Return Engagement for Capriati

Watching Jennifer Capriati is like going to a Rolling Stones concert: They may not tour for a while, sometimes even years, but they keep coming back, showing periodic flashes of former greatness if sufficient rust is scraped off.

Rust never sleeps, or something like that.

The Capriati comeback tour--which sounds redundant considering all the times she has attempted to rebound--rolled into Wimbledon for the first time since 1993. The one-time teen prodigy who is now 22 hasn’t won much in 1998 and was denied a wild card at the French Open. But for once, the draw was forgiving, and Capriati defeated 81st-ranked Nicole Pratt of Australia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, in a first-round match. Capriati made it tough, squandering four match points before finishing it with a backhand passing shot.

“It’s great. You know, I’ve made it back to all the other Grand Slams, but this one I haven’t,” said Capriati, a wild-card entry. “It brings back a lot of good memories.”

If anything, there seems to be a run of comeback stories lately on the women’s side: Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. But Capriati’s is a bit different. Hers has been a much-told tale of injury, burnout, rebellion and brushes with authority and law enforcement.

Even Capriati, who is ranked 151st, recognized that her “story” has turned into one of epic length.

“I mean, we could be here all day for that,” she said, smiling. “That could take a year.”

Before the match against Pratt, Capriati had won only five matches this year and all of them came during the clay-court season.

She still seems somewhat vulnerable, with no full-time coach and a big bag of ice on her left shoulder during her news conference.

“I have to believe in myself and believe that I can go all the way,” she said. “If I don’t believe that, I see no point of me being here. . . . I guess winning it or being at the top of what I can do. Maybe that’s not No. 1. Maybe just No. 5, but that’s fine.”

Meanwhile, the comebacks of Graf and Seles proceeded smoothly Wednesday. The fourth-seeded Graf won the first seven games on her way to beating Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia, 6-0, 6-4, and the sixth-seeded Seles beat Alexandra Fusai of France, 6-1, 6-1. Both were second-round matches.

The only seeded woman to lose Wednesday was No. 9 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa. Naoko Sawamatsu of Japan beat Coetzer, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, in the second round. Coetzer has been struggling lately in major events, and lost in the opening round at the French Open.