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They
are stories that are a pleasure to tell, above all for those who have
been able to witness the various episodes; like a good book, to be leafed
through chapter by chapter, passing from joy to disappointment, but
confident of a suitably happy ending. Jennifer Capriati and tennis,
a story of love and hate, of precocious achievements and dangerous precipices.
It all began when father Stefano, Italian by origin but American by
adoption, decided that his little girl’s future would be with a racket
in her hand. Four years and the fellow was set on the road by the expertise
of Jimmy Evert, Chris Evert’s father, in the rudiments of the game.
Naturally that great American women’s champion constitutes the standard
for style of play. Everything proceeded in the way her father hoped
for. At only twelve years of age, young Jennifer was already an exportable
phenomenon. She came to Italy and won the “Avvenire”. She was ready
for her professional debut, but the rules of the women’s circuit kept
her out until she was fourteen, when she made her debut close to home
(Boca Raton) and went straight to the final, being up to the standard
of the more expert Sabatini for a couple of sets. Jennifer was already
at a turning point. Some people saw it as a hopeful one, seeing that
television and tournaments were competing for her presence. But the
schoolgirl, who after her first victories on the circuit phoned her
classmates from the changing rooms to tell them the results, started
to disappear from view. Five star hotels, first class air travel, queues
for her autograph, made up an intoxicating cocktail that led the circuit’s
infant prodigy to lose her way. Furthermore, father Stefano and mother
Denise went through a crisis in their marriage that had no easy solution.
When Jennifer won the most important victory of her young career, triumphing
at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, the contrast between her parents’
ability to manage their daughter and the rebellious attitude of Jennifer’s
prima-donna-in-the-making was already too great. It was early 1993 when
“Jenny” packed her bags and said goodbye to the family home. She said
she need a space of her own, that she wanted a life and friendships
in addition to, and above all away from, tennis. She moved to a small
apartment in Coral Gable, Florida, and began a new life, with shabby
clothing, provocative behaviour and irregular hours. Psychologists explain
that the adolescent phase that was disturbing Jennifer is absolutely
normal. However it is one thing to let those who have nothing in hand
make a mistake, quite another to let a girl with a couple of billion
in the bank, whose childhood had willy-nilly been stolen by her tennis
racket, to try out little everyday transgressions. In the private parties
organised in her apartment, the step taken by the discontented because
they have everything, that from baby-food to cocaine, was a short one.
In summer 1994 the Coral Gable police raid on that apartment excessively
frequented by suspect youths was like a black eye to puritan America.
Among the many teenagers in handcuffs there was an unrecognisable Jennifer
Capriati. The only one to remain close to her, though at a proper distance,
was her father. The one who gave her a shake, who believed that there
was still an unused tennis potential within her, but above all the person
who managed to survive the preceding turbulence intact, was Harold Solomon,
a 1980s tennis player. Tournament after tournament, the first signs
of rebirth started to appear. In January 2000, Australia discovered
that the new Capriati could still create problems for the top players.
She reached the semi-final, where she was beaten by the winner, Davenport.
The rest of the season was a bit of an up and down, but only a few weeks
ago she triumphed in the Australian Open, where she faced Seles, Davenport
and Hingis, the cream of women’s tennis, without losing a match. If
there were any doubts about the possibility of her recovering lost ground,
they were swept away by the peremptoriness of the play of this rediscovered
American, who at this point could also be cited as one of the best examples
of sport rehabilitation. (traduzione Interpres SAS Giussano)
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