Tennis: Father confesses

JENNIFER CAPRIATI's father has apparently admitted to making mistakes in bringing up his troubled daughter.

'I messed up with Jennifer because I put too much pressure on her,' Stefano Capriati was quoted as saying in an interview published in the Italian newspaper, Gazzetta dello Sport, on Thursday.

Capriati, 18, began a drug rehabilitation programme following her arrest in Florida last month on charges of marijuana possession.

'Perhaps, when she was 15, I shouldn't have made her take part in so many tournaments, but I didn't know how good she really was and I wanted to find out by putting her up against stronger players,' Capriati said.

Jennifer Capriati made her name on the women's tour as a 13-year-old, rose to prominence and, in 1992, won the Olympic gold medal in Barcelona.

Her father is sure she will go back to the tour but she has set no date for a comeback.