Capriati plans for the future with renewed optimism

During her time in the wilderness, when she despaired of ever fulfilling her teenage potential after a shop-lifting incident and a period of drugs rehabilitation, Jennifer Capriati often practised with the high-riding Martina Hingis in Florida. "I remember Martina asking me once: 'How can you stop playing?' And I laughed and I said: 'You wait – you'll see'!"

Capriati takes no pleasure in acknowledging that Hingis and herself virtually traded places. Capriati won her first Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open in 2001, defeating Hingis in the final in straight sets. Capriati successfully defended the Australian championship in 2002, having saved four match points against Hingis in the final. In between, Capriati also won the French Open title, overcoming Kim Clijsters, of Belgium, 12-10 in the third set of the 2001 final, and went on to become world No 1.

Hingis, who last won a Grand Slam title at the 1999 Australian Open, is now out of the game at 22, unable to withstand the pain of playing competitive tennis after surgery to both ankles.

How quickly things can change. "Absolutely," Capriati says. "But I think Martina wants to play. The injury is just stopping her, I suppose. You can't take anything for granted. I was really inspired by what Andre [Agassi] said in his victory speech in Australia about you never know when it's going to be the last one, so just try to make the best of it while you can. I try to enjoy everything that I do and every moment that I have."

Capriati is certainly making the most of her visit to the Dubai Duty Free Open here. On Tuesday she won her first match of the season and started to believe in her stroke-making again. That was evident last night as she advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-3 win under the floodlights against Conchita Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion. It is to be hoped that a twisted right ankle will not hinder Capriati's progress when she plays the top seed, Justine Henin-Hardenne, of Belgium, today.

Like Hingis, who won the Dubai title in 2001, when the WTA Tour first came to the Middle East, Capriati is revelling in the exotic surroundings. "I have never taken personal pictures before," she says, "but I've been taking my own here. I just feel like I am in a fantasy world, an Aladdin movie." Professional photographers have also been busy, not least at the players' party on Wednesday. Capriati sat on a camel and was also persuaded to join a belly-dancer on stage.

Tuesday's win against Svetlana Kuznetsova, of Russia, eased weeks of apprehension for Capriati. Last November she had eye surgery to remove cataract-like obstructions from both corneas. After losing her first two matches of the year, in Sydney and at the Australian Open, she withdrew from a tournament in Tokyo, saying her eyes had not fully recovered from the operation. "I'm still a little bit sensitive to light, but I think it's OK," she says, taking the precaution of wearing sunglasses on the practice court. Chris Evert experienced similar eye trouble at the end of her career. "It can be a problem, especially for us Florida people," Capriati says.

Even before Hingis's problems with her feet drove her into exile, the Swiss phenomenon had been eclipsed by the power of the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena. Last year, when injury put Lindsay Davenport out of contention, Capriati felt a weight of expectation similar to when she had been a prodigy.

"It's true, last year there was a lot of pressure on my shoulders as the only one who was going to beat the Williams sisters, whatever," she says. "I got wrapped up in thinking about that and about my own expectations and other people's expectations for me to win. I let it get to me, and it showed. I was more stressed out on the court, feeling anxious and kind of unhappy. I missed playing to my capability.

"We all go through stages. We can't be happy all the time. Maybe I thought because I had great success, winning the Australian, the French and the Australian again, that everything was just going to be hunky-dory all over again. I couldn't understand why I was still getting negative press.

"So I took a step back and tried not to take everything so personal any more. I needed a fresh outlook. I realised, yet again, what got me to this point, and that I should be very grateful that I am at this point, and if I don't win everything it's still not bad. I'm still in the top 10 in the world, and a lot of people would give anything to be in that position. If I just focus on my getting my priorities straight – which is first to take care of myself and be happy, spiritually and mentally – then I will feel more motivation anyway to go out and train.

"I was getting rather tired and rather sick of of the every-day work-out, the travelling, and the schedule, and the tournaments and stuff. I just felt there was really no time for myself and any enjoyment."

So much has befallen Capriati since she made her professional debut in 1990, 10 days before her 14th birthday, that it is easy to forget that in tennis terms she is only middle-aged. "Sometimes I forget, too, that I am 26 and actually have a lot of good tennis left in me," she says. If she reaches tomorrow's final she will play either Amelie Mauresmo, the defending champion, seeded No 2, or Monica Seles, the fourth seed.

Yesterday, Seles defeated Iroda Tulyaganova, of Uzbekistan, 6-1, 7-5, and Mauresmo had a 6-2, 6-4 win against Lina Krasnoroutskaya, of Russia. Mauresmo is another player counting her blessings, having recently recovered from cartilage inflammation in the right knee, which kept her out for four months.

"I didn't think I would come on court again when I was given the diagnosis," she said. She did, and it took Venus Williams to beat her in the Paris Indoors final two weeks ago.