Former World No. 1 women’s tennis player Jennifer Capriati, 34, was rushed to a hospital yesterday after a call was made to paramedic stating that there was a possible overdose.
The call came from a hotel in Riviera Beach, Florida. TMZ contacted Jennifer’s father and he said that his daughter is recovering well.
Capriati told the New York Daily News in July 2007 that she suffered from depression and had suicidal thoughts. She said: “When I stopped playing, that’s when all this came crumbling down. If I don’t have tennis, who am I? What am I? I was just alive because of this. I’ve had to ask, ‘Well, who is Jennifer? What if this is gone now?’ I can’t live off of this the rest of my life.”
During Capriati’s career she took home 14 professional singles titles and one doubles title. She also took home a gold medal from the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, defeating Steffi Graf.
The former tennis diva’s life began spiraling out of control in 1993 and 1994, when she was picked up for shoplifting and arrested for possession of marijuana. Following these episodes, the Chicago Sun-Times dubbed her “the poster child for burned-out sports prodigies”.
Capriati was able to pull herself together and managed to achieve a successful comeback, winning Grand Slam events in 2001, 2003 and 2004 at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. She played her last match in late 2004.
She underwent a third shoulder surgery in 2007, hoping to mount another comeback, but it never materialized.
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Photo Credit: Getty Images/PicApp; WENN