There are very few athletes that start at the top and
work their way to the bottom, but that's the path tennis player Jennifer
Capriati took before rising spectacularly again to become a Grand Slam
champion and world number one.Next month tennis fans in Dubai will have the
opportunity to see for themselves a
player who has become not only a legend, but an inspiration to others.
The two-time Australian Open champion will be one of the top contenders when
the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open gets underway at the Dubai Tennis Stadium
from 17th to 22nd February. Owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free, the
premier women's tennis event of the Middle East runs back to back with the
region's top men's event, the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open, during Dubai
Tennis Championships fortnight.
Hollywood must eventually make a movie about Capriati's roller-coaster ride
that took her from tennis prodigy to teenage rebel and back again. The brave
face Capriati showed when she made a return to a game she had rejected
during a time of drama in her private life can only be worthy of our respect
and admiration.
In 1990, at the age of 14, Capriati became the youngest player ever to reach
the top 10. The next year she was a semi-finalist at the US Open, and in
1992 she won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics. But, in her eyes, that
isn't good enough.
Feeling the pressure of her own expectations, she lost in the first round of
the 1993 US Open to Leila Meskhi and walked away from the game, shutting
herself away, hating herself, the world, and everything around her. The
glamour and glitter of centre court was replaced by darkened rooms. The
tennis stars she knew as friends were replaced with people whose only
ambition was to have no ambition.
"I was always
expected to be at the top, and if I didn't win to me that meant I was a
loser," she said. "If I played terrible I thought I could handle it, but
really I couldn't. I felt no one liked me as a person. I was depressed and
sad and lonely and guilty. I felt I'd give up all the material things to be
with someone who would love me for me.
I burned out. I spent a week in bed in darkness, just hating everything.
When I looked in the mirror I saw this distorted image. I was so ugly and so
fat I just wanted to kill myself. I'm not an addict to drugs, but you could
say I was an addict to my own pain. I had this sarcasm about everything."
The mistakes Capriati made that resulted in worldwide headlines were no
different to what hundreds, thousands, of other teenagers go through. But as
a teenage sensation tennis star Jennifer Capriati got treated differently.
"It did get blown out of proportion, and there were a lot of misconceptions
about what really happened and what really went on," she said. "I wish I
could just have been left alone to go do whatever I was going through. Then
it was pretty tough to come back and face everyone, but
it's in my nature not to give up or to let anybody
stop me from doing what I want to do.
No matter what I went through, no matter what was said or done, no matter
what - I was going to do it."
She didn't appear on the rankings again until April 1996, but poor results
saw her slump to a low of 267 two years later. Unwilling to give up, and
showing the fighting spirit that would one day make her the best player in
the world, she kept battling the odds. And she was rewarded in May 1999,
when she won the Strasbourg tournament. She was on her way. The entire
tennis world rejoiced when she went on to reach her first Grand Slam
semi-final in nine years, at the 2000 Australian Open. But that proved to be
just the beginning. She left Melbourne the
following year as champion, added the French Open title and went on to
become the world number one, and in 2002 retained her Australian title in
one of the most thrilling finals in Grand Slam history.
One thing that turned things around was that Jennifer decided to
just play for herself, and not worry about the expectations of others - the
fans, the media, or anyone else.
"I stopped thinking about what the world
was going to think about me,"
she said. "That was a big step in my progress. I've changed my attitude. If
I've lost a match I'm not going to be destroyed by it, or devastated. There
is always the next one and the opportunity to go back and work on what I did
wrong. There's always the next time. And I've never been a quitter.
I've always been a fighter. I think that's
what got me up there when I was younger. I found that attitude again."
Ask her which Grand Slam she is proudest of, and she doesn't have an answer.
There's the unforgettable thrill of winning your first one, but winning a
second time also means a lot.
"I think it's almost harder than winning the first one, to come back and win
it again," she said. "All the things that are going on in your mind, the
struggles you start putting yourself through. Of course, everybody remembers
the first one, and that's great. But, you know, it's like you make a song
and you don't want to be only remembered for one song. A lot of people just
come and go."
Commenting on the remarkable determination of one of the top seeds at the
Dubai Duty Free Women's Open, Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of Dubai
Duty Free, said: "Still only 26 years of age, a former world number one and
current world number three, Jennifer Capriati is one of the greatest players
of the past 10 years. Certainly, when play begins on February 17th, she will
present a major obstacle between the Dubai Duty Free title and her top 10
rivals in Dubai, Venus Williams, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Amelie Mauresmo."
On achieving the top spot in women's tennis in late 2001, Capriati reflects:
"Of course, it's every kid's dream to be number one." But the player voted
Sports Illustrated's Sportswoman of the Year for 2001 says she appreciates
her achievements much more now that she's older.
"When I look back on my career, I am
very proud of the Grand Slams I won, and getting to number one.
I am proud to have been able to come back from everything that has happened in
my life, and be able to enjoy tennis and play this well. I think this shows
everybody that's it's never too late to realise your talent, or your dream.
If you think positive and believe in yourself, good things are going to
come." And she has advice for any other young people who might be unhappy
with the path their life is taking. Sometimes it can be tough, when you feel
ignored and adults often don't take you seriously.
"Really, just believe in yourself
and don't rush your youth at all,"
she advises. "I see a lot of kids doing a lot of stuff, wanting to grow up
too soon. I found out your youth doesn't last that long, so don't rush into
growing up."
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