Capriati makes classy exit

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- Jennifer Capriati served at break point with rain falling, wondering why this match had not been stopped.

She had strained her neck midway through the match and had to withstand three rain delays.

But Capriati, winner of three of the last six Grand Slams, wasn't about to use any of those excuses for her quarterfinal defeat Wednesday to Amelie Mauresmo at Wimbledon.

Instead, she credited Mauresmo, the Australian Open finalist in 1999.

"It didn't help to be playing an opponent today that was playing the best she's played in a long, long time," said Capriati, whose 6-3, 6-2 loss ended a run of six consecutive semifinal appearances at majors. "I've really got to hand it to her, she played unbelievable"

The excuses, though, were there for the taking.

Just before the first delay in the sixth game of the first set, Capriati was serving on break point when the rain came. She glanced at the chair umpire, but play wasn't immediately suspended.

"That was a key time because that's when I got broken," Capriati said. "I'm serving right into the way the rain is coming down on me."

She double-faulted on break point. Mauresmo led 4-2 and held service the rest of the way for a first-set win. From there, it didn't get much better. She felt a slight a strain in her neck at the start of the second set.

"It was just one of those nagging feelings," she said. "But I don't think it had anything to do with my loss today."

Potential excuse three: the rain delays.

"It's very hard, but it's the same for everyone," Capriati said. "Everyone's got to go through it. You just have to know that this is Wimbledon."

Now, Wimbledon is done for Capriati. She can look forward to some time off before tuning up for the U.S. Open.

"I'll try to take a break," said Capriati. "I'll have about three weeks off to get ready for the hard-court season."

"I try to be in the best physical shape I can be so it doesn't wear me down. But I'm definitely not the 16-year-old body anymore."

Capriati's remarkable return from career crisis to the top of tennis came in 2001, with championships at the Australian and French Opens and a brief turn at No. 1.

At 14, Capriati reached the semifinals of the first Grand Slam tournament she played -- the 1990 French Open. Another 11 years would pass before she would take the next step, reaching a major final.

Drugs and other problems stopped her progress, and Capriati dropped off the tour after the 1993 U.S. Open. She didn't play a competitive match for 21/2 years.

Since then, she's taken the good with the bad.

On Wednesday, the chair umpire overruled two serves in a row by Mauresmo to make them aces.

"At that point, I just realized things weren't going my way," she said. "There was no point in really arguing with it."

 

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