Capriati Should Learn to Get Time on Her Side

If Jennifer Capriati is to regain the No. 1 ranking in women’s tennis, she will have to find a way to control her anxieties.

They constitute the main reason she will be watching today’s U.S. Open final after falling apart in a quarterfinal loss to Amelie Mauresmo earlier this week at Ashe Stadium in New York.

The 10th-seeded Mauresmo took full advantage of No. 3 Capriati’s flightiness with a slow-down game and won in three sets, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

“All of a sudden, I just got really nervous and just really tight,” said Capriati, who has won the last two Australian Opens but is still seeking her first U.S. Open title.

Mauresmo, who lost to Venus Williams in the semifinals Friday, used every trick in the book to frustrate Capriati. Mauresmo took her sweet time throughout the 2-hour 18-minute quarterfinal match, often reaching the 30-second time limit between serves with a series of delaying tactics.

If she was not wiping her forehead with a wristband, she was moving hair away from her face or looking at the density of the fuzz on the ball.

Her play was in direct contrast to Capriati’s.

“She plays like she is double-parked, winning or losing, and I don’t think that is a good idea,” Richard Gallien, USC women’s tennis coach, said of Capriati.

Gamesmanship in tennis is nothing new. Bjorn Borg was famous for counting the strings on his racket when he wanted to control the pace of a match. The key for players on the waiting end is to keep their focus.

Having already lost twice to Mauresmo this summer, Capriati at first seemed up to a reversal. In winning the first set, she had plenty of pep in her step. She was in rhythm and playing with confidence. Mauresmo looked like the tighter player.

Capriati dominated play by winning one long rally after another, those rallies usually ending with unforced errors by Mauresmo, who won only two points over the final three games of the opening set.

Things began to turn in the second. That’s when Mauresmo became more methodical between serves, and, at times, even raised her hand to ask for a few seconds before Capriati served.

“Every time Jennifer was ready to serve, the other one was doing like that,” Capriati’s father, Stefano, told the Associated Press while moving his hand to imitate Mauresmo. “It was disturbing Jennifer.”

The more Mauresmo delayed, the more impatient Capriati became on the hottest day of the tournament. Before long, Mauresmo’s serves were aces and Capriati’s returns had turned into mis-hits.

It was obvious that Capriati’s nerves were on end when she complained about Mauresmo’s deliberate style before the start of the third game and twice asked the chair umpire if the rock music playing on the speakers between games could be turned down.

“That to me is more a sign that Mauresmo is in her head in general,” Gallien said. “Now she’s looking for things. When you start looking for things and when you have rabbit ears, you’re in trouble.

“She has to shut it out. If she lets it bother her, then it is her fault. She has to keep her composure and maybe be a little more patient.... Certainly not complain about it.”

Capriati still was in position to win the match when she broke Mauresmo’s serve and took a 6-5 lead in the second. But that’s when Mauresmo played her best tennis, winning the next two games to force a set tiebreaker.

Capriati then became her own worst enemy.

Late in the tiebreaker, she banged a forehand deep, then hit a short ball into the net and was trailing 6-4, double-set point. Capriati saved the first, but at 6-5, Mauresmo ran Capriati ragged before putting away a backhand volley winner.

In the third set, it was almost comical to watch Capriati try to speed up play. Instead of calming down and realizing that Mauresmo was beating her mentally, Capriati continued to bounce around the court as if she had to go to the restroom.

Which was fine with Mauresmo, who began to stay back more and look for longer points while Capriati started to make the unforced errors that Mauresmo had made in the first set.

“Capriati was more than willing [to make unforced errors],” Gallien said. “That’s a sign of somebody mentally saying, ‘I can’t take it anymore. I have had enough. I am not willing to accept the pain that it is going to take point in and point out.’ ”

Capriati, trailing, 5-3 in the third set and serving, saved four match points. It was reminiscent of this year’s Australian Open, in which she had recovered from a Grand Slam final-record four match points en route to escaping a 4-6, 0-4 hole against Martina Hingis.

But in the end, Capriati didn’t have it in her for another miracle comeback.

Her sixth double fault set up match point No. 5, and an errant forehand sent Mauresmo into the semifinals.

“I know she doesn’t like to play against me,” said Mauresmo, who improved to 4-3 lifetime against Capriati.

After the match, Capriati said that she had choked. She can only hope that she learned something from the experience.

“It hurts. Definitely hurts,” she said. “Just a lot of expectation, a lot of pressure put on myself. There’s a fine line, there’s a balance. That’s not good either, to just want it so bad.”