Article by Gerhard Grundhammer

26 year old Jennifer Capriati is Jelenas opponent at the quarterfinals of the Acura Classics. The no 3 of the world eliminated Meghannn Shaughnessy in the previous round 6-4 and 6-1, allowing Shaugnessy only 8 winners in the entire match!

Jenny-Baby, as she is mostly called, has won 13 tournaments in her career, two of them have been the Acura Classics in 1991 and 1992, and three of them have been Grand Slams. She has faced Jelena 4 times in her career, and won all 4 of those matches. The exact results were 7-5, 3-6 and 6-4 in May 2001, 6-4 and 6-2 in July and 6-4 and 6-3 in August 2001, here in San Diego.

Actually there would be so much to write about the former no1 of the world, it would fill a book, and not a short preview, and so I will concentrate on just one match of Capriati from now on. That will be the last meeting of the no1 and no2 of FILA, and took place at the quarterfinal of Roland Garros earlier this year.

Jennifer Capriati - Jelena Dokic 6-4, 4-6 and 6-1

(Even the picture is from that match and might give you a impression what Jelena has to expect.)

Both players are baseline-power-hitters, both hit every ball like there is no tomorrow, both dont use any spin, both hit every ball flat and both players dont wait for mistakes of her opponents (yes, its possible to win 3 Grand Slams without spin!!!). Both serve her second service with an incredible speed, in fact, at Wimbledon 2002 they were no1 and 2 in that ranking, and both give a **** about unforced errors, as long as they can attack, attack, attack.... And unforced errors of Capriati and Dokic aren`t the same as of Hingis, Clijsters and most other players. Mostly they are winners, which are just an inch to long.

But exactly the unforced errors decided their last meeting! Jennifer seemed to have a huge advantage on her serve (7 aces, 6 double faults - Jelena 1 and 14), but if you look at the set statistics they were not decisive, which means Jelena had as much double faults at set two, what she won, as in set three, what she lost 6-1. At every set, the girl with less unforced errors was the winner, and all together Jelena had 66 of them (Capriati "only" 48) comparing to 33 winners (Capriati 26). The total score in that match was 94 to 83 points to the american.

Both players were invited to a official press-converence after that match and i wrote down the interesting parts of that interviews:

Lets start with the "little" powerhouse:

Q. Some of the points your shots were so amazing, and some of the points you just gave it freely to Jennifer. Could you talk a little about your consistency, what happened?

Jelena: I think it was just concentration. I had so many chances in the first set, and I think we were both really nervous. That was the difference. I was just really -- you know, when I went for my shots, I played well. Whan I was tentative and defensive, I didn`t play well. When I was nervous -- and that`s I think what happened on my serve - I would get too tight and tentative, and that`s all that happened.

the other questions where about her future, and stuff.....

So let me continue with the "big" powerhouse:

Q. You had a lot of defense to play today.

Jennifer: Yes

Q. How do you deal with Dokic, knowing that she`s going for it on every stroke she hits out there, it`s either going to be hit or miss?

Jennifer: Right. That`s why it`s kind of tough to maintain a rhythm out there. But, I mean, lucky for me I like that kind of game. I like hitting the ball flat. That suits me. But unlucky is that she likes it, too, because I hit flat. I think she really feeds off my balls. But I think I was  able to change the rhythm a little bit. I tried that, and it worked a few times. Just I`ve probably played her enough. I feel like overall, shot for shot, I think I`m probably more powerful that her. Really I feel like I can run down her balls. As soon as I get the opening, I feel like, you know, I can sort of get ahead and take advantage.

Q. Do you ever play sets or train at Wesley Chapel?

Jennifer: Huh?

Q. With her?

Jennifer: No, not in a long time. We used to. She`s hardly there anymore.

Q. The match ahead is Serena Williams.....

Jennifer: I feel confident. I came up with good shots today, some big shots.
I served really well. I think I surprised myself on the serve. So hopefully
I haven`t used all of them up today. I`ve just got to go out and play my
game.

Q. How does it feel different, from maybe the beginning of the tournament,
when you are down to the last couple matches and you`re talking about highly
ranked opponents?

Jennifer: I mean, this is what really starts to fuel my fire. I really enjoy playing get -- getting at this stage of a tournament. In the beginning, it`s sometimes tough. You know, you really have to concentrate all the time. Maybe you might think that the matches are going to be easy, and you can loose a little bit of concentration. I think I`re really improved on that over the last few times. I`ve paced myself. I mean really now, it`s all been the preparation and giving up for the second week.

Q. I see Matthew Perry is in your group in the stands. Can you confirm? Is
he boyfriend, good friend?

Jennifer: Just good friend, uh-huh.