Capriati pays ultimate price for dedication

It is not a headline you are likely to see very often: 'Star player booted off team for trying to practise too hard'.

But incredibly, that is precisely what happened to Australian and French Open champion Jennifer Capriati at the weekend when she was thrown off the U.S. Fed Cup team by captain Billie Jean King.

Her crime? To try and arrange a private coaching session with father and coach Stefano after fulfilling her team commitments.

This, says King, is against "team rules".

The other players agree with their captain and Capriati is unlikely to find much support amongst her former team mates, angry with the world number two for what they see as letting the side down.

"I have my coach here and I understood the rules," Monica Seles said after the debacle which led to the U.S. suffering only their second first round loss in the competition.

"The rules were explained to me. I obliged. We're all here as a team and we need to focus on our tennis, not the distractions.

TOO MUCH

"It's just becoming too much. This week is just really difficult for all of us."

It certainly proved too difficult for Capriati's replacement Meghann Shaughnessy who, with the U.S. already 2-0 down after a forfeited match and a Seles defeat, wilted under the pressure of keeping the hosts in the first round match.

"I'm just disappointed that it came to that," she told reporters after her defeat.

"You know, there's no reason why we shouldn't have four people here and all with the same goal in mind.

"The bottom line is that when we came here, there were a set of rules signed on for each player. It was Jennifer's decision not to follow one of them.

"That's her decision, and that's fine. But if she's going to make that decision, she needs to know that there are consequences."

King said it had been one of the hardest decisions she had ever had to make.

"Well, since I've known Jennifer and her family since she was 12, you can imagine how tough it was for me.

"But, more importantly, I have to consider the team. And Monica, Meghann and Lisa (Raymond) have just been unbelievable all week.

"I can't say enough about them -- as people and as players and how they've stayed together as a team. It's just unfortunate. It's never easy to make a decision like that, but it had to be done."

HARD DONE BY

For her part, Capriati feels extremely hard done by. "I was looking forward to representing my country in this prestigious international competition. I am so disappointed by the actions the USTA has taken regarding my status on the Fed Cup team," she said.

"I fulfilled all of my public relations and promotional obligations to the team, and attended the team practice.

"In my own time, following the practice session, I decided that I wanted additional practice.

"Looking beyond this weekend's Fed Cup matches, I am also preparing for some very important tournaments, including the defence of my title at the French Open.

"In response to the team captain, I informed her that I had booked my own practice session with a hitting partner and my coach.

"I was informed that this was against the team rules, and that if I continued with this practice, I would be dismissed from the team.

"I strongly protested this directive, and consequently was dismissed from the team before this practice even took place. I never did practice and do not believe I did anything to hurt the team," said Capriati.

"I obeyed the rules as I understood them, and fulfilled the obligations I had to the team. It is amazing to me that I am being penalised so severely for simply wanting to prepare as best I can for the Federation Cup and my other commitments.

"It never occurred to me that little-known policies that conflicted with my serious preparation for upcoming tour events would result in this ending."

It would be ironic indeed if the stress and strain of last weekend's events proved to be the greatest conflict to her preparations.