Jennifer Capriati was born on 29 March 1976 in New York and was a junior prodigy, expected to become the next great American player after Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. She turned professional in 1990 at 13 years and 11 months, and in her first tournament, at Boca Raton, she reached the final, the youngest player ever to do so; Sports Illustrated put her on its cover. That year she also became the youngest semifinalist at the French Open, at 14, and the youngest player ever to break into the top 10.
In 1992 she beat Steffi Graf to win the Olympic gold medal in Barcelona, her first win over Graf, and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and the US Open. In 1993, after an early loss at the US Open, she stepped away from the tour, citing burnout, and her career seemed to be over before it had properly started.
Her return is one of the most remarkable comebacks in the sport. She won her first title since 1993 in 1999, and at the 2000 Australian Open she reached her first major semifinal in nearly nine years. In 2001, seeded 12th, she won the Australian Open, beating the world's top three players, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles, in straight sets. She followed it with the French Open, beating Kim Clijsters 12–10 in the final set, the longest final set in the tournament's history, and in October 2001 she became world No. 1. That year she was the only woman to reach at least the semifinals of all four majors. In 2002 she defended her Australian title in scorching heat, saving four match points in the final against Hingis, and she won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award.
She reached the US Open semifinals in 2003 and 2004, but persistent shoulder injuries led to surgery in 2005 and ended her career. She won 13 singles titles, three of them majors, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2012.