Tennis

Capriati's stunning comeback tops in 2001

 The stinging strokes were similar. So much else was different.

 Tumultuous teens and early 20s behind her, Capriati finally emerged in '01 as the complete player she looked like she could be in '91.

 Her success -- Australian and French Open championships, a stint at No. 1 -- was one of several stunning developments in 2001, including an all-sister U.S. Open final, Lleyton Hewitt's rise to the No. 1 ranking, and the birth of a boy with championship genes to new parents Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.

 In Canada, both the women's Rogers AT&T Cup in Toronto and the men's Tennis Masters Series event were smash hits at the gate, but disappointments for Canadian players, none of whom got past the first round in singles play.

 Little-known Andrei Pavel of Romania ousted fan favourite Patrick Rafter in the men's final, while Serena Williams beat Capriati in the final of a star-studded women's event. It was one of the few setbacks of the season for Capriati.

 "I am proud to be able to come back from everything that's happened in my life," Capriati said in October, when she became the ninth woman to top the WTA rankings. "I think it shows everybody that it's never too late to realize your talent, or your dream."

 It took her some time.

 At 14 in 1990, Capriati accumulated a string of accolades as the youngest ever to reach a Grand Slam semifinal, win a Wimbledon match and move into the Top 10.

 But then it all unravelled with well-chronicled drug and other problems, and she dropped off the tour in 1993.

 Capriati returned to the game in April 1996 and ranked No. 267 two years later. A breakthrough seemed unlikely.

 When she won in Australia in January, she returned to the Top 10 for the first time in seven years. Then came her epic French Open final victory (12-10 in the final set) over Kim Clijsters.

 Venus Williams stopped Capriati's bid for a Grand Slam by winning both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open for the second straight year.

 At the U.S. Open, Williams didn't do her customary twirl to celebrate a title. Instead, she hugged her opponent, younger sister Serena, and said, "I love you."

 As usual when they meet, the match was more noteworthy for history making than shot making.

 It had been more than 100 years since sisters played for a Grand Slam title. Two black players had never stood at opposite sides of a net to decide a major singles championship. And it was the first women's Grand Slam final in prime time -- a TV change prompted by the increase in the sport's popularity fuelled in part by Team Williams.

 "It was my dad's dream, my mom's dream," said 21-year-old Venus, 15 months older than Serena. "They told us we'd be here playing each other in the final."

 They didn't play anyone too often in '01. Venus played 12 tournaments (winning half), Serena 10. No one else in the Top 100 played so infrequently.

 Capriati went 56-14 for the year (24-2 at majors), briefly replacing Martina Hingis at the top of the rankings. Lindsay Davenport slipped past Capriati to finish the year at No. 1 thanks to a tour-high seven titles.

 Other than Capriati's renaissance at the old-only-in-tennis-and-gymnastics age of 25, tennis generally looked more fondly upon youngsters in 2001.

 Pete Sampras didn't hoist a trophy at the end of any tournament -- extending his winless slide to 11/2 years and dropping him to No. 10, his lowest ranking since 1989.

 He did shine at the U.S. Open, including a four-tiebreaker thriller over fellow 30-something Agassi. It was an instant classic pitting polar opposites: serve-and-volleyer vs. baseline slugger; their generation's top server vs. its top returner; country-club white outfit vs. image-is-everything black getup.

 After losing, a sweat-soaked Agassi whispered "win this thing" to Sampras amid the din of the night's final standing ovation.

 But while the top two players of the 1990s battled, a more significant struggle was also fought in the quarter-finals between what is perhaps next two men's greats, with Hewitt, 20, of Australia defeating American Andy Roddick, 18, in a five-set thriller.

 Sampras had no chance in the final. He lost in straight sets to Hewitt, whose decision to let Sampras serve first was as brash as his youthful garb: baseball cap turned backward, baggy black shorts, a neon red shirt with a yellow racing stripe.

 Hewitt was the youngest U.S. Open champion since Sampras in 1990, and the youngest man to finish a year at No. 1. He went 79-17, including a tour-best 17-match winning streak, and won more than $3.7 million US.

 "He's got the best return and the best wheels in the game," Sampras said. "You're going to see this Lleyton Hewitt guy for the next 10 years, like you saw me."

 It was a tough year for Canadian players, men and women, as only one player, Jana Nejedly of Toronto, ended the year in the top 100 in singles. Nejedly was ranked 96th.

 Daniel Nestor of Toronto won four tournaments in doubles, including the Australian Open with Aussie partner Sandon Stolle, but Sebastien Lareau of Boucherville, Que., went through a succession of partners and managed only a berth in the final at Indianapolis.

 The men's Davis Cup team needed a 3-2 win in Mexico in July to remain in American Zone, Group 1 play for 2002. After the series, doubles specialist Jerry Turek of Coquitlam, B.C., suffered an ankle injury and opted to retire at 26.

 The women's Federation Cup team lost to Brazil and will also remain in American Zone play next year.

 It was livelier in the boardroom, as the tournament directors for both major Canadian events -- Jane Wynne in Toronto and Richard Legendre in Montreal -- resigned.

 Wynne, who will remain a consultant, was replaced by former marketing vice-president Stacey Allastar. Legendre left to become tourism and sports minister in Quebec's Parti Quebecois government. His former assistant, Eugene Lapierre, took over as tournament director.

 The men's tournament in Montreal drew a record 161,735 spectators.

 Also in 2001:

 -- Goran Ivanisevic forgot about his failed finals ('92, '94, '98) and became Wimbledon's first wild-card champion, defeating Rafter before a raucous Monday crowd.

 -- Agassi won his second straight Australian Open; Gustavo Kuerten won his third French Open.

 -- Justine Henin (Wimbledon) and Clijsters were the first Belgians to reach a Grand Slam final and led their country to its first Fed Cup crown.

 -- France topped Australia for the Davis Cup.

 -- The Grand Slam events doubled the number of seeded players to 32, a change designed to protect stars and satisfy clay and grass specialists.

 -- Soap Opera Digest: A prosecutor began a romance with Hingis after he won a two-year jail sentence for her stalker.

 -- Soap Opera Digest II: Anna Kournikova's love life made news, but she still hasn't won a tournament. She missed much of '01 with a broken foot.

 For all the excitement generated by Capriati, 2001 might be remembered years from now for something that happened far from the court.

 A five-pound, seven-ounce boy named Jaden Gil was born to a family that has 28 Grand Slam singles titles. British bookmaker William Hill is taking bets (odds: 500-1) on whether he will join papa Andre and mama Steffi as a Wimbledon champion.