the year at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, defeating Hingis in three sets in the final. She then lost in the final of Berlin to Amélie Mauresmo, also in three sets. Seeded fourth at the French Open, Capriati defeated top seed Hingis in the semifinals and the 12th seeded Kim Clijsters in the final to win her second consecutive Grand Slam title. Her 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 win over Clijsters had the longest-ever third set in a women's final in the French Open; four times in the match, Capriati was two points away from being defeated. At Wimbledon, Capriati rallied from 7-6, 5-3, 30-0 down in the quarterfinals to defeat Serena Williams. Capriati's 19-match Grand Slam win streak ended in the semis at the hands of eighth seeded Justine Henin. Capriati rebounded at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, making it to the final before losing to Serena Williams after saving match point in the second set. Capriati then lost in the semifinals of the US Open to Venus Williams. Despite playing very little in the fall, Capriati became ranked world No. 1 on October 15. She lost her opening match at the WTA Tour Championships to Maleeva. Capriati would have finished the year ranked No. 1 if she had reached the semifinals. Instead, she finished No.
As a result of Davenport's withdrawal from the Australian Open due to an injury, Capriati was the top seed. She defeated the sixth-seeded Amélie Mauresmo and the fourth-seeded Kim Clijsters en route to her second consecutive final there, where she once again faced Martina Hingis. The match was played in very hot conditions, with the temperature exceeding 35 degrees Celsius. Capriati fought back from 6-4, 4-0 down and four championship points to eventually prevail 4-6, 7-6(9-7), 6-2. In the spring, Capriati reached finals in Scottsdale and Miami losing to Serena Williams on both occasions. Capriati prepared for her French Open title defense by participating in events in Charleston, Berlin, and Rome, losing in the semifinals of all three. As the top seed at the French Open, Capriati reached the semifinals-before losing to the eventual champion Serena Williams in three sets. Capriati surrendered her No. 1 ranking to Venus Williams as a result of this loss. Capriati's streak of six consecutive Grand Slam semifinals was broken at Wimbledon, where she lost to Amélie Mauresmo in three sets in the quarterfinals. Capriati won only one match in the three European indoor events she played. She rebounded at the year-ending championships, reaching the semifinals for the first time, losing to Serena Williams. A week after the 2002 WTA Championships, Capriati had eye surgery in order to remove pterygiums (sun spots) from both eyes.
In the opening round of the 2003 Australian Open Capriati lost to unseeded and unheralded Marlene Weingärtner. Capriati was the first Australian Open title-holder to lose in the first round. Capriati rebounded by reaching at least semifinals of the next five tournaments she played. She lost to Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals of the Indian Wells tournament. She then reached the final of the Miami Open for the third consecutive year before losing to world No. 1, Serena Williams. Capriati lost in the round of 16 of the French Open to unseeded Nadia Petrova. Capriati then reached her second final of 2003 in Stanford, losing to Kim Clijsters in three sets. A pectoral strain forced Capriati to retire from her opening match in San Diego and pull out of Montreal. Capriati won her first title of 2003 in New Haven after Davenport retired in the final while trailing. This ended a 28-tournament title drought for Capriati, and was her first tour victory since she won the 2002 Australian Open. Seeded sixth at the US Open, Capriati reached the semifinal where she lost to second-seeded Justine Henin in a tight third-set tiebreak many experts believed she should have won. Capriati did not play again until the WTA Tour Championships when she lost in the semifinal to Justine Henin again, now the world No.
Injuries and Later Career
Injuries plagued Capriati's 2004 season. A back injury suffered during the 2003 WTA Tour Championships forced Capriati to withdraw from the 2004 Australian Open and the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Capriati advanced beyond the quarterfinals just once in her first four events of the year in Doha, losing to Anastasia Myskina in the semifinals. Her back continued to be an issue, forcing her out of Indian Wells and Miami. Her ranking dropped to No. Capriati produced her best results of the year during the European clay-court season. She reached the semis of Berlin, defeating world No. 5 Myskina in the quarterfinals for her first top-5 win of the season, before losing to Mauresmo in the semifinals. At the Italian Open, Capriati defeated top seed Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, her first win over the American since Wimbledon 2001. Capriati moved on to the final, where she lost to Mauresmo in a three-hour struggle. At Wimbledon, Capriati reached the quarters for the fourth straight year, where she lost to Serena Williams in 45 minutes, the most lopsided result of their 17-match rivalry. A hamstring injury forced her to withdraw from Los Angeles and San Diego, but she reached the quarterfinals of both Montreal and New Haven. Seeded eighth at the US Open, Capriati defeated Williams in a controversial line call quarterfinal match by the chair umpire, Mariana Alves, to reach her fourth US Open semifinal. The call was shown repeatedly on TV via video replay to be clearly wrong, which had renewed calls and subsequently successful implementation of line-call technology such as MacCam and then Hawk-Eye. Capriati had reached the semifinals of the US Open four times in her career (1991, 2001, 2003 and 2004), losing to a different opponent each time. Following the US Open, Capriati lost in the quarterfinals of Philadelphia to world No. 11, Vera Zvonareva, her worst loss since 1999 (where she won only one game against Graf in Miami). Capriati failed to qualify for the season-ending championships for the first time since 1999 and finished the year world No.
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Legacy
Capriati was one of the first power players to emerge on the women's circuit in the early-to-mid-1990s, along with Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport, and Mary Pierce. Capriati's game was built around her great baseline power and depth. Her forehand was a major weapon that she used to dictate play, and her backhand was also very solid. She was also known for her mental toughness and competitive spirit.
Despite the challenges and setbacks she faced, Capriati's career is a story of resilience and determination. She achieved remarkable success at a young age, weathered personal storms, and returned to the top of the game, winning Grand Slam titles and reaching the world No. 1 ranking. Her induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2012 solidified her place among the legends of the sport.
Singles Career
- Career record: 430-176
- Career titles: 14
- Highest ranking: No. 1 (October 15, 2001)
Grand Slam singles results
- Australian Open: W (2001, 2002)
- French Open: W (2001)
- Wimbledon: SF (1991, 2001)
- US Open: SF (1991, 2001, 2003, 2004)