Cybelle Darkholme
May 5th, 2002, 10:48 PM
The way i read posts is that I go through most of the new ones. Just to let you know that I don't troll through the jen den. If theres a new post on the search and I think the thread is interesting I will leave my opinon.
Also I had made my peace with Fedgate and was jumping off the jen bandwagon, I had made my point so it made sense to stop. However if some people feel its necessary to stoop to personal attacks based on an opinon I have of a tennis player they like, well then maybe I should keep expressing my opinon because obviously you take what I say to heart.
Yeah at first it was funny, then boring, depressing and now it is amusing again. But there are some posters that seem obsessed with ragging on Jen, like "Sigh, bell ".
mark35
I'm sure Cy-hell and her cronies are licking their chops, waiting for an on-court outburst from our Jenny. L Gojennifer
Wow I guess stooping to personal attacks might be a tactic you picked up from your favorite player jen. I mean we are talking about the woman who cursed out bjk. Im sure her disresepectful behavior must rub off somehow, right?
I also find it funny that the media, the very media who adores jen all realize that girl was wrong, jen's teammates know she was wrong, the usta knows she was wrong, yet jen and some of her fans refuse to see it. no wonder all these negative articles about her are surfacing because obviously they are warranted. Most of her outrageous antics are on tape for all to see anyway.
Although it does seem like some of you jen deners have some sense.
Whilst I do not seek to condone Jennifer's behaviour, in truth I find it quite disgusting, it's occasions like this that see everyone trying to be G-d. She has made a huge error, but to bring the game into disrepute is a huge statement
snuffkin
also I'd like to thank veryborednow for this great article that sums up the situation with jen quite nicely. After this I think I will move on from fedgate because really everything that needed to said was said, lets just hope a certain pair of ears was listening.
Tennis: Richard Evans: Return of the bad girl
Billie Jean King takes a stance against superstar arrogance, but will she get the support she deserves?
Superstar arrogance touched new heights when the supposedly reformed Jennifer Capriati told Billie Jean King to “F*** off” when she was removed from the United States Fed Cup team at Charlotte, North Carolina, last weekend.
According to observers, who included coach Zina Garrison and hitting partner Jonathan Stark as well as numerous United States Tennis Association (USTA) volunteers, a look of incredulity crossed Capriati’s face when it dawned on her that King, the Fed Cup captain and, ironically, her doubles partner when she played her first professional tournament at the age of 14, was going to carry out her threat to remove the Australian and French Open champion from the team on the grounds that she insisted on practising with her own coach.
Just a few minutes before, Garrison, the Wimbledon finalist in 1990, had taken Capriati to one side to explain why the rule was for the good of the whole team.
“But Jennifer was trying to establish who was in control and she lost sight of what’s right,” Garrison said. “She got very upset and used a lot of profanities. I thought, ‘Come on girl, don’t you understand Billie Jean is the reason you are here?’ If you can’t respect Billie Jean, you’ve still got a lot of growing up to do.”
As is so often the case, a tennis father-turned-coach looms in the background of this story. Stefano Capriati did his best to push himself to the forefront after King laid down the rules in a team meeting at the beginning of the week for the tie against Austria, which the United States ultimately lost.
Capriati, who turned up 20 minutes late, had the rules reiterated to her personally by King, including the salient one that no personal coaches would be allowed to attend practice sessions. At the time Capriati, a woman of few words, merely nodded and said: “Okay.”
Capriati, having said she wanted to practise at 1pm, made her own way to the Olde Providence Racquet Club and appeared on court at 11am with her father. After a big hug from Stefano, with whom King has always had warm relations, the captain informed him of the rule and asked him to respect it. He agreed, but went over to the court where Monica Seles was practising and watched her. King knew that Seles didn’t like this, so a USTA security guard was told to go and ask Mr Capriati to leave.
At that point Mr Capriati stormed over to his long-time friend and, in full view of everybody, began screaming abuse at her, pointing a finger an inch from King’s face. She told him to calm down.
That night, Jennifer turned up 20 minutes late for a private team dinner at the Ballantyne Hotel and the matter was not discussed. However, the next day, King received a call at the courts from Fed Cup chairwoman Carol Graebner to say that Capriati had decided to quit the team. But even before the USTA hierarchy could be contacted, Graebner called back to say the Capriatis had changed their minds and “would play by the rules”.
At a subsequent press conference, Capriati praised King for the way she had helped her during a Fed Cup match in Las Vegas two months before she won her first Grand Slam title in Australia in January 2001. King has always been supportive of the young woman whose troubles with drugs and the law sent her spinning off the tracks before she reached 20.
All that seemed to count for little the following day when Capriati, having been nominated for the team at the draw, practised with her colleagues for half an hour and then let it be known that she had booked a separate practice court, hired a high-school hitting partner and was preparing to have a further session with her father.
The captain, along with Garrison and Stark, then approached her. “You know the rules,” said King, “please don’t do this.” But Capriati was adamant. In the statement she released later, she said: “I strongly protested at this directive. Looking beyond the Fed Cup, I was also preparing for some very important tournaments, including the defence of my title at the French Open. It is amazing to me that I am being penalised so severely for wanting to prepare as best I can for the Fed Cup and my other commitments.”
King has been asked by the USTA, which is trying to tip-toe around the issue, not to make any public statement, but in a private conversation yesterday, she agreed to be quoted as saying: “Jennifer broke the rules on many occasions, and in fairness to the other players, who all supported me, I had no option but to take her off the team. It was a decision that led to a short-term loss for a long-term gain.”
That much will be true only if the game’s leaders rally round the woman who has done more than anybody else to popularise women’s tennis, and thereby send a signal to Capriati’s pampered colleagues on the Sanex WTA Tour that rules are rules and have to be obeyed.
The USTA’s response leaves much to be desired. After many phone calls, the following statement was finally extracted: “The USTA supports Billie Jean King and has enormous regard for her leadership on our team and our sport. Jennifer Capriati is an important part of American tennis and a key contributor to America’s success in world tennis. We have every confidence that the goals of the USTA, Billie Jean King and Jennifer Capriati can and will be reconciled.”
When the player apologises, perhaps? There was no sign of that from the Capriati camp. Nor, anywhere in that statement, a word of criticism of the Capriatis’ behaviour. So are we to assume the USTA feels it is acceptable to use profane language to a captain of one of their teams? Is it so desperate for Capriati’s services it is prepared to abandon its duties and not issue a reprimand for appallbehaviour that was appalling? What will she do — refuse to play the US Open? Is Stefano going to blow his trumpet so hard that the walls of the Arthur Ashe stadium fall down? It is about time somebody in authority in tennis started insisting that the players adhere to some of sport’s 10 commandments, which include: 1 Respect the rules; 2 Respect your captain; 3. Don’t use profane and abusive language in public.
The fact is that Capriati and her father have brought the sport into disrepute, and somebody in authority ought to have the guts to tell them so.
Let me follow this up by saying finally someone has some sense. After hearing all that about players no being bigger than the game of tennis, bjk finally let a player know that that is so true. Tennis did not begin and will not end with Jen and her ego. Maybe she should take a few lessons from monica on ettiquette.
Also I had made my peace with Fedgate and was jumping off the jen bandwagon, I had made my point so it made sense to stop. However if some people feel its necessary to stoop to personal attacks based on an opinon I have of a tennis player they like, well then maybe I should keep expressing my opinon because obviously you take what I say to heart.
Yeah at first it was funny, then boring, depressing and now it is amusing again. But there are some posters that seem obsessed with ragging on Jen, like "Sigh, bell ".
mark35
I'm sure Cy-hell and her cronies are licking their chops, waiting for an on-court outburst from our Jenny. L Gojennifer
Wow I guess stooping to personal attacks might be a tactic you picked up from your favorite player jen. I mean we are talking about the woman who cursed out bjk. Im sure her disresepectful behavior must rub off somehow, right?
I also find it funny that the media, the very media who adores jen all realize that girl was wrong, jen's teammates know she was wrong, the usta knows she was wrong, yet jen and some of her fans refuse to see it. no wonder all these negative articles about her are surfacing because obviously they are warranted. Most of her outrageous antics are on tape for all to see anyway.
Although it does seem like some of you jen deners have some sense.
Whilst I do not seek to condone Jennifer's behaviour, in truth I find it quite disgusting, it's occasions like this that see everyone trying to be G-d. She has made a huge error, but to bring the game into disrepute is a huge statement
snuffkin
also I'd like to thank veryborednow for this great article that sums up the situation with jen quite nicely. After this I think I will move on from fedgate because really everything that needed to said was said, lets just hope a certain pair of ears was listening.
Tennis: Richard Evans: Return of the bad girl
Billie Jean King takes a stance against superstar arrogance, but will she get the support she deserves?
Superstar arrogance touched new heights when the supposedly reformed Jennifer Capriati told Billie Jean King to “F*** off” when she was removed from the United States Fed Cup team at Charlotte, North Carolina, last weekend.
According to observers, who included coach Zina Garrison and hitting partner Jonathan Stark as well as numerous United States Tennis Association (USTA) volunteers, a look of incredulity crossed Capriati’s face when it dawned on her that King, the Fed Cup captain and, ironically, her doubles partner when she played her first professional tournament at the age of 14, was going to carry out her threat to remove the Australian and French Open champion from the team on the grounds that she insisted on practising with her own coach.
Just a few minutes before, Garrison, the Wimbledon finalist in 1990, had taken Capriati to one side to explain why the rule was for the good of the whole team.
“But Jennifer was trying to establish who was in control and she lost sight of what’s right,” Garrison said. “She got very upset and used a lot of profanities. I thought, ‘Come on girl, don’t you understand Billie Jean is the reason you are here?’ If you can’t respect Billie Jean, you’ve still got a lot of growing up to do.”
As is so often the case, a tennis father-turned-coach looms in the background of this story. Stefano Capriati did his best to push himself to the forefront after King laid down the rules in a team meeting at the beginning of the week for the tie against Austria, which the United States ultimately lost.
Capriati, who turned up 20 minutes late, had the rules reiterated to her personally by King, including the salient one that no personal coaches would be allowed to attend practice sessions. At the time Capriati, a woman of few words, merely nodded and said: “Okay.”
Capriati, having said she wanted to practise at 1pm, made her own way to the Olde Providence Racquet Club and appeared on court at 11am with her father. After a big hug from Stefano, with whom King has always had warm relations, the captain informed him of the rule and asked him to respect it. He agreed, but went over to the court where Monica Seles was practising and watched her. King knew that Seles didn’t like this, so a USTA security guard was told to go and ask Mr Capriati to leave.
At that point Mr Capriati stormed over to his long-time friend and, in full view of everybody, began screaming abuse at her, pointing a finger an inch from King’s face. She told him to calm down.
That night, Jennifer turned up 20 minutes late for a private team dinner at the Ballantyne Hotel and the matter was not discussed. However, the next day, King received a call at the courts from Fed Cup chairwoman Carol Graebner to say that Capriati had decided to quit the team. But even before the USTA hierarchy could be contacted, Graebner called back to say the Capriatis had changed their minds and “would play by the rules”.
At a subsequent press conference, Capriati praised King for the way she had helped her during a Fed Cup match in Las Vegas two months before she won her first Grand Slam title in Australia in January 2001. King has always been supportive of the young woman whose troubles with drugs and the law sent her spinning off the tracks before she reached 20.
All that seemed to count for little the following day when Capriati, having been nominated for the team at the draw, practised with her colleagues for half an hour and then let it be known that she had booked a separate practice court, hired a high-school hitting partner and was preparing to have a further session with her father.
The captain, along with Garrison and Stark, then approached her. “You know the rules,” said King, “please don’t do this.” But Capriati was adamant. In the statement she released later, she said: “I strongly protested at this directive. Looking beyond the Fed Cup, I was also preparing for some very important tournaments, including the defence of my title at the French Open. It is amazing to me that I am being penalised so severely for wanting to prepare as best I can for the Fed Cup and my other commitments.”
King has been asked by the USTA, which is trying to tip-toe around the issue, not to make any public statement, but in a private conversation yesterday, she agreed to be quoted as saying: “Jennifer broke the rules on many occasions, and in fairness to the other players, who all supported me, I had no option but to take her off the team. It was a decision that led to a short-term loss for a long-term gain.”
That much will be true only if the game’s leaders rally round the woman who has done more than anybody else to popularise women’s tennis, and thereby send a signal to Capriati’s pampered colleagues on the Sanex WTA Tour that rules are rules and have to be obeyed.
The USTA’s response leaves much to be desired. After many phone calls, the following statement was finally extracted: “The USTA supports Billie Jean King and has enormous regard for her leadership on our team and our sport. Jennifer Capriati is an important part of American tennis and a key contributor to America’s success in world tennis. We have every confidence that the goals of the USTA, Billie Jean King and Jennifer Capriati can and will be reconciled.”
When the player apologises, perhaps? There was no sign of that from the Capriati camp. Nor, anywhere in that statement, a word of criticism of the Capriatis’ behaviour. So are we to assume the USTA feels it is acceptable to use profane language to a captain of one of their teams? Is it so desperate for Capriati’s services it is prepared to abandon its duties and not issue a reprimand for appallbehaviour that was appalling? What will she do — refuse to play the US Open? Is Stefano going to blow his trumpet so hard that the walls of the Arthur Ashe stadium fall down? It is about time somebody in authority in tennis started insisting that the players adhere to some of sport’s 10 commandments, which include: 1 Respect the rules; 2 Respect your captain; 3. Don’t use profane and abusive language in public.
The fact is that Capriati and her father have brought the sport into disrepute, and somebody in authority ought to have the guts to tell them so.
Let me follow this up by saying finally someone has some sense. After hearing all that about players no being bigger than the game of tennis, bjk finally let a player know that that is so true. Tennis did not begin and will not end with Jen and her ego. Maybe she should take a few lessons from monica on ettiquette.