The Story of Jelena Capriakovic

At Wimbledon this year, Jelena Jankovic will walk onto the grounds of the All England Lawn and Tennis Club with scrubbed-clean finger nails, rid of the royal, bright blue she sported just a few weeks ago at Roland Garros.

She won’t be writing any love letters to British fans on her taped-up arm, as she did in Paris, or mimicking countrywoman Ana Ivanovic’s fist pump (at least until a possible repeat, semifinal clash).

That last match against Ivanovic was a heartbreakingly difficult loss for the Serb, now 23, reaching her fourth grand slam semifinal only to fall short of the big show for the fourth time, as well.

Her hard-hitting baseline game, tight-pulled ponytail, on-court antics and failure to breakthrough into tennis’ elite has me thinking of a certain American teen from the early 1990s. Any guesses on who?

Yes, Jennifer Capriati has been surfacing lately when I think of Jelena Jankovic and not just because they play alike, look alike and act alike, but more because Jankovic is at the dangerous point in her career that Capriati was at in 1991 when she faltered in her famous match against Monica Seles.

In 1991, Seles and Capriati were countrywomen, close in age, had similar styles of play and had tennis experts and fans alike calling for multiple-slam careers for the both of them.

Fast forward to 2008, and there was much the same going on at Roland Garros between Ivanovic and Jankovic. Ana had been slightly more successful at the slams and in their head-to-head history (like Seles), but hadn’t broken through as Monica had in ’91. And perhaps, as Americans, we forget what Roland Garros means to European players like Jelena and Ana, whose rivalry is growing at a faster pace than one of Jankovic's down-the-line backhands.

So, will Jankovic’s loss (6-4 in the third set) have the same impact that Capriati’s (7-6 in the third) did?

It must be pointed out that Jennifer had quite the different upbringing than Jelena did. Capriati was banging professional tennis balls by the tender age of 13 and succumbed to continuous pressure late in her “early” career.

Jankovic, on the contrary, has only been on a steady rise up the rankings, finally breaking through in 2006 at Wimbledon (beating then defending-champ Venus in the third round) to join the upper echelon on the women’s game.

But the significance of the Capriati loss 17 years ago had me thinking hard about how far Jelena has come and how far she could have already gone. There was a break in concentration at the ’06 U.S. Open against Justine Henin where she lead 6-4, 4-2 and decided to argue a line call for two games only to lose the next 10 and the match. And then there was a missed opportunity at Wimbledon last year where she blew her fourth-round match against Marion Bartoli (the eventual finalist), or her lack of confidence at this year’s Australian in the semis against Maria Sharapova.

The bottom line is, Capriati’s career went south after her loss to Monica Seles at the 1991 U.S. Open semifinals, and Jelena Jankovic has to be sure that history doesn’t stamp “Capriati” on her “Jankovic” passport.

Her loss to Ivanovic just two week’s ago was crushing for Jelena, who said after the match she just wanted to "get drunk" and forget about it and had reportedly been crying in the locker room before her press conference.

For Wimbledon to come so soon after the French is to Jankovic’s advantage – or, her disadvantage – depending on which way you look at it. She plays Ukranian Olga Savchuk in the opening round, whose current rank of 113 in the world is similar to Capriati’s first grand slam opponent after her loss to Seles: Natalia Medvedeva another Ukranian, who was ranked 96th at the 1992 Australian.

Perhaps the parallels that I’m drawing are rather stretched, but it is a thin line that Jankovic is walking right now in her fragile career. Where Capriati suffered from burnout, over-exposure and daunting pressure, Jankovic toys with playing too much and through injuries and an increasingly difficult psychological question: When will it be her turn?

For Capriati, that answer didn’t come until a decade later, when she won the Australian Open at the age of 24. But in today’s game, Jankovic doesn’t have a decade. Instead, she only has now, and if she wants to announce her arrival in the women’s game, there’s no place better to do it than at tennis’ biggest tournament.

Tennis Chatter: Lazy Saturday

It's Saturday. And it's very gray in Seattle. And I'm still in bed... with a terrible head ache and a sore throat (no, I didn't go out last night... I have a cold!). I am going to be a man of few words tonight, but I would like to say that my prediction for the Tipsarevic-Federer affair wasn't too far off, right? Okay, that's enough horn-tooting for now.

James Blake saves the American flag with a remarkable come-from-behind win to beat Sebastian Grosjean in the third round. Way to go James! Another five-set win for you.


Meanwhile, the Fed outlasted my favorite Serb, Janko Tipsarevic in five thrilling sets last night as well, showing some of his vulnerability. Roger Federer now faces Tomas Berdych in the fourth round. Here are post-match comments from Tipso:


If you missed this piece by Joel Drucker over at ESPN, check it out. It's the top five women's matches at the Aussie over time, which pits the 2002 final between Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis at the top (which I whole-heartedly agree with).

And I also wanted to put up a better, longer clip of the Andy Roddick rage that occurred a couple nights ago. This is from ESPN, so it might get taken down in the near future. It has Roddick screaming at the umpire, the written text of what he's saying and the always-reliable Cliff Drysdale keeping us updated on what's "really" happening.

The Comeback Queens

The US Open always makes me nostalgic. Every year brings its thrilling matches (though fewer this year than others) along with plenty of drama and sometimes - if we're lucky - outright cattiness.

Back in 1995, when I was just 9 years old, I remember sitting in front of our TV at home in Montana watching Monica Seles, dressed in a plaid skirt with a tight-pulled ponytail, belting balls back and forth with world number one Steffi Graf.

Seles had just returned from over two years off the tour following the horrific stabbing in Hamburg, Germany in April of 1993. She had gone through rounds of physical battles over the 27 months, but it was the mental climb (helped in part by her attacker being sentenced to absolutely no time in jail) that took her the longest to make.

When Seles came back, however, she was the darling of the tennis tour. Over the next eight year, Monica would show us flashes of brilliance that she demonstrated in the early 90s. She was the original Comeback Queen.

Six years after Seles' triumphant return, Jennifer Capriati made a run at the Australian Open that shook the tennis world to the core. Since her Slam debut at the 1990 French Open (at age 14), JCap had been christened the darling (and future) of tennis.

(Capriati at Wimbledon in 1989, just months after turning pro and still a tennis princess. Photo by jacdupree via flickr.)

Yet the child prodigy from Florida would fizzle instead of flourish, falling off the map in 1994 after less-than-hoped-for results on the tour. In 2001, technically five years into her 'comeback', Capriati re-committed herself to the game she had played since a toddler and won her first Grand Slam ten long years after everyone thought she would.

Martina Hingis was much like Seles and Capriati: a teen upstart with an sassy attitude and the game to match. In 1997, the then 16 year old won three of the four Majors and was the number one player in the world. Five years later she was a bitter middleweight, and left the tour due to 'foot problems'.

Though Hingis was driven away not by a knife or the lure of normalcy, the same call that Seles and Capriati heard beckoned the Swiss Miss back to the WTA in 2006, where she made a triumphant return into the Top 10.

Though Hingis has not produced a Slam in her second go as a pro, the verdict is still out on whether or not she indeed can be christened a Comeback Queen. As is the verdict on Lindsay Davenport, who is just one tournament (in singles) and a handful matches into her trial as touring mother.

Davenport's comeback comes under much different circumstnces than the three former teen queens, yet the goal is the same: win a Slam and get back to the top of the game. The Californian's strokes have always been some of the cleanest and most effective on tour, but will her once-scrutinized limited movement become a liability again?

It's hard to tell so soon, but it's easy to see that Davenport would like to join the distinguished of both the past (the aforementioned Queens) and the present (Henin, Williams and co.). Does she have what it takes?

If becoming a mom can teach Davenport one thing, perhaps it is how to handle her mood swings on the court. For much of her career, the American struggled with negativity on the court. With slumping shoulders and a moping attitude, Davenport lost many matches that - if she had the fighting spirit of a Serena Williams - she might have been able to have pulled out.

So if Jagger has taught Lindsay any lessons yet, they might give his mom an idea of how to become a Comeback Queen.

Introducing Jennifer Potter

While browsing around for my usual 'Clip of the Week' I decided to trot over to Flickr to check out if they had any good stuff to do a photo blog post.

I love Flickr for the fact that it is all amateur individuals (like myself) just doing what they love. It's always a great opportunity for me to post a picture by an individual who has attended a tennis tournament and link to their profile so they can get a little exposure. It's all about give-and-take in the blog world, right?

So instead of posting a COTW, I've decided instead to go with a Picture of the Week. Pavlobot, who I'll call the 'artist', not photographer - seems to be a creative individual, so check out the other photos in the profile.

Without further adieu, ladies and gentlemen, Jennifer Potter:

(With Harry's magical powers and Jennifer's wicked forehand, Jennifer Potter is a fierce 97-2 on the tour this year.)

Ten Days: Ten Topics

Being gone from the tennis world - from the entire world, for that matter - for 10 days feels like a lifetime. Four delayed flights, five days at the cabin and one late-delivered bag later, I'm back in the TENNIS Magazine offices this morning. But, to my utmost shock and surprise, the tennis world continued while I was away. Here's what I missed the most.

1. Jennifer Capriati was on court at the Acura Classic after the women's final to help bid farewell to one of the WTA's most beloved tournaments. I hope it wasn't a pseudo farewell for J-Cap too...

2. Lindsay Davenport officially took the Hingis Train for her comeback transportation. From WTT to doubles to singles. Let's see if the new mama can make some waves on her return to the tour.

3. Sam Querrey and John Isner announced their arrivals on the tour. Is anyone else seeing a taller-than-6'3-trend here?

4. Troy blogged on the Road Trip commercial and the fans loved it! How could they not though, really?

5. The ATP is the next NBA? Yikes.

6. Luke Jensen came to Montana and I totally missed it. Damn, and he could have yelled loudly into my face instead of the TV screen, I'm so sorry I didn't get that real-life experience.

7. Venus supposedly hits the hardest ball in women's tennis - well, at least at last week's Acura. But what I don't understand is that if you're taking the hardest hit shot from a category of six or so, how does that warrant the hardest average? I smell system flaw.

8. Kim Clijsters hasn't updated her web site in two weeks! Someone call the authorities! Well, she could be trying to get pregnant...or saving puppies from the streets of Belgium. No worries, Kim fans, her book is still slated for publishing.

9. The ATP is getting so awkward that they hosted a fashion show to kick off Canada this week.

10. Madison Brengle won her first match in LA as a wild card. Up next? Dementieva or Makarova. Hmmm...

Tennis Chatter

Poor Camille Pin. After losing to Maria Sharapova in the first round of the Aussie, the Frenchwoman lost 8-6 in the third set to Patty Schnyder in the opening round at Wimbledon and now has fell to Aikiko Morigami 7-6(2) in the third set (after having a match point) on day one in Cincinnati. Can you think of anyone who deserves a close three-setter to swing her way more?

Speaking of blowing close three-setters, Jennifer Capriati has a few (think US Open semifinals in '91, '03 and '04) to her name. But no on-court victory is as sweet as the battle she's slowly overcoming off the tour.

If you didn't get good and full after breakfast at Wimbledon, make sure to check out Jon Wertheim's 50 facts. They're always entertaining.

Venus couldn't quite do what Francesca did this past weekend. Check out Peter Bodo's TennisWorld entry on this weekend's Fed Cup action.

A Brief History of Bad Umpires

It seems as though the Sharapova-Schnyder match up yesterday has brought about a couple days worth of history lessons. Not only did the girls continue the 9-7 trend, but so too did the chair umpire continue a trend in the women's game for making poor decisions at key moments in tense moments. All which came at respective majors.

Case One
Maria Sharapova versus Patty Schnyder
4th Round - 2007 French Open
At 7-all in the third, Sharapova led 30-0 serving and vaulted a first serve onto Schnyder's side when the Swiss put her hand up mid-motion, letting her opponent know she was not ready because of crowd noise. But Sharapova would have nothing of it, and neither would the chair judge, Kader Nouni of France, awarding the point to the Russian, and - seemingly - the match.


Case Two
Venus Williams versus Karolina Sprem
2nd Round - 2004 Wimbledon
You all remember 2004, when Venus Williams struggled with Karolina Sprem in the 2nd round of Wimbledon. Sprem had taken the first set and the second was in a tie-break when Ted Watts, chair umpire for the match, called the score 2-2, ignoring a lines woman's call and mistakenly giving Sprem an extra point. The mistake was no doubt embarrassing, but would give Sprem an extra chance to fight back, and, eventually beat Venus 8-6 in the breaker.


Case Three
Jennifer Capriati versus Serena Williams
Quarterfinals - 2004 US Open
It was a couple months later when a weary Serena, remembering the Venus incident, argued with the chair umpire, Sandra de Jenkin, about a ball she overruled on the opposite sideline. Capriati would win the match later in the third, 6-4.


Oh, and I never made the connection that it was indeed Ms. de Jenkin who also made the infamous Henin-pressured overrule during the 2004 Aussie Open final. Jeez Sandra, 0 for 2.

Just Re-Jenn-erating?

I can't resist the opportunity to blog about my favorite player of all time: Jennifer Capriati, when news of her surfaces. From the time she made her unpredictable and unprecedented comeback in 2001, I have been a huge fan of this former teen phenom. Though I was too young to remember much of her golden days, (I was four when she debuted in Miami in '90), watching old matches through YouTube and ESPNClassic I can see why Capriati captured the hearts of so many tennis enthusiasts.

Capriati has been a ghost on the WTA Tour for the last two calendar years, last competing in the fall of 2004 following her tremendous run to the US Open semifinals (including the dramatic "Wow, that ball was so far in" win over Serena Williams). Injuries have always hampered Capriati in one way or another, but a bad shoulder have kept her at bay for 27 months and rumors have circled time and again that she is thinking about anything but a return to the court.
Yet Capriati made a special appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday, appearing on behalf of Sony Ericsson...a sure sign that the game's diva of divas in fact may not be finished.

In fact, she talked candidly (though non-committal) about her attempts to return to the game in an interview with Variety TV. What I have always loved about Jennifer Capriati is her ability to hint at things without really giving much information. She has always been personal with the media in a disconnected sort of way (remember the Matthew Perry debacle?)...and always ready to ask for her space.

A Capriati prediction? I just don't know. I'd love to see her back late spring to prepare for the French, but the way she hesitated to say she was only "working out" and not "practicing" means to me that she hasn't been hitting the court hard yet and might be back on the tour by summer at the earliest.

Until then, I'll continue to watch replays of my favorite Jen moments: her freaking out at the umpire in the 2002 Aussie Final (she got the linesman removed) and her "I didn't see the ball, so just keep playing, Serena!" attitude during the infamous line call at the US Open in '04. Now that's good tennis...or maybe just good tempers?

Confessions of a Teenage Drama (and Tennis) Queen

I was watching an old episode of Around the Horn (terrible show on ESPN...but it's Christmas Break, what can I say?) and a 2004 edition of the show had the Jennifer Capriati French Open semifinal meltdown (she lost two and two to Myskina) as one of the points of discussion.

The various guests on the show (all writers for distinguished American newspapers) talked about the bombing of Capriati and how the French Open field had been depleted to a barrage of unknowns. One of the players that was mentioned was none other than Maria Sharapova, the now Teenage Drama Queen of the Tennis Court.

It was amusing to watch these professional sports journalists stumble over Sharapova's name, and when one of them said that she was the up-and-comer of the tour, the others scoffed at their colleague and it was on to talk of Tiger's slump and NASCAR catastrophes.

Two weeks later, however, Maria would belt her way through the Wimbledon field in order to capture her maiden slam title. After squeaking out a quarterfinal win over Ai Sugiyama (7-5 in the third) and being saved by the rains of London and a moody Lindsay Davenport, Sharapova took Serena Williams (and the rest of the tennis world) by surprise with her 6-1, 6-4 drubbing of the younger Williams. Tennis had found its new Queen: 17 and cell-phone savvy; she could giggle almost as good as she could grunt.

In the past two years, Sharapova has matched (if not surpassed) Serena Williams in the tennis diva slash celebrity category by becoming an internationally-known model/spokeswoman/athlete/sex symbol/millionaire. The difference, however, was that Sharapova was able to maintain her high level of play, advancing to five slam semifinals following her Wimbledon 04 title and finally landing a sophomore slam at the US Open this past fall.

Even with all this on-court and off-court success, the lords of the 21st century demanded more of the Russian-born Sharapova. It wasn't enough that she had won multiple slams, signed the biggest endorsement in women's sports history or been named one of the 100 most beautiful people in the world, Sharapova didn't have a (gasp!) website. Like any star (athlete or actress), Sharapova answered with swift action, launching www.mariasharapova.com, her website in late September following her US Open victory. What is surprising about this website isn't that it gives fans useless links and out-of-date information, but rather the Sharapova-ness that is distinguishably oozes.

Maria blogs at least once a week, talking about her personal life and the adventures of a young star. This - as far as my research shows - is the best women's pro tennis player web page on the internet. The photos, the blogs, the news updates and the player information (stats, etc.) are all there for both the common fan and the Maria maniacs alike. I particularly enjoy Sharapova's latest installment: The Top 10 Lists.

And until Venus, Serena, Justine or Amelie is able to name their top ten "Things They Hate" or "Sweets They Love" while training during the off-season for the most grueling grand slam of the year, I must crown Miss Sharapova as the Teenage Drama (and Tennis) Queen for the new year. It's not just her on-court performances that are grabbing our attention now; but the quick-witted and light-hearted confessions of a champion that keep us coming back.