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Jennifer Capriati was born on March 29, 1976 in New York to an
American mother and an Italian father. She is considered the
"wonder-girl" of tennis because she started playing as a professional 24
days before her 14th birthday (on the 5th of March, 1990), after winning the
juniors at Roland Garros at the tender age of 13. In her early career she
shattered all the possible records. She was the most precocious finalist at the
Boca Raton tournament in 1990, at the age of 13 years and 11 months. The
fourth-youngest (after Austin, Rinaldi and Jaeger) to win a title (Puerto Rico,
1990). She was also the youngest player to reach #10 in the world rankings (at
14 years and 235 days), the youngest to qualify for the Masters (at 14 years and
8 months), the youngest semi-finalist in Wimbledon history at 15 years and 95
days (causing Martina Navratilova’s surprise elimination after 14 years) and,
till few years ago, the youngest player to overcome one million dollars in
prizes (at 16 years and 3 months, later beaten by Martina Hingis).
In contrast, she was the first female tennis player to disappear from professional
tennis for personal reasons, after the 1993 US Open. She reappeared after 14
months, only for one match (which she lost in three sets) in November 1994. She
disappeared again for all of 1995, overwhelmed by a string of shameful
incidents. She was first accused of stealing a ring in a department store and
then of using drugs, then she underwent detoxification. It was a tough period
for her, made worse by her parents’ separation.
First Heaven then Hell. But then there was the Purgatory. Jennifer came back to professional tennis in 1996
(after 15 months without any official matches). She started winning again - the
first final of her second career (in 1997 in Sidney), her first match won in a
Grand Slam after 5 years (in 1998 in Wimbledon), her first trophy after 6 years
(in 1999 in Strasburg), her first semi-final in a Grand Slam in 9 years (the
2000 Australian Open), her first time in the top 20 in the world rankings (on
April 10, 1994 at #17). Then, in January 2001, the fairytale started again. Jen
won the first Grand Slam tournament (Australian Open) beating the current #1
Martina Hingis, the #2 Lindsay Davenport and the #4 Monica Seles – the last
three queens of the tournament – becoming the lowest seed (#12) to win a Grand
Slam. In 2001 she won a second Grand Slam tournament - the Roland Garros,
beating Kim Clijsters in a three set final. She then succeeded in stealing the
#1 title from Martina Hingis.
The fairytale continues. Jen won for the second consecutive time in Melbourne (January 2002) by defeating Martina
Hingis once again. Playing in a scorching heat (it was 38°C or 100.4°F) she denied Hingis 4
match points and showed everyone once again that she had finally reached the
status of a world-class player!
In 2003 won the New Haven title and reached the US Open semifinal where she lost in an epic match to eventual champions
Henin.
In 2004 reached for the first time the Rome's final and again the semifinal at the US Open and at the Roland Garros.
Unfortunately, between the 2005 and 2006 she was forced to have four surgeries: two on the right shoulder and two on the
right wrist and now she's in rahab.
Anyone kows if she could be back on the court, but it's sure that she has been a tennis star and much more...
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