Dateline: 06/11/01

Jennifer Capriati is now halfway to a Grand Slam, having defeated Kim Clijsters 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 in Saturday's French Open final. It wasn't a particularly pretty match, with 76 unforced errors from Clijsters and 79 from Capriati.

Clijsters was known as one of the top rising stars in tennis before this French Open run, but her least favorite surface had been clay, and few expected her to make the finals. She may be liking clay better now. She certainly has the right tools for it: strong legs, lots of topspin, good groundstroke depth, and a great ability to create angles.

Capriati's timing seemed to be badly off for most of the match, and Clijsters would probably have won if she had just let Capriati be the first to make a few more errors. During the opening set, Clijsters kept the ball deep and put away any short balls, but didn't go for more than she had to. By keeping the ball in play several times per point, she was able to draw the error from Capriati. In the following sets though, Clijsters saved Capriati from self-destructing by starting to match her in unforced errors. Of course, with the depth and power with which both players were hitting, there's considerable force responsible for unforced errors.

Capriati's errors went all over the court, indicating a general lack of timing and focus. She complained frequently about people talking in the stands and other minor distractions. Clijsters' errors seemed most often to go into the net. She takes quite a long windup at the ball on both sides, even using a loop preparation on her two-handed backhand. Long loops take a while, so they can often result in lateness, and when you hit a ball late, your racquet face is still slightly closed, causing you to hit lower than intended. You're especially likely to hit late when a ball comes fast and deep, as Capriati's shots often do. It's possible that some nervousness about being so close to winning her first major made Clijsters prepare her shots a bit later in the last two sets, or she may have been trying to flatten her shots out a bit more instead of using more topspin and a higher net clearance.

Despite the unforced errors, it was an entertaining match, with plenty of brilliant shots mixed in with the misses. The drama of a 12-10 final set, the longest in a women's French Open final since 1956, certainly helped.

Capriati's power and quickness give her an excellent chance on the fast grass courts at Wimbledon. If she can capture a third Grand Slam for 2001, her story, the biggest in tennis this year, will likely yield a huge new crop of tennis fans.

Page Two: The Men's Final

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