Capriati's game clicks in time for U.S. Open
Charles Grandmont
World number three Jennifer Capriati played her first U.S. Open twelve years ago, just as she was becoming, at 14, the youngest player to reach the top 10.
So far the Flushing Meadows title has eluded the 26-year-old American, but she is bent on breaking the Williams sisters' three-year hold on her home grand slam this year.
Capriati will arrive in New York on the heels of reaching the Canadian Open final last week. Despite losing the clash to France's Amelie Mauresmo, who also scuppered Capriati's Wimbledon dreams in the quarter-finals last month, the American remained upbeat about her chances.
"I know I'm playing good tennis so I won't let this match (against Mauresmo) disappoint me." Capriati said last week after reaching her first final since the Miami Masters in March.
After a bumpy decade of personal lows, during which she fell from grace and out of the top 100, Capriati has roared back in the last two years.
She won her first two grand slams at the 2001 Australian and French Opens and a third in Australia last January, grabbing the top spot of the women's rankings for 16 weeks in the process.
STREAK BROKEN
She has, however, failed to win a title since Melbourne.
"There's a lot of good players out there and you can't win all the time and it's just the way it is," Capriati said.
"I haven't won the titles (but) I have still had a great year. I have only had a few quarter-final losses."
She was indeed on a roll after her win in Australia, reaching the finals of Scottsdale and Miami, but losing both to Serena Williams.
She then advanced to four semi-finals in a row, in Charleston, Berlin, Rome and Roland Garros, where she was again seen off by eventual winner Serena.
The French Open marked the sixth consecutive major where Capriati had reached at least the semi-finals. But that streak was finally broken on the slick grasscourts of Wimbledon.
Feeling off peak, the former world number one upped her training regime.
"In the last couple of months, I haven't been moving as well as I think I have in the past, so I just wanted to get that back a little bit," said Capriati.
"I tried to get into better shape and shed some weight and change diet things around. It's a matter of feeling more agile on the court and lighter and just feeling more fluid.
"But I'm happy that it's finally coming together. I really feel the results starting to work for me."
Capriati has never made it through to a final at the U.S. Open. Two semi-final appearances -- in 1991 and 2001 -- mark her best result in the noisy arena that is Flushing Meadows.
With her fearsome powergame clicking at just the right moment, Capriati is poised to make her mark in the year's last grand slam event.
