THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: TUESDAY, JULY 22, NO. 38

Looking for something to cheer about at Stanford
JCap: Kim will win a Slam; Capriati not concerned by slump;
Will Petrova break out this week?

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

© Mark Lyons

FROM THE BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY – When Serena and Venus Williams change schedules and then Serena pulls out anyway, when Justine Henin-Hardenne skips the tournament and old faithfuls Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles are down for the count with bad feet, what's to get excited about at Stanford?

That's the question that looms over the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University, in California's Bay Area. Here, the top seed is now the multitalented but mentally questionable Kim Clijsters; the third seed is the seemingly running-in-place Jennifer Capriati; the fourth and fifth seeds are the horribly slumping Daniela Hantuchova and Jelena Dokic.

The first summer hardcourt tournament has had its pullouts before, but nothing like what Serena pulled on Sunday, when she said that her left knee was bothering her and she wouldn't be able to come. This was just two days after Serena said she was really looking forward to coming to the Bay Area ("It's really peaceful there. I like all the real estate there, actually, the land. I just like it for its beauty."), even though one could tell by the tone of her voice and her curt answers that she wasn't very enthusiastic about much of anything.

Serena's withdrawal stunned tournament officials, who had based their ticket sales around her first appearance here. In its 33rd year, the Bank of the West is the longest-running women's pro tournament in the world and has had some remarkable field for a Tier 2 tournament and has an A-list of past champs, including Venus, Clijsters, Davenport, Martina Hingis, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Seles, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Billie Jean King.

It was almost a slap in the face that Serena turned around on Monday and entered next week's tournament in San Diego as a replacement for Venus, who is out with an abdominal injury for at least the next three weeks.

JCap: Kim will win a Slam
Clijsters and her boyfriend, Lleyton Hewitt, arrived here on Monday and despite a 10-hour plus flight, had a tremendous hitting session that saw Clijsters do a fill split on the hot concrete trying to retrieve a hard Hewitt inside-out forehand.

The Belgian has an impressive last weekend in Fed Cup, but there was little competition. A finalist here last year, Clijsters has a lot to prove on the hardcourts: She's been a lady in waiting all year at the Slams and has lost sight of the queen's scepter each time. In the Australian Open semis, she choked horribly against Serena. In the Roland Garros final, she essentially didn't show up against Henin-Hardenne. In the Wimbledon semis, she was simply outplayed by an injured Venus in a match that was hers for the taking.

But Capriati believes that Clijsters has the right stuff
.
"She has the ability to and I think she will," Capriati said. "She's still so young. It's very difficult to win a Slam. She still has some things to work on, I don't know if it's mental or physical, but she'll do it."

Clijsters has a nice draw here and likely won't be challenged until the quarters, when she might face Meghann Shaughnessy. Hantuchova and No. 7 Eleni Daniilidou, who has also done little this year, could be semifinal opponents.

Capriati not concerned by slump
There's also a lot riding on summer hard court season for Capriati, who hasn't won a title since the '02 Aussie Open. She says she's getting better, but it's been hard to see that this year, when she's lost to Clijsters, Henin-Hardenne, Davenport, Amelie Mauresmo, Nadia Petrova and Chanda Rubin, among others. Her serve is pedestrian; she almost never comes in to net; she doesn't compete that well deep in the third set.

"The improvements are really coming," she said. "It's just a matter of a few points here and there. I have the physical conditioning, but I need the matches and that winning mentality, When I get in those close matches I have to believe that I got it all there. All it takes is just doing it."

At Wimbledon, Capriati suffered her eighth straight loss to Serena, when she went down 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Of her 11 losses this year, 10 have been three-setters. Seven of her losses to Serena have gone to three sets. Capriati prefers to look at the positive.

"I was encouraged by it," said Capriati." It was very winnable. It was close and maybe that's why I'm so eager to get back on court. Maybe it will be just a little bit more to get to the next step."

Capriati really needs to break her 28-tournament losing streak. She hasn't won a non-Slam tournament in 27 months and it's very hard to reign at the Slam when you can't close out four to five players in a row, much less seven.

"It's not something that I'm dwelling on, because if I was dwelling on it, I think that would make my confidence go down, put more pressure on me and aggravate me,' said Capriati. "Just because I haven't won a title, I've been close. It's not that I've played so badly and can't win a match. It's not that easy to win tournaments."

Last summer, she reached the quarterfinals of San Diego and Los Angeles, and fell to Mauresmo at the Canadian Open and the US Open. She needs to post a pre-US Open victory, whether it's in Palo Alto, San Diego or Canada.

Fred Mullane/ Camerawork USA, Inc.

"Absolutely, there's nothing like actually seeing the results," she said. "That's the proof itself that you are playing well, that you are exactly where you want to be. Of course it would help."

Will Petrova break out this week?
If Capriati wins her first tournament since '02 Australia, that would be something to get excited about. So would a potential revenge match for JCap against Petrova in the semis, as would a decent-sized crown for the fast rising Petrova herself. Slump-busting title runs from Dokic and Hantuchova would also be developments to whet fan's appetites for the rest of the summer.

In its 33 years, the Bank of the West, has had few lean years, the last coming in 1995. Eight year cycles are rare, so something riveting will happen in Palo Alto this week, it just hasn't come to the surface yet.