11 gennaio 2003
Australian Open
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Everything is stacked against Jennifer
Capriati winning a third Australian Open, and that is exactly how she likes
it. She has not won a tournament in almost 12 months, has slipped down the
world rankings to number three and appears to be carrying a little more
weight than before.
The 26-year-old lost her only warm-up match against Russian Tatiana Panova
in Sydney and faces the daunting prospect of having to beat the Williams
sisters, Venus and Serena, to win in Melbourne.
But anyone who saw Capriati's amazing win at last year's Australian Open
knows she has made a career out of proving her doubters wrong and should
never be discounted no matter how long the odds.
"Of course I'm confident I can win it," she said.
"I was nervous last year when I had to defend my title but I crossed that battle.
I'm defending again this year but I've done that before so this year is not
going to be as hard because I know what I can do,"
A precocious talent whose career seemed to have gone up in smoke when
she went off the rails as a teen-ager, Capriati provided one of the great
fairytales of modern tennis when she beat Martina Hingis in the 2001
Australian Open final.
Jumping for joy like a schoolgirl, it seemed like the
perfect ending to a career that had promised so much and delivered so
little, but her comeback was far from finished.
Five months later she gave a more tangible demonstration of her fighting
spirit when she came from behind to beat Kim Clijsters 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 in
the final of the French Open (news - web sites).
Great fightback
But even that paled into insignificance compared to her astonishing victory
at the 2002 Australian Open, which ranks as one of the greatest fightbacks
in tennis history.
Up against her old sparring partner Hingis, Capriati seemed doomed after she
lost the first set and was down 4-0 in the second as the center court
temperature climbed to 46 degrees Celsius. Withering in the stifling heat
and struggling to breathe in the thick, hot air, Capriati suddenly lost her
cool, firing a volley of expletives at a line judge. But just when all
seemed lost, she found something else, a determination that saw her fight
off four match points and eventually triumph 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.
Hingis is missing from this year's Australian Open but a greater challenge
lurks in the shape of the Williams sisters who have played each other in the
three grand slam finals since Melbourne.
Capriati's preparation for Melbourne was far from impressive as she stumbled
to defeat against Panova in her only practice match. But Capriati shrugged
off the loss as meaningless, saying she also lost her only warm-up in Sydney
last year but won the match that counted.
"I'd rather lose in Sydney than Melbourne," she said.
"For me, it starts at the grand slams, I think I raise my level
automatically.
I'm striking the ball well and I've just got to be a bit more consistent
and get the rust out a little bit.
I'm just going to play my game. The only pressure I feel is the pressure
I put on myself."
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