It was about this time a year ago that Jennifer Capriati made her open promise, that if 1993 tennis was as much of a sewer trip as 1992, she would pack up her little sneakers, throw her rackets in storage and be a ghost.
Audi 5000, outta here.
“I’ll just take myself out of tennis and find something else to do with my life,” she said. “I’ve thought a lot about that, and I think it’s the healthy decision.”
Capriati, 17, is in a scheduled five-month break from the tour, supposedly because of a nagging elbow injury. Yet, those close to her are unsure if this once-bubbly teen star has, true to her word, given up being a millionaire tennis pro.
“I think she played before because she thought she was supposed to. I don’t think she wants to play right now. She’s not into it,” said Tommy Thompson, director of coaching at Harry Hopman-Saddlebrook, where Capriati trains.
“Maybe she should take a break before she really starts to hate the game. And maybe when she gets sick of going to the mall and all that, she’ll come back.”
Capriati’s agent, Barbara Perry, insists her client plans to resume playing next season. She said doctors have advised Capriati to let bone chips in her elbow heal and not practice until January.
“In August, she signed up for a full schedule for ’94, and we’ve always been operating on the fact that she’s playing in ’94,” Perry said. “She has never mentioned she wants to change that.”
For the last two years, Capriati has wrestled with her demanding life as an international celebrity, a life that at times has pressured her, controlled her and even brought her to tears.
Much like the year before, last season was a mix of achievement and stagnation, tournament victories sprinkled among unanticipated losses that left her at a career-low ninth in the rankings.
She has looked disinterested and discontented. She slacked off in workouts, sulked heavily after losses and shunned the media. Through her agent, Capriati and her family refused four interview requests for this story.
This season ended disappointingly with a first-round loss at the U.S. Open on Aug. 31, and she hasn’t played a tour match since. Several people have hinted that the ailing right elbow isn’t all that’s wrong with Capriati.
The off-season has brought renewed calls from Billie Jean King and others for Capriati to take an extended break from tennis, for anywhere from four months to four years to forever.
In the latest issue of Tennis magazine, there’s an open letter to Capriati encouraging her to stop playing until she graduates from high school. She’s a senior at Saddlebrook, Fla.
“If I were coaching her, I would tell her no tennis for at least six months,” King said. “If she wanted to hit, fine. But only recreationally; no keeping score. I would also tell her, `If you don’t want to play tennis ever again, that’s fine.’ “
Chris Evert, something of a big sister to Capriati, talked to her on the phone. “She sounded fine and said she’s having a good time, and she was very introspective about her tennis,” Evert said. “I think (her break from tennis) started out with the elbow, but it’s more. She hasn’t been into tennis as much as normal.
“I would think she would come back. When is the question. I think eventually she’ll realize the tremendous talent she has and she’ll want to get back out there.”
“She wants to be a normal kid,” said ESPN commentator Mary Carillo, a former pro. “She’s into her friends and the latest clothes.”
Officials at the Women’s Tennis Association say they aren’t worried about one of their biggest drawing cards. They say Capriati will return to the tour in February, but won’t say at which tournament. WTA executive director Gerard Smith said he’s had no indication Capriati might shelve her career. But he didn’t sound as if he was ready to bet the ranch.
“It’s our hope that Jennifer will come back,” he said. “Our concern is that Jennifer do what’s right for Jennifer.”
That means first determining who Jennifer is, which apparently is something she is grappling with.
At 13, when she reportedly signed for an unprecedented $6 million in endorsement contracts before turning pro, answering that question was easy: She was a tiger in tennis shoes, a giggly but gifted player with court tenacity.
“She was always driven,” said Rick Macci, one of her early coaches. “She would practice 6-7 hours a day.”
After turning pro in March 1990, Capriati was a media darling. But she was different in 1992. Close losses to top players that had encouraged her before became unacceptible, and postmatch interviews became sour and serious. Training hard became less of a priority.
She blew two chances to serve out a U.S. Open match against Monica Seles that would have put her into a first Grand Slam final. She reportedly cried and was still brooding weeks later. Some say she hasn’t been the same since.
She turned 16 in March 1992 and began a rebellious period. She squabbled with parents over control of her career and her personal life. She gained weight, changed coaches and began dressing like a member of some hard-rock band-all black, combat boots, gobs of silver jewelry, heavy black eyeliner and electric-blue fingernail polish.
If winning an Olympic gold medal in Barcelona eased her out of her funk, a third-round loss to unheralded Patricia Hy at the U.S. Open in September plunged her back into it. More tears, more seclusion. Capriati called the year “a waste” and admitted she just went through the motions at times.
Last year wasn’t nearly as traumatic, but it seemed no more pleasurable. Misfortune dogged her at Grand Slam tournaments. She drew top-ranked Steffi Graf for the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon-and narrowly lost each time.
She went through more coaches, avoided more reporters. After her swift exit at the U.S. Open, she bagged her remaining tournament commitments because of the bad elbow, returned to Florida, moved out of her parents’ home and into her own apartment in an opulent complex in Tampa.
On Dec. 9, she was cited for shoplifting at a mall. She said it was an innocent mistake.
“It’s apparent she isn’t having a lot of fun on the court, and she’s going through a little rebellion stage,” said one of her former coaches, Tom Gullikson. “She’s under a lot of pressure from sponsors, tournament directors and promoters where she’s had to live up to expectations. And she has gotten kind of overburdened at times.”
So here’s the $6-million question: How is it that a 17-year-old who literally has money to burn, can beat almost every woman on the planet and is recognized worldwide, can be so unhappy?
How is it she can read over her four-year statistics of nine Grand Slam quarterfinal-or-better finishes, $1.5 million in prize money, victories over all the top players and several “youngest-ever” records, and see anything other than brilliance?
Evert said it has something to do with perspective. “You have to realize that at Jennifer’s age, you’re still so impressionable and sensitive, and you’re still forming your personality. And very few teenagers have good self-confidence.
“I remember when I was young, whenever I lost, I wanted to cover my head with a bag and stay in my hotel room all day. I was extremely happy if I won, and real depressed if I lost. To us, a loss is no big deal, but to a teenager, it can seem like the end of the world.”
And here’s a peek at the type of perspective Capriati has on her career: “If I knew my future, and if I would never in my life be No. 1, then I don’t know if I’d keep it up. Really, I think I’d just tell myself to forget it because I don’t want to be near the top. I have to be the best at what I’m doing.”
All of this brings up another potential million-dollar question: Is a 14-year-old emotionally ready for pro tennis? The Women’s Tennis Council age-eligibility rule states that a player can turn pro at 13 years and 11 months.
Smith said the WTC is forming a panel to re-evaluate the rule. He insists it is not specifically because of Capriati’s publicized difficulties.
“I think 16 would be a little better,” Gullikson said. “The earlier the girls start, the sooner the chance of burning out.”
Capriati’s many supporters are convinced that hasn’t happened to her, that she’ll eventually become the champion everyone expected. But former pro Virginia Wade says, “Quite a lot of damage has already been done.”
