Rooting for Jennifer Capriati

Jennifer Capriati has been a poster-child several times over. A poster-child for rebellious teens and comeback queens.

On Saturday, the former World no. 1 will get inducted into the International Tennis Federation’s Hall of Fame – a worthy and deserving accolade for the woman who showed great potential only to let it slip all away before re-discovering her game and finding success on the court. As she did in her tennis career, Capriati is now trying to re-discover herself in the game of life. It’s a battle she has been fighting for a few years now – one that I, and millions of her fans around the world, hope Capriati will win.

At the height of her game, Capriati was fearless on the tennis court – hitting ground strokes with power, panache and placement – scampering around the baseline like a New York street fighter – never giving up on any point in any match. But shoulder injuries and failed surgeries meant that she had to give up playing in 2004 at the age of 28. Capriati wasn’t ready to bid goodbye to tennis yet. And not having closure on her tennis career has made it difficult for her to embrace life post-tennis.

Ever since her body turned its back on her, Capriati has turned her back on tennis and the public spotlight. A couple of years ago, she nearly turned her back on life itself – overdosing on prescription pills in an apparent attempt to commit suicide. It’s hard to believe that someone so tough and fearsome on court could become so weak and powerless when you take the racket away from them. But that’s exactly how she felt as she explained in an interview to the Daily News in 2007.

“Sometimes you get to a point where you can’t stop what you are thinking. It’s like you’re being taken over by a demon. You just feel there’s no way out of this space you’re in. It feels like the end of the world. When you are just so exhausted and tired of feeling that way, you (think), ‘I want to be off this planet right now, because I just feel disgusting inside. I can’t even stand my own skin, and I just want to get out.”

Capriati’s induction ceremony on Saturday into the Hall of Fame will be a tribute to her most famous battles on the court – her Olympic gold medal in Barcelona, her stunning come-from-behind win over Martina Hingis in the Australian Open finals (one of three Grand Slams she won), her 17 weeks as World no. 1 and her marathon battles at the US open semi finals – against Monica Seles in 1991 and Justine Henin in 2003. The battle she faces now is her biggest one yet.

We all have those moments when we feel the burden of life weighing heavily on our shoulders…when we think that maybe life isn’t worth the troubles and the aches… when the smallest small sign of encouragement may be the only thing that helps you make it through another day. Once she lets go of the past, there’s a brand new future waiting for her and Jennifer should know that her fans are rooting for her, just like they did when she played.