Tennis Prodigy Capriati Making Pro Debut at 13

Jennifer Capriati, a 13-year-old hailed by Billie Jean King as the best young player of any generation, makes her eagerly anticipated debut in the world of professional tennis Tuesday.

Such is Capriati’s reputation already that she has signed endorsement deals reportedly worth more than $5.5 million even before her first professional match in a $350,000 tournament in her home state of Florida.

The tennis prodigy showed her promise by winning the junior French Open and U.S. Open titles last year and played alongside professionals in the U.S. Wightman Cup team, taking her debut match 6-0, 6-0.

“She is the best young player of this generation or any other generation, including when Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger came up,” said King, winner of 20 Wimbledon titles, who has coached Capriati and will play doubles with her in Boca Raton.

“Her sense of the court, where to hit the ball, is almost as good as (world No. 1 Steffi) Graf’s,” she said.

Under Women’s International Professional Tennis Council rules, a player cannot enter a professional tournament until the month of her 14th birthday.

Capriati turns 14 on March 28 and says she is confident about coping with the pressure from a nation eager to find a successor to Chris Evert.

“I’m looking forward to going out there and having a great career and having a lot of fun on the pro circuit,” Capriati said. “I’m not going to think about the pressure. I’m trying to blank it out. I am playing for myself.”

Austin, almost 16 when she played and won her first professional tournament in Stuttgart, West Germany, said Capriati would have a tougher debut.

“There wasn’t as much pressure on me as there is on Capriati because I had been playing and people knew who I was,” said Austin, twice U.S. Open champion before injury forced her to quit.

“Everyone knows who Capriati is. She has all these contracts, and she hasn’t played a match. That’s pressure.”

Capriati has her own clothing line and a racket contract, both set up by Evert’s brother John.

Evert, whose father coached Capriati when she was younger, said she has spoken to Capriati on several occasions and believes she can handle the pressure.

“She loves tennis, and that’s the most important thing. For her it’s not a business, it’s a lot of fun and she is a great little player,” Evert said.

Capriati said she would play no more than 12 tournaments this year, including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, which she has dreamed about entering since she first picked up a racket at age 5.

“I’m not expecting to win my first pro tournament, and I’m not expecting to lose in the first round. I just want to go out and play well so I can get ready for Wimbledon and the U.S. Open,” she said.

Capriati, still in junior high school, will be accompanied on the tennis circuit by a tutor and said she wants to have the option of going to college.