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Armed with a new lease of life, the woman who was voted by an American tennis magazine as the comeback player of 1999, is quietly confident that she will soon be able to break back into the world's top 10.

 Born-again tennis star Jennifer Capriati said yesterday that she had the ability and the will to regain her rightful place amongst the top players on the WTA ranking list.

 'I have a feeling that I will soon break into the top 10,' said Capriati, who is town for the Watson's Water Millennium Cup, which starts today at Victoria Park.

 'But I don't want to push it and put too much pressure on myself. I will take it one tournament at a time and try and perform well. If the results start coming, then my ranking will improve,' Capriati added.

 Capriati, currently ranked 23, knows the dangers of pushing too fast, too soon. For it is after her well documented burn-out in the mid-90s that the Women's Tennis Association tightened their age eligibility requirements for young girls.

 In September 1994, the WTA announced a ruling - quickly dubbed the Capriati Rules - which excluded 14-year-olds from competing on the Tour and limited the appearances of 15 to 17-year-olds.

 Two 14-year-olds, Martina Hingis and Venus Williams, hastily made their WTA debuts before the rules came into effect on January 1, 1995. Capriati had already trodden that path.

 On March 5, 1990, Capriati turned professional, 24 days before her 14th birthday. The accolades quickly followed as the precocious Capriati soon made her mark on the courts then ruled by Martina Navratilova and company.

 The teenage prodigy soon saw the tag 'youngest-ever' attached to her name.

 She became the youngest ever French Open semi-finalist, in 1990, when she only dropped 20 games and no sets in her triumphant march before losing to Monica Seles.

 Next year she reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon - another youngest-ever achievement. A few months after that she became the youngest ever US Open semi-finalist since Andrea Jaeger.

 'I have memories of those highlights in my career . . . like the time I beat Steffi Graf to win the Olympic gold medal in 1992. They are not distant memories and I hope like in the past I will soon have other more current memories to cherish,' Capriati said yesterday.

 Her meteoric rise to fame - she reached a high of sixth in the world in 1991 - came to a crashing halt in 1993 when she fled in tears after a demoralising loss in the first round of the US Open. The locker room gossip was that she was fed up with tennis.

 The burn-out saw her miss most of 1994 and in 1995 she did not play at all. Other factors entered her life.

 In May 1994, Capriati was arrested on suspicion of a drug-related offence, but was never actually charged. She then voluntarily entered a Miami drug rehabilitation centre.

 The past is so painful that she does not talk about it. At the US Open last year, she courageously read a statement asking the media not to bring up the topic in interviews.

 These were also the ground rules set by her sponsor, FILA, before yesterday's interview with the South China Morning Post.

 Capriati is today more relaxed and at 23 has perhaps put it all down to experience.

 'I'm looking forward to starting off the season on a good note in Hong Kong. I ended last year with the highest ranking since I made my comeback in 1996. I have had a few injuries on and off since then, but I'm hoping to continue my progress up the ranking list.

 'My dream, of course, will be to win my first Grand Slam,' Capriati said.

 Last March, former pro Harold Solomon came on board as coach, and the signs were soon evident of a resurgence in her fortunes.

 She played in 13 events in 1999 and won two, in Strasbourg and Quebec City, although both were tier three tournaments.

 'She works hard and is dedicated. Her attitude has been positive. I definitely see the potential for her to move back into the top 10 this year,' said Solomon.

 'I took a break in my career which was well needed,' Capriati said.

 'I was lucky I was young then . . . I'm a little older now but still young. I'm looking forward to the future.'  So, too, are her many fans.

I hope I will soon have other more current memories to cherish 



America's former teen sweetheart is confident of recapturing past glories