SYDNEY, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Jennifer Capriati continues her climb back up the world's tennis ranks when she contests the Sydney International on Sunday, the main lead-up event for the Australian Open.
Once earmarked as a superstar in the making when she burst onto the scene as a precocious teenager in the early 1990s, the American's career has been dominated by her off-court demeanour and punctuated by an early retirement which followed her much publicized arrest for marijuana possession.
But she returned to the game last year and has been slowly regaining
her form and sees the Sydney International as her chance to re-establish herself as a genuine contender for the Australian Open in Melbourne (Jan. 13-26).
Capriati won the Sydney International women's title at her last trip to Australia four years ago, the same year she reached the pinnacle of her career by striking gold at the Barcelona Olympics.
The Sydney International will be played at White City -- the same courts which will be used to host the tennis events at the 2000 Olympics -- and Capriati is one of three Olympic champions entered in the seven- day event.
Lindsay Davenport, the American who won gold in Atlanta, is seeded fourth in the women's 32-player field while Switzerland's Marc Rosset, who won the men's gold in Barcelona, is seeded seventh in the men's sectrion.
Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic, a two time Wimbledon finalist, is the men's top seed while Spain's Arantxa Sanchez Vicario heads the women's list.
Other leading players include Wayne Ferreira of South Africa and Todd Martin of the United States as well as rising Swiss star Martina Hingisand Mary Pierce of France.
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