Jennifer Capriati is a former professional tennis player, who in 1990 became the youngest player to ever be ranked in the Women's Tennis Association top ten.
Background
Tennis player Jennifer Capriati was born on March 29, 1976, in New York. Her mother, Denise, was a flight attendant, and her father, Stefano, was a former Italian professional soccer player turned movie stuntman turned tennis instructor. Stefano Capriati, a native of Milan, Italy, was a resident of Spain, where he was a movie stuntman and a self-taught tennis pro. They married and settled in Spain.The Capriatis decided to move to Long Island, New York before having kids so that their children would be American citizens.
Education
Father took her to see Jimmy Evert, tennis star Chris Evert's father. Evert did not even want to meet her since she was only four, but when he saw her skill he agreed to take her as a student. He coached her from age four to age nine. Along the way, Jennifer became friends with Chris Evert.
From age ten to 13, Jennifer was coached by Rick Macci in Haines City, Florida, then went to the Hopman Tennis Academy at Saddlebrook resort in Wesley Chapel, where she got a third coach, Tom Gullickson. But the driving force in her budding career was her father, whom she called her main coach and whom the other members of her entourage called "the main boss." Stefano Capriati considers himself a tennis father, in the best sense of the term, noting that there is a difference between pushing and aiding. "You try to direct her in the right way, and you see she has the potential," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I see she enjoys it. After 9-10 years old, you cannot direct them anymore. They must want it."
In between the relentless pace of tennis, Jennifer Capriati went through eighth grade at Palmer Academy in Wesley Chapel. When she couldn't go to school, she'd take her homework with her or have it sent to her on the road by fax machine. By March when she went pro, she still had to do homework in between matches. In September she started ninth grade at St. Andrew's School in Boca Raton, a 600-student private school. She was prepared to leave the Harry Hopman tennis facility of Saddlebrook and was offered a contract as touring pro at the Broken Sound Club in Boca Raton. But later that month, her parents changed their minds.
Uncomfortable in a temporary home in Boca Raton, the Capriatis went back to Saddlebrook and Jennifer returned to the Palmer Academy, where she had attended eighth grade. The family intended to move to Broken Sound in January, then realized it would be better to remain at Saddlebrook. "There is life besides tennis," said Denise Capriati. "Jennifer was so happy to see her friends again. Jennifer's emotional happiness is the bottom line."
Career
While Capriati appeared to have a solid head on her shoulders, there were the inevitable comparisons with Andrea Jaeger and Tracy Austin, both of whom started tennis as young sensations but burned out from injuries and pressure. Jaeger won her first pro tournament at 14 but left the tour at 19 because of shoulder injuries. Austin, at 16, was the youngest player ever to win the U.S. Open, in 1979, but foot and back injuries sidelined her permanently at age 19. When asked about this by interviewers, Capriati sighs and replies wearily. "It's like, you know, it's not my fault," she says of Jaeger's and Austin's short-lived careers in the Los Angeles Times. "Why does everybody think it's going to happen to me? How do they know what my limit is?"
As time went on, she started to learn her limit. In 1991, Capriati peaked. She ranked in the Top 10 after reaching the finals of the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. In 1992, she won the gold medal in the Olympics at Barcelona, but no other tournaments. In September, after losing in the first round of the U.S. Open, Capriati returned to Florida from the tour to recover from bone chips and tendinitis in her elbow. In November, she moved out of her parents' home to an apartment. She later announced in January of 1993 that she was taking a leave from the tour to complete high school. In March, she dropped out of high school and moved to Boca Raton.
In May of 1994, Capriati was arrested in Coral Gables, Florida for possession of marijuana. According to People magazine, the arrest followed a weekend of serious partying with other teenagers. Two days after the arrest, Capriati started a drug rehabilitation program at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach.
Capriati did come back and play one match in November 1994—losing to Anke Huber in Philadelphia. She then remained absent from tennis until February 1996. She won two matches in the Faber Grand Prix in Germany, finally losing in the quarterfinals. Anne Person Worcester, The Corel WTA Tour's chief executive officer, told Tennis magazine, "The hardest part about coming back for her is not the tennis, not the other players, not the fans; it's the media." Worcester believes that only Capriati's drug arrest, not her accomplishments will be highlighted in everything written about her. Tennis magazine suggested that Capriati will have to find the right support group to accompany her on the tour to keep the pressure at bay. Stefano Capriati, now divorced from Jennifer's mother, Denise, traveled with Jennifer to Germany, but insisted that he was not pushing her. He told Tennis, "She will decide what it is she wants. Whatever she will decide, I will give. Whatever she needs, I give."
Capriati lost in the first round of the French Open in May 1996. The Sporting News reported that five days later, she had another brush with the law. Capriati was at a nightclub in Miami with her boyfriend. Police said she got into an argument with him and tried to punch him. Her boyfriend ducked, and Capriati accidentally hit a waitress. Club security turned her over to the police. The state attorney will determine if charges will be filed.
In late June, Capriati decided not to play Wimbledon— one of the biggest tournaments of the year. She withdrew due to lack of preparation, according to her spokesperson. Also, Capriati will not be able to defend her Barcelona Olympic gold medal in Atlanta because her current ranking of 104 is too low. The women's coach, Billie Jean King, commented to The Sporting News, "I've told Jennifer all along, 'You've got no chance.'"
At 20 years old, Jennifer Capriati had won more tournaments and made more money in two years than most professional tennis players do in an entire career. Her success has also provided her with many options: she could take her money and pay for college and forget tennis; she could halfheartedly play a few tournaments a year, eventually leaving tennis; or she could come back and play tennis with everything she can muster because she wants it. Her true fans can only hope that she finds the courage and support she needs to live a normal life.
Views
Quotations:
"Even though I'm going to be playing older ladies, when I'm out there playing, I'm as old as they are," she told the New York Times. "I have no fear. I guess I was just born with that kind of mind."
Personality
Capriati was a precociously gifted athlete from the time she was an infant. She learned to swim before she learned to crawl and was able to swing all the way across a set of monkey bars before she could walk.
Height - 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Quotes from others about the person
Headlines trumpeted Capriati as the "Teen Queen of Tennis," "Eighth Grade Wonder," and "The Next Chris Evert." Her own coach, Tom Gullikson of the U.S. Tennis Association, said flatly to a Los Angeles Times reporter, "It's our viewpoint that [Capriati] is without question the most talented young pro in the world, man or woman."
One coach praised her aggressive style, unpredictability, and power: "She was strong before, but her movement wasn't very good. Now she covers the court as well as any of the men I can think of," said Tommy Thompson, head tennis pro at Saddlebrook, to the New York Times. "She's going to be different than most women, who tend to play very defensively, because she's very confident at net. She has no fear when she's going in there to volley. Thompson said later in the Washington Post, "She's a kid off the court but a killer on it."
Connections
Capriati was in a relationship with Belgian tennis player Xavier Malisse