JENNIFER Capriati's Australian Open triumph over Martina Hingis at the weekend struck a chord with young Hampshire tennis player Julia Wright.

Capriati's problems in tennis have been well documented. Ten years ago she was the new teenage wonder, then it all went horribly wrong as she dabbled with drugs and was arrested for shoplifting.

For two years she did not play any Grand Slams and, when she came back, it took her two more years just to win a match.

It's a fair step from the Melbourne arena to the indoor courts of the Hampshire Tennis & Health Club at West End where Wright had a particularly good week last week. But the Basingstoke 18-year-old admitted to taking special note of Capriati's triumph, having had two years of her own tennis career written off.

At 16, Wright had had her best year in tennis. Her rating had just shot up two levels. Then injury struck.

"I was just knocking around playing tennis and I suddenly felt the pain in my hip," said Wright.

She trailed around five different medical people for their opinions, had a cortisone injection which did not work and then an MRI scan which failed to show anything. Finally Wright booked in for an operation.

"They told me they had been able to decompress a nerve in my hip. I was told it would take a month to recover. But that was in November, 1999 and it only really stopped hurting last October," she said.

"I can still feel a weakness there when I go for some shots on my backhand side but I have a programme at the gym and that is helping."

If that has been slow going, progress on court has been markedly better.

The Girobank tournament at the Hampshire club, in which Wright reached the final and took the first game on a tie break off Julie Dawson (Sussex) before losing in three sets, was her fourth since her comeback last year and she has done progressively better.

"I didn't have to qualify this week because the entry was not quite as good as at some of the tournaments," she said, the Hampshire event having clashed with another ladies tournament in Jersey. "But I got through four matches to reach the final.

"I also beat the number two and three seeds, Julie Smith (Surrey) and Hannah Parker (Berkshire).

"They have already got world ranking points and they have been playing for the last two years while I have not been able to. It shows I have still got it there!"

Julia's mother, Janet, who shares the driving duties with husband Gerry to take Julia to tournaments up and down the country, was in no doubt that her daughter's form is going in the right direction. "That is the best I have seen her play since she came back in November," she said.

Julia would love to buy a car to take the pressure off them. But though her runner's up cheque at the Hampshire Club was among the best she has picked up, it was still less than £200 at that - and the money she earns coaching a few hours a week at Totally Tennis, Basingstoke, where she trains with coach Nigel Long - does not go far.

Next two dates on Julia's calendar are Girobank Tour events at Swansea and Sunderland this spring. Her plans for the coming year include trying to qualify for LTF or Challenger tournaments which represent the next step up the ladder for aspiring tennis players.

"I am still hoping I can make a career in tennis," she said.

"I'm not saying I'm going to make the top ten at Wimbledon or anything! But I just want to see how far I can go. Until you try you don't know."