|
|
The field, like most of women's tennis this year is dominated by Russian players.
In addition to the third-seeded Sharapova, who won Wimbledon and is the current "it" girl on the WTA Tour, No. 2 seed Anastasia Myskina, last year's Advanta runnerup and this year's French Open champion, is also in the field.
No. 6 seed Vera Zvonbareva and No. 7 seed Nadia Petrova are also in the field. Mauresmo is the top seed.
Led by Myskina, the world's No. 3 ranked player, seven of the top 16 ranked WTA players are Russian.
The Russian Revolution has taken hold and it will be on display at Villanova this week.
"Everybody wants to make a point of what's going on now to attract fans and all that stuff," Capriati said. "Who knows what the next thing is going to bring. Whether it's the Belgians or the Russians, maybe it will be the return of the veterans."
Capriati's career has spanned trends and phases from the dominance of Steffi Graf and then Monica Seles to the rise of the Williams sisters and the big hitters to the Belgian 1-2 tandem of Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardene.
The Russian trend looks like it may have staying power.
It was coming for a few years, but broke open when Myskina won the French and exploded when Sharapova took Wimbledon. "Before the French Open we were playing good but not good enough to win the Grand Slams," Myskina said. "We started to believe we could win every tournament."
Most of the attention has come to Sharapova who has been linked to Anna Kournikova, but with the goods (and health) to deliver on the court.
Sharapova's rise to the top has been a bit of a whirlwind, but she has continued playing strong tennis. She won back-to-back tournaments in Korea and Japan and reached the final in Zurich, two weeks ago.
"I never imagined winning Wimbledon," Sharapova said. "As a tennis player and as an individual, you gain a lot of knowledge and experience. I've learned a lot about myself and what it takes to compete."
Myskina, meanwhile, has continued to play well under the radar, at least in the United States. Not as glamorous as Sharapova, Myskina is content to let her tennis talk for her.
"I know in my hometown, they know me better than Maria," Myskina said. "That's what I care about."
Asked if it was more important to be known as the best player in Russia or in the World, Myskina said: "Right now, I think it's the same thing."
*
NOTES: Wayne's own Lisa Raymond will play Venus Williams in a first-round match tonight at 7. Raymond, who reached the quarterfinals at Villanova last year, beat Williams in the Australian Open. There are two spots up for grabs in the season-ending WTA Tour Championship in Los Angeles this week. Serena and Venus Williams, Capriati and Zvonareva are the contenders to join Lindsay Davenport, Svetlana Kuznetspva, Elena Demnetieva, Mauresmo, Myskina and Sharapova in the eight-player field ... Tickets are available by calling 866-Tennis-5 ...
In opening-round matches Monday, Rossana Neffa-de los Rios of Paraguay defeated American Meilen Tu, 6-4 6-4, Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine rallied to knock out American Teryn Ashley, 0-6, 6-2, 6-1, Iveta Benesova of Czech Republic topped Puerto Rico's Kristina Brandi, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 and American veteran Amy Frazier downed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 7-5.
