June, 24th 2004
Wimbledon
Jennifer Capriati was in an awfully jolly
mood. She had just reached the second round by walloping Claudine Schaul
6-2, 6-2 and hardly broken a sweat in doing so.
The workout had been swift, simple and pretty straightforward. Far more
complicated was the business of signing the shirt of the young lady who
thrust herself forward and demanded a signature across her front. Where to
begin and where to end? And how to dot the 'i' in Jennifer?
Not that she will admit it, but Capriati is well into yet another comeback. Over
the years she has disappeared from view only to return a while later,
sometimes dramatically, sometimes triumphantly but always famously, to be
hailed as the comeback queen.
After a serious back problem earlier in the year, she is in business again,
fighting fit and ready for the fray, but would rather no one made too much
of a fuss about it.
She is also busy breaking in a new coach. During the clay court season she
tried working with Heinz Gunthardt, the former coach of Steffi Graf, and
that brought reasonable success as she reached the final of the Italian Open.
But after a grim French Open, the two went their separate ways and now she
is in tandem with Tom Gullikson. That relationship is still in its infancy
but whatever he told her, it was more than enough to deal with young Miss Schaul.
Schaul hails from Luxembourg and makes no bones about the fact that grass is
not her natural hunting ground.
A native of the baseline, the fastest surface she will tolerate is a hard
court so being thrust into the limelight on Court One against a former world
No1 was hardly going to suit her.
Still, she seems a decent sort - anyone whose list of off-court interests
includes George Clooney can't be all bad - and she made as good a fist of it
as she could.
In her more introspective moments, Schaul admits to being a little impatient
and rather ambitious.
Alas, she had time to be neither as Capriati was in no mood to hang around.
Capriati is not exactly known for her patience, either, and having been kept
waiting since Tuesday afternoon to start her Wimbledon campaign, nothing was
going to stop her now.
Schaul's unfortunate habit of double faulting at the most inappropriate of
moments sped the American on her way and only when she came to serve for the
first set did she falter slightly. Winning just the one point in that
service game, slowed her down for a moment, but it was not to last.
At interview after the match, Capriati said: "I was pleased with the way
I played today. Considering the conditions, it was really windy out there. I
felt like I hit a good, clean ball, you know, considering all the wind and
everything and the waiting around. I think I was moving well also."
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