Jennifer Capriati is happy again and it’s showing in her performance on the tennis courts
Stephen Bierley in Paris
Stefano Capriati was born in Brindisi on the heel of Italy, a town once listed as the ugliest in the world after Glasgow. Brindisi protested, claiming it should be top.
Twelve years ago, when Jennifer Capriati burst upon the scene, winning the junior title at Roland Garros when she was only 13, there were those who would have placed her father, who was also her coach, high up on another ill-favoured list that of tennis fathers from hell.
His overbearing relationship with his daughter immediately gave concern to many, and when Jennifer’s career spiralled out of control the blame was placed squarely on his shoulders, the general belief being that he had pushed her too hard and too fast. And when Stefano divorced his American-born wife Denise the tongues clattered all the louder.
But Jennifer Capriati, whose renaissance has been one of sport’s most endearing and welcome stories, has never blamed either of her parents, indeed quite the opposite, although for a while she cut herself off from both when she turned her back on tennis for two years in 1994.
“At the time there were so many people telling me that it was not a good idea for my family to always be with me,” said Capriati, who beat Belgium’s 18-year-old Kim Clijsters in an epic French Open final last weekend and is halfway towards the calendar grand slam, last achieved by Germany’s Steffi Graf in 1988. “They also thought my father should not be my coach. At some point I believed it myself and I thought I could do better without him.”
Now they are all back together. Stefano began coaching his daughter again last year; her brother, Steven, at university in Arizona, acts as her occasional hitting partner, and her mother, although not reunited with Stefano, was sitting with him and Steven at Roland Garros. All in the best interests of Jennifer. “The happier Jennifer is with her life, the better her tennis is,” said her mother.
Though their daughter’s burnout played a major part in the Capriatis’ divorce, she insists it was their support which helped her through those nightmare days when she was involved in shoplifting and drug offences. “I love them very much. They never put pressure on me to come back and do all these things.”
Nobody was quite sure, after Capriati had so spectacularly beaten Martina Hingis in this year’s Australian Open final for her first grand slam title, just how she would react. “We have been up and down and we say stardom is a trap,” said Stefano. “She was in a trap before, so we stay with our feet on the ground now.”
Those who watch the Williams sisters regularly are currently wondering just how much they really enjoy tennis. There is no doubting Capriati’s joy. “I just love playing tennis, especially now. Moments like beating Martina in the semis here are what professional athletes thrive on. There’s pressure, but it’s a good pressure. A couple of years ago my goals were just to win a match. That was the most difficult. But since then a lot has changed.”
Crucially, Capriati finally became convinced that those around her did not blame her for what had happened in the past. She was able to shed the guilt and release what she had suppressed. “Slowly it got better and better and I gained more confidence.”
Her father, chastened by seeing his daughter go through so much angst and suffering, has changed too. “Before it was a classic father-daughter relationship,” she said. “Now it’s a partnership between equals. We are both on the same level, and what’s more if something doesn’t suit me I say so.”
Capriati is a little more selfish now, and capable of focusing on what really matters to her.
“After I had reached the US Open semifinals in 1991 and then won the gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics [beating Graf on clay] I sensed the whole future of American tennis was on my shoulders. Suddenly I wasn’t free to do what I wanted. Then the self-doubts began. I asked myself what I was doing here. Was I a puppet working for others?”
This fragility may never entirely disappear. Last year, after reaching her first grand slam semifinal for nine years in Melbourne, there was another shifting of ground. An affair with the Belgian player Xavier Malisse, coupled with a series of small but nagging injuries, saw her put on weight and lose in the first round of the end-of-season Chase Championship against Anna Kournikova.
The affair ended, and Capriati, under the guidance of her trainers Karen Burnett and Pat Etcheverry, worked her socks off to get superfit, and stronger. “I was sick of having good results here and there. I just wanted to be there all the time, and it’s tough with other things around.”
Hard work, as Andre Agassi is fond of saying, is not necessarily rewarded but Capriati immediately benefited by winning in Australia. “I loved the feeling so much that I was determined to keep it going, and I’ll give it all I’ve got. If I’m going to do anything in tennis, now is the time. Right now I just want to scream at the top of my lungs. I’m so excited.”
Stefano, who these days no longer watches her every off-court move like a hawk, basks in fatherly pride.
“What makes me happy is when I really see Jennifer happy. Only parents know when there is a bright smile for real or a bright smile for a photo shoot. Now her smile is for real.” Everybody knows it.