For Capriati’s Comeback, It’ll Be February in Paris

Jennifer Capriati, the sometimes troubled teenager who has played only three sets of competitive tennis in 2 1/2 years, will return to the professional tour at next week’s Paris Open.

Capriati asked for and received a wild-card entry. The tournament will be her first since November 1994. Capriati, 19, lost in the first round of that event in Philadelphia and left the tour, aborting a much-anticipated comeback.

“I feel great,” Capriati said Monday in a statement released by the WTA Tour. “I’m really excited about playing in Paris. I’ve been working with my dad in Tampa and I really feel like I’m ready to play.”

Capriati has been living in Wesley Chapel, Fla., with her father, Stefano, and younger brother, Stephen, near the Saddlebrook tennis resort. Tommy Thompson, director of coaching at the Harry Hopman Tennis Academy at Saddlebrook, said Capriati trains at the academy with male college players two to three times a week.

“She’s ready to go,” Thompson said. “I think she can do well.”

Capriati turned pro at 13 and brought an enthusiasm and joy to her game that endeared her to fans and sponsors. She won the Olympic gold medal in 1992 but soon afterward her career flamed out. A year later, Capriati lost in the first round of the U.S. Open and quit tennis at 17.

Her fame turned into infamy months later when she was arrested for shoplifting. Then, in May 1994, Capriati was arrested for possession of marijuana and underwent court-mandated drug treatment.

Since then, players and officials in women’s tennis have appealed to Capriati to return to the tour.

“She produces exciting tennis whenever she steps on to the court,” said Anne Person Worcester, chief executive officer of the WTA Tour. “Her participation is another boost for women’s tennis.”

Capriati’s Florida neighbors, players Monica Seles and Mary Pierce, have reportedly been urging her to come back. Seles, especially, has been an example of how to deal with reporters, a concern for Capriati. Seles was stabbed by a disturbed fan at Hamburg, Germany, in 1993 and only returned to the tour last August.

“You’ll have to face the media at one place or another,” said Karen Feldman, executive director of the WTA Players’ Assn. “Monica’s done it. Look at the scrutiny she’s been under. I don’t think of any of this as a comeback. I take it a day at a time, like I hope she is. . . . You have to think about the person, more than what’s good for women’s tennis. If it’s good for Jennifer, then it’s good for women’s tennis.”

Capriati will return unranked and won’t enjoy top-ranked players’ privilege of first-round byes. She will probably play Tuesday and, because she is unranked, will meet higher-ranked players in early rounds.

Capriati has been poised to come back for months. She reportedly obtained an Australian visa before last month’s Australian Open. Last year, she frequently queried Fed Cup captain Billie Jean King about the possibility of playing on the U.S. team.

The Paris Open is operated by International Management Group, the management company that represents Capriati. The last tournament she played in was also an IMG event.

Capriati would not say what other tour events, if any, she intended to enter. “I’m taking things one step at a time,” she said.

Still, speculation immediately began that she might play in the State Farm Evert Cup at Indian Wells, which begins March 8. The tournament director is Barbara Perry, Capriati’s IMG agent.