The problem with saying that Billie Jean could have told Capriati "Okay, well, next time you'll have to follow the rules" is that it would create a double standard with the other members of the team.

Hypothetically speaking, let's say BJK did allow Capriati this extra practice with Daddy. Then Monica comes up and says she wants one extra practice with Mike. What's Billie Jean King gonna do? Say no to Monica? Of course not. So then Monica gets to go off. Now here comes Lisa Raymond...etc., etc., etc. All of a sudden, there's no Fed Cup team at all. Just a bunch of individual tennis players doing the same thing they do every week. That's not the point of Fed Cup and that's why BJK instituted the rule in the first place!

How old is Capriati? She's 25 or 26. Can she really not be attached to her Dad's hip for one week? Please. This kind of behavior was at least understandable when she was 15, but grow up already. Even after reading all these posts -- some of which argue very credibly for Capriati -- I still can't see any rational reason not to think BJK made the only appropriate decision possible.

I played organized team tennis in in high school and college. And yes I did have a coach, whose rules I followed. But he was also my ONLY coach. Do you really think the Ryder Cup captain is going to order Tiger Woods to do something? Get real! Again, the Fed Cup captain or Davis Cup captain or Ryder Cup captain are figureheads whose job is to select the team and set the lineups. There is a difference between the terms captain and coach. BJK is a captain. Pat McEnroe is a captain. Bobby Knight is coach. Bill Parcells is a coach.

And I refuse to give the comments of the other players much weight. They were in a tough spot. Even if they believed BJK was wrong, do you think they were going to criticize her this weekend?

And if BJK is such a freakin' genius, how come the US lost to AUSTRIA! Okay, Barbara Schwartz is a servicable player, but shouldn't BJK's wicked brilliant strategy have figured out a way to defeat this easily beatable team? And I don't want to hear JCap was a distraction. If the other girls (Seles and Shaughnessey) were really angry at JCap, they would have laid it all out on the line for BJK rather than roll over and play dead.

Just how good of coach is BJK??

Why did the US lose without Capriati??

Yes BJK is a great player, but that does not make her a great coach.

Is it poor coaching that caused the loss??

When you spend your whole year training with a single coach, having a disrubtion to your trainging schedule probably does more harm than good.

We all know how BJK likes to jump up and down around the court and let eveyone know that she is the coach; but is she really helping the players?

I remember Venus losing a match against Russia at Standford under King's coaching in the Fed Cup. Is she trying to rework someone's game in a week? Does this really add value or harm?

Maybe Jennifer realized that this big Ego is messing up her game.

So back to the team concept and coach rule? Just how good is the coach? If she was that great, the US should not have lost without Capriati.

Either it was bad coaching or the drama of Jen being off the team, either way, it comes back to BJK.

An interesting report from tennis reporters claims that BJK puts the blame on Jennifer freaking out over her upcoming French Open title defense. Who would blame her? Legitimately, she has another couple of years before she's considered "over the hill." She has a lot of work to do to ensure her legacy as an all-time great and not a "might-have-been." Hall of Fame? With three Grand Slams during a period of the Williams Sisters, Davenport, and Hingis, it should be a given. But there's still some doubt surrounding her. She hasn't picked up very many titles in her career. A win at Roland Garros would go a long way toward hushing the nay-sayers. In this light, her obstinance, while probably inappropriate, is certainly understandable.

Unfortunately for her legacy, it backfired a little. But hey, MacEnroe's in the Hall, right?

I've always been a fan of Billie Jean, but c'mon. This is another example of a coach or a referee masturbating their own ego. It's not about them; it's about the players. "Spoiled" or not, I don't pay attention to Fed Cup or Davis Cup to watch the coaches.

JC, Capriati had previously said she was only interested in playing this first round event. She never intended to go any further than this one weekend.

I think what this does is expose JCap for what she is -- not the "feel-good story of tennis", but another spoiled sports star who isn't as nice as her PR people make her out to be. Remember, this girl has been doted on and coddled her entire life. She is not used to playing by other people's rules.

However, do I think BJK's rules were stupid? Yes. Should she have kicked her off the team, probably not. But what's done is done.

The U.S. team SHOULD have been deep enough to beat a Schett-less Austria, but Monica and Meaghann have been less than stellar this spring.

[quote]Originally posted by Gaga4Gaby:
The problem with saying that Billie Jean could have told Capriati "Okay, well, next time you'll have to follow the rules" is that it would create a double standard with the other members of the team.

Hypothetically speaking, let's say BJK did allow Capriati this extra practice with Daddy. Then Monica comes up and says she wants one extra practice with Mike. What's Billie Jean King gonna do? Say no to Monica? Of course not. So then Monica gets to go off. Now here comes Lisa Raymond...etc., etc., etc. All of a sudden, there's no Fed Cup team at all. Just a bunch of individual tennis players doing the same thing they do every week. That's not the point of Fed Cup and that's why BJK instituted the rule in the first place!

How old is Capriati? She's 25 or 26. Can she really not be attached to her Dad's hip for one week? Please. This kind of behavior was at least understandable when she was 15, but grow up already. Even after reading all these posts -- some of which argue very credibly for Capriati -- I still can't see any rational reason not to think BJK made the only appropriate decision possible.

---

OMG! Unscheduled practices everywhere!! Surely the sign of tennis's Armageddon!!! Sheeeeeesh ... be serious. We're not talking about a player demanding a chauffeur-driven Bentley, or that her entire entourage be housed and fed at the Four Seasons. We're talking about extra practices. Sorry, but extra practice isn't going to cause the demise of U.S. tennis.

I think it's fair to judge BJK by the end result. The goal is to win, and if that means you hold your tongue (while surreptitiously rolling your eyes) over some prima donna behavior, then you suck it up. The U.S. loss to Austra is a truly PATHETIC result. BJK did things her way, and if her way ended up in a dismal loss, then she should be held accountable for it.

PS: Regarding extra practices and personal coaches, if Mike Sell were **my** coach, I'd be on the practice court every waking moment of the day.

If Mike Sell were my coach, it would be 24 hour training.

I remember first seeing him in World Team Tennis and thought, now that's a looker.

if Mike Sell were my coach, he wouldn't be coaching me on the tennis courts.

To say this is only an issue about extra practices is not seeing the forest for the trees, my friends.

Mike Sell always looks like he is wearing eyeliner. Not that there's anything wrong with that

[quote] To say this is only an issue about extra practices is not seeing the forest for the trees, my friends.

---

It's about winning and BJK failed this time.

No, its about Capriati not being a team player. If she didn't want to follow the rules, she should have said she didn't want to play. That way there wouldn't have been any distractions and Shaughnessy would have been ready to play.

How many free passes do we have to keep giving this woman?

Capriati isn't a team player, but she's on a team for--at most--four weeks a year. But give me Capriati, Venus & Serena and I'll tell them who and where they're going to play and let them prepare themselves. And I think I'll beat any team of other players BJK spends a week coaching in her team unity. The fact is Capriati WAS doing her a favor by playing. This is not the Olympics. Nobody grows up dreaming of winning the Federation Cup. Not one player in the top five participated last weekend (granted Clijsters would have, had she not been injured). And the U.S. won 17 federation cups in the past before instituting this rule, so what evidence is there that the team would play better by instituting this rule? I'll bet the Belgian Federation Cup captain doesn't freeze out Clijsters & Henin's coaches. And they're going to win again.

Finally, maybe Shaughnessy is inexperienced enough to be distracted by this kind of thing, but if Monica can't block out a little controversy, it's time for her to retire.

.

I think the time is right to announce Chris Evert as the Fed Cup captin, Afterall she is the best player the USA ever produced! Plus she understands "Father-Daughter" relationships, and is a bit more level headed than BJK! My 2nd choice would be Pam Shriver, who may not have done much in singles during her career, but always played for USA, and obviously understands different approaches to the game as well as philosophys!

I like the Pam Shriver pick, LAKERSDABOMB. I imagine Chrissie is too busy raising the young'uns to take on all the responsibilities of Fed Cup captaincy, but she'd also be a good choice. What I like about both of them is that they'd be wise enough to give the players some space, and neither have an outta-control ego that would get in the way.

Chris Evert doesn't have an out of control ego? Are you kidding? The woman never starts a sentence without the phrase, "One time when I was playing...." Check out any one of her editor's pages in TENNIS magazine -- it all comes back to her. Watch any interview, regardless of what it's about, and something will remind Chris of back when she was at the top. It's ALWAYS about Chris.

The only person who'd be less likely to take any crap off Capriati than BJK is Chris Evert!

Actually, I think Capriati has tremendous respect for Chris. While I'm not particularly an Evert fan, I think she would do better in the role than Billie Jean because she is able to rise above King's "it's my world" outlook.

I truly believe that BJK came up with the no coaches/private practice rule specifically to avoid any dealing with Stefano.Though she was confident the other players would abide, I think she got a bit more than she bargained for when Jenny and Daddy stood their ground.

When things turned nasty (and I suspect that they were VERY nasty), BJK truly thought that she could win with Monica "carrying the team".Ten years ago, this may very well have been feasible, but Seles is far more fragile mentally and must have felt tremendous pressure. Oh well,two major decisions by BJK backfired in the worst possible way.

Also interesting to note that when a country has a player that is "head and shoulders" above the rest(read:Schett,Hingis)that player often stays out of the whole team competition. I am sure this is at least partially to avoid the pressure of carrying the team. Kudos to Barbara Schwartz for carrying a Schett-less Austrian team to victory.

I thought I read that this rule WAS NOT NEW this year. We need a quick fact sheet or something.

Evert does have an ego. I remember her talking of Wimbledon let downs while doing commentary and how she should have never lost to Goolagong-Cawley in 1980, because she was the better player. The reason for her loss was she played a stronger player in the semi's and had her guard down. How rude is that.

Evoone is one the most diplomatic and nicest players to ever play the game. I remember as a kid trying to get autographs from Goolagong, BJK, and Evert at a tournament, Evoone was the only one who would stop and sign.

For someone to have a baby and come back and win Wimbledon for the second time after child birth, is amazing. She coached the Fed cup for Australia this year and was loved by everyone.

Mayber it's an American thing with the ego; here are some of the nicest players on the woman's tour: Kim Clistjers, Justine Henin, Monica Seles. Only American to fit in with the nice group is Lindsay Davenport.

Considering that BJK had a good relationship with the Capriatis going in to last week, I think it's probably the Richard Williams rule.

Evert as captain? Maybe, but I think she'd spend too much time endearing herself to the players. And as much as I love Chrissie, she has an ego. Towards the end of the Legends tours, she wouldn't even compete against Navratilova in singles, because as the promoter told me, "she hates losing." Also, even though Jen started with Mr. Evert, I'm not sure how the relationship between the families sits. Didn't John Evert quit as Capriati's agent because he was tired of dealing with Stefano's antics? Including his accusation that Chris was abusing her relationship w/Jen by requesting so many interviews for NBC?

No one mentioned Tracy ("huge, Barry, huge shot!") Austin as a possible captain. Or Zina Garrison.

Zina is assistant captain. I'd love to see her as captain - but I don't know if it fulfills the goal of raising the visibility of Fed Cup. The best thing to raise that visibility? Lose in the first round to unknown Austria (didn't we fight a war against them once or something?) and then have the flap surrounding that become major gossip fodder for the next week.

Hell, all of a sudden, QUALIFYING for next year's Fed Cup, later this summer, becomes newsworthy.

Wow - you guys still fault BJK in all of this. Even after many of the sports pundits (NY Times, Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated) seem squarely on the side of BJK.

I have a feeling that this is just the tip of iceberg on Jen's bratty behavior. When she loses early at the French and slips out the top 2 - get ready you Jenny fans.

"King said the practice rules, which she implemented after the United States won its second consecutive title in 2000..."

snipped from

http://www.sportingnews.com/tennis/article...427/399771.html

So while not brand new, the rule has not applied to a team that actually won. Why would King change the rules after winning two consecutive titles, knowing full well that some of the best players in the world would probably refuse to play under it? Maybe because she's more interested in asserting control than in winning.

Amelie Mauresmo keeps a diary on her official web page, which I love to read because it gives insight into her inner emotions that I couldn't appreciate otherwise. She doesn't comment on the US Fed Cup business at all, obviously, but does talk about what Fed Cup means to her and how nice it was to participate after having a couple bad first round losses to start the clay season. Miss Jennifer could learn a thing or two from this type of attitude:

"Delighted by my Argentinean weekend"

"It is clear that after this bad start to the clay season, meeting up with the Fed Cup team
of France did me the world of good. You know the attachment I feel towards this
competition. It was therefore great for everyone to get past the Argentinean obstacle.
Personally, I am delighted to have bought two points to my team. On a collective level,
things went marvellously, the atmosphere is always so good. Seeing Nathalie Dechy
simply confirmed that we are a true team, bonded and complementary. Basically that’s
what is needed to get on form and experience the joy of playing. The next meeting for
the Fed Cup will be the quarterfinal against Slovakia, from July 20. We will be ready! "

That is so cool of Amelie to do... Do you have a link?

I have absolutely no idea how to post a link. I'm going to try and figure it out, but in the very likely event it doesn't work, the web address is www.amelie-mauresmo.com/en/index.asp.

Let's see...Amelie Mauresmo Official Web Page

Last thoughts:
1. BJK made the right decision.
2. JCap is a dumb girl who makes a lot of money (thanks to BJK)
3. Nobody cares about FedCup anyway.

To Roland Garos:

1. You must care since you are posting
2. The team loss, so either BJK made a bad decision or she is a bad coach.
3. Good for Jen, may she add to her millions.

come on - nobody really cares about fed cup but we do care about tennis and that is why we post. BJK is tennis royalty. For Jen and her camp to treat BJK with such disrespect astounds me. As the details of this incident becomes more public- the scheduled practice was just the last straw.

For those of you tired of this thread, I apologize, but I saw this and couldn't help but include it. I know a lot of people on this board really respect Monica & her opinions quite a lot. (as do I)

From Jon Wertheim's mailbag this week:
... A final word on the King-Capriati scrum: Monica Seles, hardly one prone to popping off, assessed last week's fiasco for The New York Times' consistently excellent columnist, Harvey Araton: "It went on all week," Seles said of Capriati's challenging King's policies. "We were all told the rules and had a chance to leave. Once you stay, whatever the captain says, you have to respect that. God, it's Billie Jean King. She's responsible for everything we have. If you don't have respect for her, I don't know who you'll have respect for."...

'Nough said I think.

They still loss the competition.

Enough said.

bostonlob, you're like a broken record. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the "Win at all costs. Forget principle" idea.

Are you related to Jennifer Capriati?

Monica Seles is one of my favorite athletes in any sport. I absolutely love her, but I was completely repulsed by her comments. But I can forgive Monica anything, so if I can forgive her for being such a brown nose I can certainly forgive Billie Jean for being so short-sighted.

Monica a brown noser? I don't think so, that's just ludicrous and frankly, kind of idiotic. Perhaps she's a bit too diplomatic but hey, she and Jennifer aren't exactly close friends. If JenCap was being a grade A diva, then just call it as it is..that's what I think Monica was doing.. ...Obviously, BJK expecting these girls to do without their safety nets was unrealistic however cool it might have been...Seles and Meghann losing to Schwartz is silly and wrong; they should never of let themselves be distracted but hey, who knows how tense it really was all week, and Monica plays much better with her coach than without....I think JenCap is a total diva but is that really a surprise to all involved? Was it really necessary for BJK to draw the line knowing that JenCap was only around for this round? of course not...these girls are all too much drama...

Ouch, Bryan!! We've disagreed throughout this thread, but I can hope we can agree that referring to someone else's opinion as "idiotic" is neither appropriate nor polite. The fact that we CAN disagree without name-calling is one of the things I love about this forum. If I wanted combat I'd try out for the Fed Cup team.

Now back to our regularly-scheduled discussion.....

All apologies MM. Reading over it, it came out all wrong. I had just read several of these posts and felt in full defend-Monica mode. I don't agree with the brown-nosing comment but I didn't intend to sound so personal, not at all. Hugs...