Damn! The US Open always schedules the top stars for a lot of night matches. Plus the most important match of all, the final, is at night. I know Jen has mentioned this before but I didn't know it was this serious. Can she wear glasses or contacts at night to counteract the effects of the surgery?
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AP Sports Writer
August 9, 2002


MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Jennifer Capriati is wary of playing night matches because the court lights affect her ability to see the ball.

Capriati, the No. 2 seed, struggled for more than two hours before beating No. 16 Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-2 in the third round of the JPMorgan Chase Open on Thursday night.

``Maybe I just started rushing a bit. I got thrown off a bit as soon as it was getting dark,'' she said. ``I have problems playing at night. I was shanking some balls on my groundstrokes.''

Capriati, who had Lasik eye surgery two years ago, also had trouble picking up the ball in a night match at last week's Acura Classic, where she lost in the quarterfinals.

``I feel like it's wearing off a little bit,'' she said of the surgery.

At Manhattan Country Club, the light poles are low on stadium court.

``At night, lights can start to become very bright,'' Capriati said, describing the effect on her vision. ``When they're really low like that, it just feels like there's a flashlight on me constantly.''

She didn't react well to the glare, double-faulting numerous times in the second set.

``In the second set, I just stopped hitting the ball and she started really dictating the points,'' said Capriati, who was cheered on by her friend, actor Matthew Perry.

At most tournaments, the top players are required to play at least one night match to draw crowds. Having survived that obligation, Capriati said officials here know not to schedule her under the lights again.

``I know there's going to be night matches, especially at the U.S. Open, so what am I going to do?'' she said.

During the day, top-seeded Serena Williams made quick work of No. 15 Nathalie Dechy of France, winning 6-2, 6-1 in 56 minutes; and No. 3 Lindsay Davenport needed just over an hour to beat 13th-seeded Tatiana Panova of Russia 6-2, 6-4.

Williams extended her winning streak to 21 consecutive matches. Her last loss was to Belgium's Justine Henin in the German Open final in May.

``I didn't know it was 21,'' Williams said. ``I have tough matches the rest of the week and I'm just going to try to keep it up. As long as I don't go out there expecting to play flawless, I tend to play a lot better.''

In Friday's quarterfinals, Williams plays No. 12 Chanda Rubin; Capriati takes on Ai Sugiyama of Japan; Davenport plays Eleni Daniilidou of Greece; and No. 4 Jelena Dokic plays Rita Grande of Italy.

Dokic led 4-0 in the first set when Janette Husarova of Slovakia retired because of a lower back sprain Thursday.

Two seeds were upset in the third round. No. 8 Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic lost to Rubin, 6-2, 6-1, and No. 10 Anne Kremer of Luxembourg was beaten by Daniilidou, 6-0, 7-5.

Davenport said her sore left wrist had improved, and a groin strain that bothered her early in the week was better, too. ``Just a lot of little aches,'' she said.

Davenport is playing for the third week in a row after missing the first six months of the year recovering from knee surgery. She reached the semifinals in Stanford and at La Costa in her first two tournaments.

``It's tough not playing for a lot of months, but winning matches and beating a lot of good players along the way is going to give me confidence,'' she said.

Mark, I was thinking the same myself.

I know that Jen used to wear contact lenses years ago. (There is a funny story regarding her leaving her lenses at her hotel and having to delay her first round match in the end-of-season champs against Helena Sukova, from the days when it was held in Madison Square Garden. That must be going back about 10 years or so). All I can think is that if her eyesight is deteriorating again, what with the surgery wearing off as she says, then she should be wearing contacts to bring her eyesight up to perfect. That shoudn't be a problem. I know that quite often when people get their eyes lasered they are told that they may still need some sort of eyewear, be they glasses or contacts.

What bothers me more is whether Jen can get this problem sorted before the Open starts. She does need to get it sorted, but she may want to wait until the close season to get something done. After the Open, the tour heads indoors so she doesn't have to worry about night matches then, but I'd hate it to be a factor in her US Open run.

Man, this sucks! I hope she can get this fixed somehow. Especially before the U.S. Open...

It's not Jen's "vision" that is a problem. It is the side effects of the surgery. So, no she could not wear contact to correct it. I have had lasik done as well, and know about the night vision she is talking about. Not sure if it can be corrected (the halos, trouble seeing at night).... Hopefully for her sake it can, or it could start to be a real problem.

"I know there's going to be night matches, especially at the U.S. Open, so what am I going to do?'' she said.

Oh that makes me sad. I would hate to see Jen do poorly or lose matches because of this. It sounds like for now there's not much she can do, except hope there aren't many night matches. Maybe she could wear some kind of shades or something to cut down on the glare and halos? I don't know, but I am not having this surgery anytime soon. You pay big bucks, and then you can't see good at night. That's not good. Hopefully in December she can have another surgery to fix it.